In an effort to boost funding for airports and address the\nshortage of workers in the aeronautics industry, Washington Representative Tom\nDent recently introduced three pieces of legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur aviation industry is facing a critical pilot shortage.\nIt is impacting technicians, instructors and other related aviation occupations\nas well,\u201d said Dent, R-Moses Lake. \u201cI am working to find a way to draw more of\nour young people into aviation careers. This would also grow our rural economic\ndevelopment as we improve our airports and increase employment in this\nindustry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
House Bill 1455 would address the shortage of workers in the\naeronautics industry by increasing the training and employment of commercial\npilots, airline transport pilots, avionics technicians, aircraft maintenance\ntechnicians, and certified flight instructors in Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere was a public hearing on House Bill 1455 on Wednesday.\nAlaska Air and Horizon, Central Washington University, Clover Park Technical\nCollege and the Washington Aviation Alliance all testified in strong support of\nthe bill,\u201d said Dent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
House Bill 1456 would establish a community aviation\nrevitalization loan program. Dent’s legislation on the loan program passed last\nyear but was vetoed by the governor. He has been working with the governor on a\nfix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe program is aimed at improving Washington’s smaller\nairports by funding needed capital and preservation projects. The bill would\nalso establish a task force to oversee the program,\u201d said Dent. \u201cI believe we\nhave an agreement to get this bill through the Legislature this year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
House Bill 1457 would redistribute aircraft fuel tax revenue\nto assist with air cargo expansion, aviation education and rural economic\ndevelopment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis bill would change current distribution of the aircraft\nfuel retail tax and reallocate one percent of the total tax revenue to the\nstate aeronautics account,\u201d said Dent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Representative Dent\u2019s support of aviation has been noted and\nappreciated by the aviation community in Washington State. \u201cWe\u2019re lucky to have\nRepresentative Dent as an advocate for aviation,\u201d said David Fleckenstein, Director\nof Aviation for the Washington State Department of Transportation. \u201cAs an\naviator and airport user, he understands what it takes to operate and maintain\nour airport system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fleckenstein said his bills are all great endeavors for the\nstate and the advancement of aeronautics. \u201cHe also clearly appreciates airports\nas gateways to communities and the prospects they bring for rural economic\ndevelopment,\u201d said Fleckenstein. \u201cWe truly appreciate his efforts and support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the only professional pilot in the Legislature, Dent has\ntaken an active interest in aviation issues since being elected in 2014. He\nbecame a pilot in 1976, and soon after founded his own aviation business, which\noffered aerial application and flight instruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 105-day 2019 legislative session is scheduled to adjourn\nApril 28.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In an effort to boost funding for airports and address the shortage of workers in the aeronautics industry, Washington Representative Tom Dent recently introduced three pieces of legislation. \u201cOur aviation industry is facing a critical pilot shortage. It is impacting technicians, instructors and other related aviation occupations as well,\u201d said Dent, R-Moses Lake. \u201cI am […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-washington"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11772"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11775,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11772\/revisions\/11775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}