Air Traffic Control Safe Operation and Readiness Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1322 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, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 6, 2019 Mr. LEE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 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, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Air Traffic Control 4 Safe Operation and Readiness Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:22 May 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1322.IS S1322 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1322 IS SEC. 2. HIRING OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SPECIALISTS. 1 Section 44506(f)(1)(B) of title 49, United States 2 Code, is amended— 3 (1) in subparagraph (A)(ii), by inserting ‘‘(in- 4 cluding a facility of the National Guard)’’ after ‘‘De- 5 partment of Defense’’; and 6 (2) in subparagraph (B)— 7 (A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘referring’’ 8 and all that follows through ‘‘10 percent.’’ and 9 inserting ‘‘giving preferential consideration to 10 pool 1 applicants described in clause (ii) before 11 considering pool 2 applicants described in 12 clause (iii).’’.; and 13 (B) by adding at the end the following new 14 clause: 15 ‘‘(iv) CONSIDERATION OF CAN- 16 DIDATES.—The Administrator shall con- 17 sider for the interview stage of the hiring 18 process candidates in each applicant pool 19 described in this subparagraph who— 20 ‘‘(I) score at or above a passing 21 score as determined by the Adminis- 22 trator on the Air Traffic Skills As- 23 sessment (AT–SA); and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:22 May 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1322.IS S1322 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1322 IS ‘‘(II) meet minimum qualifica- 1 tions established by the Adminis- 2 trator.’’. 3 SEC. 3. ENSURING HIRING OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SPE- 4 CIALISTS IS BASED ON ASSESSMENT OF JOB- 5 RELEVANT APTITUDES. 6 (a) UPDATE OF THE AIR TRAFFIC SKILLS ASSESS- 7 MENT.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enact- 8 ment of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Avia- 9 tion Administration shall revise the Air Traffic Skills As- 10 sessment (in this section referred to as the ‘‘AT–SA’’) ad- 11 ministered to air traffic controller applicants described in 12 clauses (ii) and (iii) of section 44506(f)(1)(B) of title 49, 13 United States Code, in accordance with the following re- 14 quirements: 15 (1) The Administrator shall ensure that all 16 questions on the AT–SA are supported by a peer-re- 17 viewed job analysis that ensures all questions test 18 job-relevant aptitudes. 19 (2) The Administrator shall ensure that the 20 AT–SA does not incorporate any biographical ques- 21 tionnaire or assessment or other questions of a bio- 22 graphical nature (other than basic identifiers such 23 as first and last name) for applicants for the posi- 24 tion of air traffic controller from the applicant pools 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:22 May 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1322.IS S1322 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1322 IS described in clauses (ii) and (iii) of section 1 44506(f)(1)(B) of title 49, United States Code. 2 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS ELIMINATING USE 3 OF BIOGRAPHICAL ASSESSMENTS FOR ALL APPLI- 4 CANTS.—Section 44506(f) of title 49, United States Code, 5 as amended by section 2, is further amended— 6 (1) in paragraph (1)(C)— 7 (A) by striking clause (ii); and 8 (B) by redesignating clause (iii) as clause 9 (ii); and 10 (2) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the 11 following: 12 ‘‘(2) NO BIOGRAPHICAL ASSESSMENTS.—The 13 Administrator shall not use any biographical assess- 14 ment when hiring under paragraph (1)(A) or para- 15 graph (1)(B).’’. 16 SEC. 4. DOT INSPECTOR GENERAL REPORT. 17 Not later than 180 days after the date on which the 18 Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration 19 completes the revision of the Air Traffic Skills Assessment 20 (AT–SA) required under section 3(a), the Inspector Gen- 21 eral of the Department of Transportation shall submit a 22 report to the Administrator, the Committee on Commerce, 23 Science, and Transportation of the Senate, the Committee 24 on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:22 May 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1322.IS S1322 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1322 IS Representatives, and, upon request, to any member of 1 Congress, that assesses the assumptions and methodolo- 2 gies used to develop such revisions, the job-relevant apti- 3 tudes measured, and the scoring process for the revised 4 assessment, together with, if appropriate, a description of 5 any actions taken or recommended to be taken to address 6 the results of the report. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:22 May 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1322.IS S1322 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS