1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Emergency Aircraft Act of 2022”.
Emergency Aircraft Act of 2022
A BILL
To modify the authority of the Secretary of Defense to transfer excess aircraft to other departments of the Federal Government and to authorize the Secretary to transfer excess aircraft to the Governor of a State, and for other purposes.
2. Modification of authority of Secretary of Defense to transfer excess aircraft to other departments of the Federal Government and authority to transfer excess aircraft to States
Section 1091 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (Public Law 112–239; 10 U.S.C. 2576 note) is amended—
in the section heading, by inserting “and to States” after “Federal Government”;
in subsection (a), in the first sentence, by striking “and the Secretary of Homeland Security for use by the Forest Service and the United States Coast Guard” and inserting “for use by the Forest Service, to the Secretary of Homeland Security for use by the United States Coast Guard, and to the Governor of a State”;
in subsection (b)—
in paragraph (1), by striking “or the United States Coast Guard as a suitable platform to carry out their respective missions” and inserting “, the United States Coast Guard, or the Governor of a State, as the case may be, as a suitable platform to carry out wildfire suppression, search and rescue, or emergency operations pertaining to wildfires”;
in paragraph (3), by striking “; and” and inserting a semicolon;
in paragraph (4), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; and”; and
by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
“(5) in the case of aircraft to be transferred to the Governor of a State, acceptable for use by the State, as determined by the Governor.”
by striking subsection (c);
in subsection (d)—
in paragraph (1)—
by striking “up to seven”; and
by inserting “the Governor of a State or to” after “offered to”; and
by amending paragraph (2) to read as follows:
“(2) Expiration of right of refusal—A right of refusal afforded the Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of Homeland Security under paragraph (1) with regards to an aircraft shall expire upon official notice of such Secretary to the Secretary of Defense that such Secretary declines such aircraft.”
in subsection (e)—
in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by inserting “or to the Governor of a State” after “the Secretary of Agriculture”;
in paragraph (1), by striking “wildfire suppression purposes” and inserting “purposes of wildfire suppression, search and rescue, or emergency operations pertaining to wildfires”; and
in paragraph (2)—
by inserting “, search and rescue, emergency operations pertaining to wildfires,” after “efforts”; and
by inserting “or Governor of the State, as the case may be,” after “Secretary of Agriculture”;
in subsection (f), by striking “or the Secretary of Homeland Security” and inserting “, the Secretary of Homeland Security, or the Governor of a State”;
in subsection (g), by striking “and the Secretary of Homeland Security” and inserting “, the Secretary of Homeland Security, or the Governor of the State to which such aircraft is transferred”;
by adding at the end the following new subsection:
“(h) Reporting—Not later than December 1, 2022, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report on aircraft transferred, during the fiscal year preceding the date of such report, to—
“(1) the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Homeland Security, or the Governor of a State under this section;
“(2) the chief executive officer of a State under section 112 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (Public Law 112–81; 125 Stat. 1318); or
“(3) the Secretary of the Air Force or the Secretary of Agriculture under section 1098 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 (Public Law 113–66; 127 Stat. 881).”
by redesignating subsections (d) through (h) as subsections (c) through (g), respectively.