Aviation Empowerment Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1407 To amend title 49, United States Code, to add definitions for the terms ‘‘common carrier’’ and ‘‘personal operator’’, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 9, 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 add definitions for the terms ‘‘common carrier’’ and ‘‘personal oper- ator’’, 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 ‘‘Aviation Empower- 4 ment Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 Section 40102(a) of title 49, United States Code, is 7 amended by adding at the end the following: 8 ‘‘(48) ‘common carrier’ means a service pro- 9 vided by a person that meets the following elements: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:38 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1407.IS S1407 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1407 IS ‘‘(A) holding out of a willingness to; 1 ‘‘(B) transport persons or property; 2 ‘‘(C) from place to place; 3 ‘‘(D) for compensation; and 4 ‘‘(E) without refusal unless authorized by 5 law. 6 In applying subparagraph (D), the term ‘compensa- 7 tion’ requires the intent to pursue monetary profit 8 but does not include flights in which the pilot and 9 passengers share aircraft operating expenses or the 10 pilot receives any benefit. 11 ‘‘(49) ‘personal operator’ means a person pro- 12 viding air transportation of persons or property for 13 compensation or hire in aircraft that have eight or 14 fewer seats, provided that the person holds a private 15 pilot certificate pursuant to subpart E of section 61 16 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (or any suc- 17 cessor regulation). A personal operator or a flight 18 operated by a personal operator does not constitute 19 a common carrier, as defined in paragraph (48), a 20 commercial operation requiring a certificate under 21 part 119 or 135 of title 14, Code of Federal Regula- 22 tions (or any successor regulation), or a commercial 23 operator, as defined in section 1.1 of title 14, Code 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:38 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1407.IS S1407 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1407 IS of Federal Regulations (or any successor regula- 1 tion).’’. 2 SEC. 3. REGULATIONS. 3 Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment 4 of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall issue or 5 revise regulations to comply with this Act and to ensure 6 the following: 7 (1) That a person who holds a pilot certificate 8 may communicate with the public, in any manner 9 the person determines appropriate, to facilitate an 10 aircraft flight for which the pilot and passengers 11 share aircraft operating expenses in accordance with 12 section 61.113(c) of title 14, Code of Federal Regu- 13 lations (or any successor regulation) and that such 14 flight-sharing operations under section 61.113(c) of 15 title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (or any suc- 16 cessor regulation) shall not be deemed a common 17 carrier, as defined in paragraph (48) of section 18 40102(a) of title 49, United States Code, or a com- 19 mercial operation requiring a certificate under part 20 119 or 135 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations 21 (or any successor regulation). 22 (2) That a personal operator, as defined in 23 paragraph (49) of section 40102(a) of title 49, 24 United States Code, operating under part 91 of title 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:38 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1407.IS S1407 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1407 IS 14 Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor 1 regulation) shall not be subject to the requirements 2 set forth in part 121, 125, or 135 of title 14, Code 3 of Federal Regulations (or any successor regulation). 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:38 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1407.IS S1407 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS