I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5874 To require the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to amend regulations concerning the day-night average sound level, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 12, 2020 Ms. MENG (for herself, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Mr. BEYER, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. MALINOWSKI, Ms. WATERS, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. SHERMAN, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. LYNCH, and Mr. MEEKS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To require the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Admin- istration to amend regulations concerning the day-night average sound level, 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 ‘‘Decrease Noise Levels 4 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:50 Feb 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5874.IH H5874 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5874 IH (1) The day-night average sound level rep- 1 resents the total accumulation of all sound energy 2 averaged over a 24-hour period. 3 (2) The current Federal Aviation Administra- 4 tion guidelines for the day-night average sound level 5 are 65. 6 (3) Excessive airplane noise has been shown to 7 negatively effect hypertension, heart disease, learn- 8 ing deficits in children, sleep patterns, sleep quality, 9 and overall mood. 10 (4) Approximately 10,000,000 Americans who 11 are afflicted with some hearing loss can at least par- 12 tially attribute this damage to exposure from noise. 13 (5) Aircraft and airport noise is one of the most 14 common ‘‘quality of life’’ nuisance issues in neigh- 15 borhoods throughout the United States. 16 SEC. 3. DAY-NIGHT AVERAGE SOUND LEVEL REDUCTION. 17 The Administrator of the Federal Aviation Adminis- 18 tration shall amend part 150 of title 14, Code of Federal 19 Regulations, to decrease the threshold for the day-night 20 average sound level to constitute significant noise from 65 21 to 60, and adjust relative ranges of day-night average 22 sound level accordingly. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:50 Feb 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5874.IH H5874 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5874 IH SEC. 4. COMMUNITY OUTREACH REGARDING DAY-NIGHT 1 AVERAGE SOUND LEVELS. 2 The Secretary shall ensure that in carrying out com- 3 munity outreach related to aviation day-night average 4 sound levels, such outreach contains the results of the 5 evaluation of alternative metrics to the current average 6 day-night level standard under section 188 of the FAA 7 Reauthorization Act of 2018 and the evaluation of alter- 8 native metrics carried out under section 173 of such Act. 9 SEC. 5. STRATEGY AND REPORTING. 10 Not later than 365 days after the date of enactment 11 of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Ad- 12 ministration shall create a publicly available report that 13 outlines a strategy to reduce the maximum day-night aver- 14 age sound level in all residential areas to 55 over the 10 15 years following the date of enactment of this Act. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:50 Feb 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5874.IH H5874 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS