Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “FAA Advancements Act”.
FAA Advancements Act
A BILL
To improve the processes for type certification, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Definitions
In this Act:
Administrator— The term Administrator means the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.
Appropriate committees of Congress— The term appropriate committees of Congress means the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate.
FAA— The term FAA means the Federal Aviation Administration.
International Validation Branch— The term International Validation Branch means the International Validation Branch of the Compliance and Airworthiness Division of the Aircraft Certification Service of the FAA.
Regulatory materials— The term regulatory materials means rules, orders, advisory circulars, statements of policy, guidance, and other materials related to aviation safety regulations, as well as other materials pertaining to training and operation of aeronautical products.
Secretary— The term Secretary means the Secretary of Transportation.
Sec. 3 Independent study on a future state on type certification processes
Review and study— Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this section, subject to the availability of appropriations, the Administrator shall enter into an agreement with an appropriate federally funded research and development center, or other independent nonprofit organization that recommends solutions to aviation policy challenges through objective analysis, to conduct a review and study in accordance with the requirements and elements set forth in this section.
Elements— The review and study under subsection (a) shall provide analyses, assessments, and recommendations that address the following:
A vision for a future state of type certification that reflects the highly complex, highly integrated nature of today’s aircraft.
A review of the current tools and techniques used for type certification and an evaluation of whether use of advanced digital tools and techniques, including model-based system engineering, would improve the type certification process and enhance aviation safety.
How the FAA could develop a risk-based model for type certification and implement procedures where the FAA could rely solely on an applicant’s showing of compliance in those areas of low-risk, subject to tests, means of compliance, and substantiating data the Administrator considers necessary in the interest of safety.
What changes are needed to ensure that corrective actions for continued operational safety issues can be approved and implemented quickly, particularly with respect to software modifications.
What efficiencies are needed in the FAA’s type certification system that will facilitate the assessment and integration of innovating technologies that advance aviation safety.
Best practices and tools used by other certification authorities that could be adopted by the FAA and the United States, as well as the best practices and tools used by the United States which can be shared with other certification authorities.
Report— Not later than 15 months after the date of enactment of this section, the organization conducting the review and study shall submit to the Administrator and the appropriate committees of Congress a report on the results of the review and study that includes the findings and recommendations of the organization.
Congressional briefing— Not later than 270 days after the report required under subsection (c) is submitted to the Administrator, the Administrator shall brief the appropriate committees of Congress regarding the FAA’s response to the findings and recommendations of such report, what actions the FAA will take as a result of such findings and recommendations, and the FAA rationale for not taking action on any specific recommendation.
Sec. 4 Report on validation program performance
In general— Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall evaluate the performance of the FAA’s type certificate validation program under bilateral agreements, with reference to agreed implementation procedures.
Contents— The evaluation under subsection (a) shall consider, at minimum, the following:
Progress under section 243(a) of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (49 U.S.C. 44701 note) with respect to improving the FAA’s leadership abroad.
Performance with reference to metrics such as the number and types of projects, timeline milestones, the validating authority level of involvement and certifying authority delegation, and trends relating to the repeated use of non-basic criteria to review systems or methods of compliance that have been validated previously in similar context.
Training on the minimum standards for validation work plan content, such as the validating authority level of involvement, and what constitutes justification for level of involvement and compliance document requests.
The perspectives of FAA employees responsible for type validation projects, bilateral civil aviation regulator partners, and industry applicants on the FAA’s performance in carrying out validation projects.
The levels of funding and staffing for the International Validation Branch compared to the Branch’s workload and goals.
The effectiveness of FAA training for employees and outreach conducted to improve and enforce validation processes.
Efforts undertaken to strengthen relationships with international certification authorities to maximize safety cooperation and the use of approvals issued by other certifying authorities in compliance with applicable bilateral agreements and implementation procedures.
Report— The Administrator shall issue a report regarding the evaluation required under subsection (a) to the appropriate committees of Congress not later than 1 year after enactment of this section.
Sec. 5 Internal regulatory process review
In general— The Secretary shall establish an internal regulatory process review team (in this section referred to as the review team) comprising of FAA employees and individuals described in subsection (b) to develop recommendations to improve the timeliness of, and performance accountability in, the development and promulgation of regulatory materials (as defined in section 2). The review team shall deliver a report with recommendations to the Secretary in accordance with the deadlines specified in subsection (e).
Other members; consultation—
In general— The review team shall include outside experts and academics with relevant experience or expertise in aviation and commercial space transportation safety and in improving the performance, accountability, and transparency of the Federal regulatory process, particularly as it relates to aviation and commercial space transportation safety. The review team shall include at least 1 outside expert or academic with relevant experience or expertise in aviation and commercial space transportation safety and at least 1 outside expert or academic with relevant experience or expertise in improving the performance, accountability, and transparency of the Federal regulatory process, particularly as it relates to aviation and commercial space transportation safety.
Consultation— The review team may, as appropriate, consult with industry stakeholders.
Contents of review— In conducting the review required under subsection (a), the review team shall do the following:
Develop a proposal for rationalizing processes and eliminating redundant administrative review of regulatory materials within the FAA, particularly when FAA-sponsored rulemaking committees and stakeholders have collaborated on the proposed regulations to address airworthiness standards deficiencies.
With respect to each office within the FAA that reviews regulatory materials, assess—
the timeline assigned to each such office to complete the review of regulatory materials;
the actual time spent for such review;
opportunities to reduce the actual time for such review; and
whether clear roles, responsibilities, requirements, and expectations are clearly defined for each office required to review the regulatory materials.
Define and document the roles and responsibilities of each office within the FAA that develops, drafts or reviews each kind of regulatory material in order to ensure that hiring reflects who, where, and how these employees function in the rulemaking framework.
Describe any organizational changes or the need to hire additional FAA employees, if necessary and taking into consideration whether current positions are staffed, to reduce delays in publication of proposed and final regulatory materials.
In order to provide the public with detailed information on the progress of the development of regulatory materials, identify reporting mechanisms and develop a template and appropriate system metrics for making publicly available on a website a real-time progress tracker that updates itself to show the major stages (as determined by the Secretary) of the development of regulatory materials as they are initiated, in progress, and completed, from inception of a proposed development of regulatory materials to publication of the final version of such materials.
Consider changes to the FAA’s best practices under rules governing ex parte communications with other validating authorities, including international validating authorities, and with consideration of the public interest in transparency, to provide flexibility for FAA employees to discuss regulatory materials, particularly for those related to enhancing aviation safety and commercial space transportation safety, and the United States aviation and commercial space transportation international leadership.
Recommend methods by which the FAA can incorporate research funded by the Department of Transportation, in addition to consensus standards and conformance assessment processes set by private sector standards-developing organizations into regulatory materials, to keep pace with rapid changes in aviation and commercial space transportation technologies and processes.
Recommend mechanisms to optimize the roles of the Office of the Secretary of Transportation and the Office of Management and Budget, with the objective of improving the efficiency of regulatory activity.
Action plan— The Administrator shall develop an action plan to implement the recommendations developed by the review team. The Administrator shall publish the action plan on the internet website of the FAA and shall transmit the plan to the appropriate committees of Congress.
Deadlines— The requirements of this section shall be subject to the following deadlines:
The review team shall complete the evaluation required under subsection (a) and submit the review team’s report on such evaluation to the Secretary not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of this section.
The Administrator shall develop and publish the action plan under subsection (d) not later than 30 days after the date on which the review team submits the report required by subsection (a) to the Administrator.
Administrative procedure requirements inapplicable— The provisions of subchapter II of chapter 5, and chapter 7, of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the “Administrative Procedure Act”) shall not apply to any activities of the review team in carrying out the requirements of this section.