ATC Hiring Reform Act of 2019

II Calendar No. 319 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1148 [Report No. 116–169] To amend title 49, United States Code, to require the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to give preferential consideration to individuals who have successfully completed air traffic controller train- ing and veterans when hiring air traffic control specialists. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 11, 2019 Mr. HOEVEN (for himself, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. SULLIVAN, Ms. SINEMA, Mrs. CAPITO, Ms. MCSALLY, Mr. PETERS, and Mr. INHOFE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation DECEMBER 5, 2019 Reported by Mr. WICKER, with amendment [Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] A BILL To amend title 49, United States Code, to require the Ad- ministrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to give preferential consideration to individuals who have successfully completed air traffic controller training and veterans when hiring air traffic control specialists. VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:38 Dec 05, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\S1148.RS S1148 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1148 RS Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘ATC Hiring Reform 4 Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. HIRING OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SPECIALISTS. 6 Section 44506(f)(1)(B)(i) of title 49, United States 7 Code, is amended by striking ‘‘referring’’ and all that fol- 8 lows through ‘‘10 percent.’’ and inserting ‘‘giving further 9 preferential consideration, within each qualification cat- 10 egory based upon pre-employment testing results, to pool 11 1 applicants described in clause (ii) before pool 2 appli- 12 cants described in clause (iii).’’. 13 SEC. 3. REPORT ON AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER AND TRAIN- 14 ING. 15 (a) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than Decem- 16 ber 31, 2019, and every 6 months thereafter, the Adminis- 17 trator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall submit 18 to the appropriate committees of Congress a report re- 19 garding the hiring and training of air traffic controllers. 20 (b) CONTENTS.—Each report under subsection (a) 21 shall include the following information: 22 (1) The number of applicants, from each hiring 23 pool, who have done the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:38 Dec 05, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1148.RS S1148 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1148 RS (A) Applied for the position of air traffic 1 controller. 2 (B) Been issued a tentative offer letter for 3 the position of air traffic controller. 4 (C) Been issued a firm offer letter for the 5 position of air traffic controller. 6 (D) Been hired for the position of air traf- 7 fic controller. 8 (E) Reported to the FAA Academy for ini- 9 tial qualification training. 10 (F) Successfully passed Air Traffic Basics 11 training at the FAA Academy. 12 (G) Successfully passed Terminal initial 13 training at the FAA Academy. 14 (H) Successfully passed En Route initial 15 training at the FAA Academy. 16 (2) The average cost of training per individual 17 for the following: 18 (A) Air Traffic Basics training at the FAA 19 Academy. 20 (B) Terminal initial training at the FAA 21 Academy. 22 (C) En Route initial training at the FAA 23 Academy. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:38 Dec 05, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1148.RS S1148 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1148 RS (3) The FAA Academy attrition rate for each 1 hiring pool. 2 (4) Other information determined appropriate 3 by the Administrator. 4 SEC. 3. REPORT ON AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER AND TRAIN- 5 ING. 6 (a) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than December 7 31, 2019, and every 6 months thereafter, the Administrator 8 of the Federal Aviation Administration shall submit to the 9 appropriate committees of Congress a report regarding the 10 hiring and training of air traffic controllers. 11 (b) CONTENTS.—Each report under subsection (a) 12 shall include the following information: 13 (1) The number of applicants, from each hiring 14 pool (by vacancy announcement beginning with va- 15 cancy announcement FAA-ATO-19-ALLSRCE-61676 16 (issued on June 14, 2019)) who have done the fol- 17 lowing: 18 (A) Applied for the position of air traffic 19 controller. 20 (B) Been issued a tentative offer letter for 21 the position of air traffic controller. 22 (C) Been issued a firm offer letter for the 23 position of air traffic controller. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:38 Dec 05, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S1148.RS S1148 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1148 RS (D) Been hired for the position of air traffic 1 controller. 2 (E) Reported to the FAA Academy for ini- 3 tial qualification training. 4 (F) Successfully passed Air Traffic Basics 5 training at the FAA Academy. 6 (G) Successfully passed Terminal initial 7 training at the FAA Academy. 8 (H) Successfully passed En Route initial 9 training at the FAA Academy. 10 (2) The average cost of training per individual 11 for each such hiring pool for the following: 12 (A) Air Traffic Basics training at the FAA 13 Academy. 14 (B) Terminal initial training at the FAA 15 Academy. 16 (C) En Route initial training at the FAA 17 Academy. 18 (3) The FAA Academy attrition rate for each 19 such hiring pool. 20 (4) The number of applicants, from each such 21 hiring pool, who have successfully completed quali- 22 fication training at their first FAA facility and the 23 number who are still in training at their first facil- 24 ity. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:38 Dec 05, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S1148.RS S1148 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 1148 RS (5) Other information determined appropriate 1 by the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Admin- 2 istration. 3 SEC. 4. ENSURING HIRING PREFERENCE FOR APPLICANTS 4 WITH EXPERIENCE AT AN AIR TRAFFIC CON- 5 TROL FACILITY OF THE NATIONAL GUARD. 6 Section 44506(f)(1)(A)(ii) of title 49, United States 7 Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘(including a facility of the 8 National Guard)’’ after ‘‘Department of Defense’’. 9 SEC. 5. DOT INSPECTOR GENERAL REVIEW AND REPORT. 10 (a) REVIEW.— 11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Inspector General of the 12 Department of Transportation (in this section re- 13 ferred to as the ‘‘Inspector General’’) shall conduct a 14 review that assesses the assumptions and methodolo- 15 gies used to develop the air traffic controller pre-em- 16 ployment test. Such review shall include— 17 (A) what job-relevant aptitudes are meas- 18 ured by the air traffic controller pre-employment 19 test and to what extent such aptitudes are tested; 20 (B) the scoring methodology for the air traf- 21 fic controller pre-employment test, including an 22 assessment of whether such methodology is ap- 23 plied uniformly for all classes of applicants; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:38 Dec 05, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S1148.RS S1148 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 1148 RS (C) whether the air traffic controller pre- 1 employment test incorporates any biographical 2 questionnaire or assessment other than basic 3 identifiers, such as name and questions that as- 4 sess personal characteristics, and the extent to 5 which such biographical assumptions are relied 6 upon to assess air traffic controller applicants; 7 (D) the effectiveness of the pre-employment 8 test, mental health screening, and any other ap- 9 plicable pre-employment assessment to determine 10 whether an applicant possesses the skills nec- 11 essary to perform the duties of a controller; and 12 (E) ways to improve the pre-employment 13 test and other applicable pre-employment assess- 14 ments as the Inspector General determines ap- 15 propriate. 16 (2) START DATE.—The Inspector General shall 17 initiate the review under paragraph (1) by not later 18 than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 19 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 20 the Inspector General initiates the review under subsection 21 (a), the Inspector General shall submit to the appropriate 22 committees of Congress a report on such review. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:38 Dec 05, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S1148.RS S1148 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS Calendar No. 319 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1148 [Report No. 116–169] A BILL To amend title 49, United States Code, to require the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Ad- ministration to give preferential consideration to individuals who have successfully completed air traffic controller training and veterans when hir- ing air traffic control specialists. DECEMBER 5, 2019 Reported with amendment VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:38 Dec 05, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\S1148.RS S1148 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS