Airport Infrastructure Resilience Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3896 To establish an airport infrastructure resilience pilot program. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 7, 2023 Mr. COHEN (for himself and Mr. DESAULNIER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To establish an airport infrastructure resilience pilot program. 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 ‘‘Airport Infrastructure 4 Resilience Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. AIRPORT INFRASTRUCTURE RESILIENCE PILOT 6 PROGRAM. 7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 8 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.— 9 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 10 after the date of enactment of this section, the 11 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:30 Jul 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3896.IH H3896 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3896 IH Secretary shall establish a pilot program to pro- 1 vide competitive grants to sponsors of airports 2 to incentivize the planning and design and con- 3 struction of projects that make improvements to 4 infrastructure that is subject to, or that faces 5 increased long-term future risks with respect to, 6 the following: 7 (i) Changing conditions, such as sea 8 level rise or permafrost thaw. 9 (ii) Weather events and natural disas- 10 ters, such as severe storms, flooding, 11 drought, levee and dam failures, wildfire, 12 rockslides, mudslides, sea level rise, perma- 13 frost thaw, extreme weather, including ex- 14 treme temperature, and earthquakes. 15 (B) CLARIFICATION.—Projects funded 16 under the pilot program under this section may 17 be for new projects as well as for making im- 18 provements to existing infrastructure and may 19 include the purchasing of monitoring equipment 20 or services. 21 (2) CONSULTATION.—In establishing the pilot 22 program under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall— 23 (A) engage in a public comment period; 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:30 Jul 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3896.IH H3896 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3896 IH (B) consult with— 1 (i) the Administrator of the Federal 2 Aviation Administration; 3 (ii) the Administrator of the Federal 4 Emergency Management Agency; 5 (iii) the Administrator of the National 6 Oceanic Atmospheric Administration; and 7 (iv) the Administrator of the National 8 Aeronautics and Space Administration. 9 (3) CONSIDERATIONS.—In awarding grants to 10 sponsors under the pilot program under this section, 11 the Secretary shall consider the following with re- 12 spect to projects funded under the grant: 13 (A) Whether the project is natural infra- 14 structure or nature-based. 15 (B) Whether the project is based on the 16 best available science and engineering stand- 17 ards. 18 (C) Whether the project will mitigate the 19 airport’s impact on the environment. 20 (D) Other items determined appropriate by 21 the Secretary. 22 (4) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a 23 grant under the pilot program under this section, a 24 sponsor of an airport shall submit an application to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:45 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3896.IH H3896 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3896 IH sponsor of an airport shall submit an application to 1 the Secretary at such time, in such form, and con- 2 taining such information as the Secretary may re- 3 quire. Such information shall include a description 4 of how the proposed project is projected to benefit 5 and potentially impact both the airport and the sur- 6 rounding communities regarding changing condi- 7 tions, weather events, and natural disasters. 8 (5) REPORTS TO SECRETARY.—A sponsor of an 9 airport that is awarded a grant under the pilot pro- 10 gram under this section shall submit to the Sec- 11 retary periodic reports on the use of the funds. Such 12 reports shall be submitted at such time, in such 13 form, and containing such information as the Sec- 14 retary may require. 15 (b) DISTRIBUTION FOR REGIONAL AIRPORTS.—In 16 conducting the pilot program under this section, the Sec- 17 retary shall ensure that not less than 15 percent of the 18 funds made available under subsection (e) is used to 19 award grants to sponsors of regional airports. 20 (c) FEDERAL SHARE.—The United States Govern- 21 ment’s share of allowable project costs for a project car- 22 ried out with a grant under the pilot program shall be 23 the United States Government’s share of allowable project 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:30 Jul 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3896.IH H3896 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3896 IH costs specified under section 47109 of title 49, United 1 States Code. 2 (d) REQUIREMENTS.—The construction work for a 3 project funded with grant under the pilot program shall 4 be subject to the requirements under section 47112 of title 5 49, United States Code. 6 (e) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months 8 after the Secretary first awards a grant under the 9 pilot program under this section, and annually there- 10 after for as long as the Secretary is conducting the 11 pilot program under this section, the Secretary shall 12 submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 13 Transportation and the Committee on Environment 14 and Public Works of the Senate and the Committee 15 on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House 16 of Representatives a report that evaluates the pilot 17 program established under this section. Each such 18 report shall include— 19 (A) a description of each project funded 20 under the program, including the changing con- 21 dition or weather event or natural disasters the 22 project is addressing; 23 (B) a description of the applications under 24 the program; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:30 Jul 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3896.IH H3896 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 3896 IH (C) recommendations to improve the ad- 1 ministration of the program, including whether 2 assistance from additional or fewer agencies to 3 carry out the program is appropriate; 4 (D) a description of the period required to 5 disburse grant funds to sponsors based on ap- 6 plicable Federal coordination requirements; 7 (E) a description of the facilities that re- 8 peatedly require repair or reconstruction due to 9 weather events and natural disasters (as de- 10 scribed in subsection (a)); and 11 (F) other items determined appropriate by 12 the Secretary. 13 (2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary 14 shall post each report submitted under paragraph 15 (1) on the public internet website of the Department 16 of Transportation. 17 (f) FUNDING.—There is authorized to be appro- 18 priated to the Secretary $300,000,000 for each of fiscal 19 years 2024 through 2028 to carry out this section. Such 20 sums shall remain available until expended. 21 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 22 (1) AIRPORT.—The term ‘‘airport’’ has the 23 meaning given that term in section 40102 of title 24 49, United States Code. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:30 Jul 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3896.IH H3896 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 3896 IH (2) REGIONAL AIRPORT.—The term ‘‘regional 1 airport’’ means a small hub airport, a nonhub air- 2 port, a nonprimary airport, and a reliever airport (as 3 such terms are dined in section 47102 of title 49, 4 United States Code). 5 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 6 the Secretary of Transportation. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:30 Jul 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3896.IH H3896 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB