Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed HB 730 into law, joining the growing number of states moving to stop the use of ADS-B\u2014a safety technology\u2014to collect fees from pilots. AOPA views this action as an important recognition that ADS-B, a technology used by pilots and air traffic controllers to prevent mid-air collisions, should not be used as a revenue generator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
HB 730 goes into effect on August 1 and prohibits the use of ADS-B data to charge fees to pilots flying aircraft weighing less than 12,500 pounds under Part 91 (non-commercial operations). It passed the Louisiana Senate unanimously, passed the House on a 91-8 vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While more states are considering related legislation, AOPA is pursuing a national policy to avoid a patchwork of laws across the country. The nation\u2019s top two transportation and aviation safety officials, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford, have both testified before Congress that ADS-B should only be used for aviation safety and not as a fee generator. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Legislation to address last year\u2019s mid-air collision at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., was overwhelmingly approved by the U.S. House of Representatives in April and would, among other things, prohibit any person, government agency, or other entity from using ADS-B to identify aircraft for the purpose of collecting revenue from pilots without their consent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSome have tried to paint this as a way to not collect property taxes or fees imposed by airports\u2014those assertions are flat-out false,\u201d said AOPA Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and Advocacy Jim Coon. \u201cPilots were given assurances when the federal government required ADS-B that it would only be used for aviation safety and airspace efficiency. That assurance is not being kept.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives does nothing to stop airports, local and state governments, or any other entity from charging or collecting fees and taxes\u2014it just takes away the ability for tax collectors and airports to exploit a safety technology for their economic gain,\u201d said Coon. \u201cGeneral aviation pilots already pay fuel taxes and fees to help offset the costs of safety infrastructure and operations at many public-use airports today, and they will continue to do so when this becomes law\u2014they just would not be able to use a safety technology that saves lives for economic purposes. Airports and governments have other means to collect what they\u2019re owed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coon added, \u201cIn fact, according to the Tax Foundation, tax assessors collect more than $3 trillion each year in local and state taxes, including property taxes\u2014and that is without using ADS-B. If this practice continues unchecked, it will discourage pilots from equipping their aircraft with this safety technology. We remain hopeful Congress will address the safety concerns\u2014from pilots, federal officials, and the flying public.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed HB 730 into law, joining the growing number of states moving to stop the use of ADS-B\u2014a safety technology\u2014to collect fees from pilots. AOPA views this action as an important recognition that ADS-B, a technology used by pilots and air traffic controllers to prevent mid-air collisions, should not be used […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-louisiana"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35697","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=35697"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35698,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35697\/revisions\/35698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}