I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8589 To direct the Secretary of Transportation to provide vouchers to air carriers to purchase more fuel-efficient and quieter aircraft, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 13, 2020 Mr. ROUDA (for himself, Ms. NORTON, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. CISNEROS, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, and Mr. RASKIN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc- ture A BILL To direct the Secretary of Transportation to provide vouchers to air carriers to purchase more fuel-efficient and quieter aircraft, 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 Industry As- 4 sistance for Cleaner and Quieter Skies Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. AVIATION INDUSTRY ASSISTANCE FOR CLEANER 6 AND QUIETER SKIES VOUCHER PROGRAM. 7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish 8 and carry out a program, to be known as the ‘‘Aviation 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Oct 31, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8589.IH H8589 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8589 IH Industry Assistance for Cleaner and Quieter Skies Vouch- 1 er Program’’, under which the Secretary shall issue elec- 2 tronic vouchers to air carriers, subject to the specifications 3 set forth in subsection (d), to offset the purchase or cost 4 of a lease of eligible new aircraft in exchange for commit- 5 ments from such air carriers to decommission certain cur- 6 rently used aircraft and sell such aircraft for recycling of 7 parts or disposal. 8 (b) APPLICATION.—To be eligible for the program es- 9 tablished under subsection (a), an air carrier shall submit 10 to the Secretary an application at such time, in such man- 11 ner, and containing such information as the Secretary may 12 require, including a description of a currently used aircraft 13 of the air carrier. 14 (c) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.— 15 (1) LIST OF ELIGIBLE AIRCRAFT.—In carrying 16 out the program established under subsection (a), 17 the Secretary, in consultation with the Adminis- 18 trator, shall prepare, maintain, publicize, and make 19 available through a publicly available website, lists 20 of— 21 (A) applicable currently used aircraft; 22 (B) eligible aircraft for purchase or lease; 23 and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Oct 31, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8589.IH H8589 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8589 IH (C) registered aircraft recycling firms eligi- 1 ble to purchase currently used aircraft under 2 this section. 3 (2) COMMITMENT REQUIREMENT.—In carrying 4 out the program established under subsection (a), 5 the Secretary shall issue such regulations as are nec- 6 essary to establish requirements for an air carrier to 7 purchase or lease an eligible aircraft described in 8 subsection (a), including a timing requirement for 9 the purchase of such, and decommissioning and sell- 10 ing of applicable currently used aircraft of the air 11 carrier for recycling of parts or disposal, except as 12 provided in subsection (f)(2). 13 (d) VALUE OF VOUCHERS.—The Secretary may de- 14 termine the value of each voucher, not to exceed 15 $10,000,000, based on the difference in emissions between 16 the currently used aircraft being decommissioned and sold 17 and the eligible aircraft being purchased or leased. In de- 18 termining the value of each voucher, the Secretary shall 19 also consider if such eligible aircraft also include noise re- 20 duction, including whether such aircraft meet Stage 5 21 standards. In addition, the Secretary shall consider seat 22 capacity and typical stage length of both the currently 23 used aircraft being decommissioned and sold and the eligi- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Oct 31, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8589.IH H8589 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8589 IH ble aircraft being purchased or leased in determining the 1 value of the voucher. 2 (e) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after 3 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue 4 such regulations as are necessary to carry out this section, 5 including a requirement that a voucher may be used only 6 to pay a new aircraft order, not an order placed (even if 7 not filled) before the date of enactment of this Act. 8 (f) REGISTRATION.— 9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall register 10 aircraft recycling firms eligible to purchase currently 11 used aircraft under this section and establish re- 12 quirements and procedures for the recycling of parts 13 or disposal of such aircraft to ensure that such air- 14 craft are taken out of service and not used to de- 15 velop other aircraft with higher greenhouse gas 16 emissions. 17 (2) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding paragraph 18 (1), in the case of an emergency declared by the Sec- 19 retary or a national emergency declared by the 20 President, the Secretary may temporarily waive the 21 provisions of such paragraph that prevent the use of 22 aircraft taken out of service pursuant to this section 23 for the purposes of responding to such emergency or 24 national emergency. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:12 Nov 06, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8589.IH H8589 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8589 IH (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 1 authorized to carry out the program established under this 2 section $1,000,000,000 and such sums shall remain avail- 3 able until expended. 4 (h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section the following defi- 5 nitions apply: 6 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis- 7 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ- 8 mental Protection Agency. 9 (2) AIR CARRIER.—The term ‘‘air carrier’’ has 10 the meaning given such term in section 40102 of 11 title 49, United States Code. 12 (3) CURRENTLY USED AIRCRAFT.—The term 13 ‘‘currently used aircraft’’ means— 14 (A) aircraft in the bottom 25 percent of 15 the air carrier’s aircraft fleet in terms of fuel 16 efficiency per seat; and 17 (B) aircraft that have been in service for 18 at least 1,500 hours in the previous calendar 19 year. 20 (4) ELIGIBLE AIRCRAFT.—The term ‘‘eligible 21 aircraft’’ means aircraft that must be new and con- 22 sidered by the Secretary highly fuel-efficient with 23 some consideration given to their noise impact. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Oct 31, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8589.IH H8589 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8589 IH (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 1 the Secretary of Transportation. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Oct 31, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8589.IH H8589 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS