Emergency Vacating of Aircraft Cabin Act

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1765 To require the Federal Aviation Administration to establish evacuation standards for transport category airplanes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 31 (legislative day, MAY 30), 2023 Ms. DUCKWORTH (for herself and Ms. BALDWIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To require the Federal Aviation Administration to establish evacuation standards for transport category airplanes. 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 ‘‘Emergency Vacating 4 of Aircraft Cabin Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. EVACUATION STANDARDS FOR TRANSPORT CAT- 6 EGORY AIRPLANES. 7 (a) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 18 months after 8 the date of enactment of this section, the Administrator 9 of the Federal Aviation Administration shall issue a final 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Jun 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1765.IS S1765 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1765 IS rule establishing evacuation standards for transport cat- 1 egory airplanes, as described in part 25 of title 14, Code 2 of Federal Regulations. 3 (b) CONSIDERATIONS.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—In issuing the final rule 5 under subsection (a), the Administrator shall con- 6 sider factors that include— 7 (A) the ability of passengers of different 8 ages (including infants, children, and senior 9 citizens) to safely and efficiently evacuate a 10 transport category airplane; 11 (B) the ability of passengers of different 12 heights and weights to safely and efficiently 13 evacuate a transport category airplane; 14 (C) the ability of passengers with disabil- 15 ities to safely and efficiently evacuate a trans- 16 port category airplane; 17 (D) the ability of passengers who cannot 18 speak, have difficulty speaking, use synthetic 19 speech, or are non-vocal or non-verbal to safely 20 and efficiently evacuate a transport category 21 airplane; 22 (E) the ability of passengers who do not 23 speak English to safely and efficiently evacuate 24 a transport category airplane; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Jun 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1765.IS S1765 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1765 IS (F) the impact of the presence of carry-on 1 luggage or personal items (such as a purse, 2 briefcase, laptop, or backpack) on the ability of 3 passengers to safely and efficiently evacuate a 4 transport category airplane; 5 (G) the impact of seat size, seat pitch, and 6 aisle width on the ability of passengers to safely 7 and efficiently evacuate a transport category 8 airplane; 9 (H) the impact of seats and other obstacles 10 in the pathway to the exit opening from the 11 nearest aisle on the ability of passengers to 12 safely and efficiently evacuate a transport cat- 13 egory airplane; 14 (I) with respect to aircraft with parallel 15 longitudinal aisles, the impact of seat pods or 16 other seating configurations that block access 17 between such aisles within a cabin on the ability 18 of passengers to safely and efficiently evacuate 19 a transport category airplane; 20 (J) the impact of passenger load (the num- 21 ber of passengers relative to the number of 22 seats on board) on the ability of passengers to 23 safely and efficiently evacuate a transport cat- 24 egory airplane; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Jun 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1765.IS S1765 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1765 IS (K) the impact of service animals (as de- 1 fined in sections 35.104 and 36.104 of title 28, 2 Code of Federal Regulations) on the ability of 3 passengers (including such service animals and 4 their handlers) to safely and efficiently evacuate 5 a transport category airplane; 6 (L) the impact of smoke, darkness, or 7 other factors that diminish visibility in the air- 8 craft cabin on the ability of passengers to safely 9 and efficiently evacuate a transport category 10 airplane; and 11 (M) any other factor determined appro- 12 priate by the Administrator. 13 (2) PASSENGERS WITH DISABILITIES DE- 14 FINED.—For purposes of this subsection, the term 15 ‘‘passengers with disabilities’’— 16 (A) means any qualified individual with a 17 disability, as defined in section 382.3 of title 18 14, Code of Federal Regulations; and 19 (B) includes any passengers— 20 (i) with a physical impairment, such 21 as passengers who are blind, deaf, non- 22 ambulatory, have limited mobility, or re- 23 quire a wheelchair, walker, cane, brace, 24 prosthetic, or other mobility aid; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Jun 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1765.IS S1765 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1765 IS (ii) whose physical impairment re- 1 quires the use of a medical device to assist 2 with mobility, such as a portable oxygen 3 concentrator; or 4 (iii) with an intellectual, develop- 5 mental or mental impairment. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Jun 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1765.IS S1765 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS