Drone Safety and Efficiency Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3983 To direct the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to adopt a performance- and risk-based approach in reviewing requests for certain certificates of waiver, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 9, 2023 Mr. MOLINARO (for himself, Mr. MANN, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr. KEAN of New Jersey, and Mr. WILLIAMS of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To direct the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Adminis- tration to adopt a performance- and risk-based approach in reviewing requests for certain certificates of waiver, 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 ‘‘Drone Safety and Effi- 4 ciency Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:45 Jul 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3983.IH H3983 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3983 IH SEC. 2. 14 CFR PART 107 WAIVER IMPROVEMENTS. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the Federal 2 Aviation Administration shall adopt a performance- and 3 risk-based approach in reviewing requests for certificates 4 of waiver under section 107.200 of title 14, Code of Fed- 5 eral Regulations. 6 (b) STANDARDIZATION OF WAIVER APPLICATION.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out subsection 8 (a), the Administrator shall improve the the process 9 established to submit requests for certificates of 10 waiver described in subsection (a). 11 (2) FORMAT.—In carrying out paragraph (1), 12 the Administrator may not require the use of open- 13 ended descriptive prompts that are required to be 14 filled out by an applicant, except to provide appli- 15 cants the ability to provide the Administration with 16 information for an unusual or irregular operation. 17 (3) DATA.— 18 (A) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out para- 19 graph (1), the Administrator shall leverage data 20 gathered from previous requests for certificates 21 of waivers. 22 (B) CONSIDERATIONS.—In carrying out 23 subparagraph (A), the Administrator shall safe- 24 ly use— 25 (i) big data analytics; and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:45 Jul 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3983.IH H3983 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3983 IH (ii) machine learning. 1 (c) CONSIDERATION OF PROPERTY OWNERSHIP IN- 2 TEREST.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—In determining whether to 4 issue a certificate of waiver under section 107.200 of 5 title 14, Code of Federal Regulations, the Adminis- 6 trator shall— 7 (A) consider whether the waiver applicant 8 has control over access to all real property on 9 the ground within the area of operation; and 10 (B) recognize and account for the safety 11 enhancements of such controlled access. 12 (2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 13 subsection shall be construed to direct the Adminis- 14 trator to consider the lack of control over access to 15 all real property on the ground within an area of op- 16 eration, or a lack of property interest in such area 17 of operation, as negatively affecting the safety of the 18 operation intended to be conducted under such cer- 19 tificate of waiver. 20 (d) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF WAIVERS.— 21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall 22 publish all certificates of waiver issued under section 23 107.200 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations, on 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:45 Jul 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3983.IH H3983 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3983 IH the website of the Administration, including, with re- 1 spect to each issued certificate of waiver— 2 (A) the terms, conditions, and limitations; 3 and 4 (B) the class of airspace and any restric- 5 tions related to operating near airports or heli- 6 ports. 7 (2) PUBLICATION.—In carrying out paragraph 8 (1), the Administrator shall ensure that published 9 information is made available in a manner that pre- 10 vents inappropriate disclosure of proprietary infor- 11 mation. 12 (e) PRECEDENTIAL USE OF PREVIOUSLY APPROVED 13 WAIVERS.— 14 (1) WAIVER APPROVAL PRECEDENT.—Except 15 as provided in paragraph (3), if the Administrator 16 determines, using criteria for a particular waiver, 17 that an application for a certificate of waiver issued 18 under section 107.200 of title 14, Code of Federal 19 Regulations, is substantially similar (or is comprised 20 of elements that are substantially similar) to an ap- 21 plication for a certificate of waiver that the Adminis- 22 trator has previously approved, the Administrator 23 may streamline, as appropriate, the approval of ap- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:45 Jul 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3983.IH H3983 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3983 IH plications with substantially similar conditions and 1 limitations as a previously approved application. 2 (2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 3 paragraph (1) shall be construed to preclude an ap- 4 plicant for a certificate of waiver from applying to 5 modify a condition, or remove a limitation of, such 6 certificate. 7 (f) MODIFICATION OF WAIVERS.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall es- 9 tablish an expedited review process for a request to 10 modify or renew certificates of waiver previously 11 issued under section 107.200 of title 14, Code of 12 Federal Regulations, as appropriate. 13 (2) USE OF REVIEW PROCESS.—The review 14 process established under paragraph (1) shall be 15 used to review certificates of waiver that cover oper- 16 ations that are substantially similar in all material 17 facts to operations covered under a subsequently 18 issued certificate of waiver. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:45 Jul 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3983.IH H3983 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS