Aviation Industry Assistance for Cleaner and Quieter Skies Act

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8589 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8589

 To direct the Secretary of Transportation to provide vouchers to air 
carriers to purchase more fuel-efficient and quieter aircraft, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 13, 2020

Mr. Rouda (for himself, Ms. Norton, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Cisneros, Ms. 
Judy Chu of California, and Mr. Raskin) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 
                             Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To direct the Secretary of Transportation to provide vouchers to air 
carriers to purchase more fuel-efficient and quieter aircraft, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Aviation Industry Assistance for 
Cleaner and Quieter Skies Act''.

SEC. 2. AVIATION INDUSTRY ASSISTANCE FOR CLEANER AND QUIETER SKIES 
              VOUCHER PROGRAM.

    (a) Establishment.--The Secretary shall establish and carry out a 
program, to be known as the ``Aviation Industry Assistance for Cleaner 
and Quieter Skies Voucher Program'', under which the Secretary shall 
issue electronic vouchers to air carriers, subject to the 
specifications set forth in subsection (d), to offset the purchase or 
cost of a lease of eligible new aircraft in exchange for commitments 
from such air carriers to decommission certain currently used aircraft 
and sell such aircraft for recycling of parts or disposal.
    (b) Application.--To be eligible for the program established under 
subsection (a), an air carrier shall submit to the Secretary an 
application at such time, in such manner, and containing such 
information as the Secretary may require, including a description of a 
currently used aircraft of the air carrier.
    (c) Program Requirements.--
            (1) List of eligible aircraft.--In carrying out the program 
        established under subsection (a), the Secretary, in 
        consultation with the Administrator, shall prepare, maintain, 
        publicize, and make available through a publicly available 
        website, lists of--
                    (A) applicable currently used aircraft;
                    (B) eligible aircraft for purchase or lease; and
                    (C) registered aircraft recycling firms eligible to 
                purchase currently used aircraft under this section.
            (2) Commitment requirement.--In carrying out the program 
        established under subsection (a), the Secretary shall issue 
        such regulations as are necessary to establish requirements for 
        an air carrier to purchase or lease an eligible aircraft 
        described in subsection (a), including a timing requirement for 
        the purchase of such, and decommissioning and selling of 
        applicable currently used aircraft of the air carrier for 
        recycling of parts or disposal, except as provided in 
        subsection (f)(2).
    (d) Value of Vouchers.--The Secretary may determine the value of 
each voucher, not to exceed $10,000,000, based on the difference in 
emissions between the currently used aircraft being decommissioned and 
sold and the eligible aircraft being purchased or leased. In 
determining the value of each voucher, the Secretary shall also 
consider if such eligible aircraft also include noise reduction, 
including whether such aircraft meet Stage 5 standards. In addition, 
the Secretary shall consider seat capacity and typical stage length of 
both the currently used aircraft being decommissioned and sold and the 
eligible aircraft being purchased or leased in determining the value of 
the voucher.
    (e) Regulations.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue such regulations as 
are necessary to carry out this section, including a requirement that a 
voucher may be used only to pay a new aircraft order, not an order 
placed (even if not filled) before the date of enactment of this Act.
    (f) Registration.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary shall register aircraft 
        recycling firms eligible to purchase currently used aircraft 
        under this section and establish requirements and procedures 
        for the recycling of parts or disposal of such aircraft to 
        ensure that such aircraft are taken out of service and not used 
        to develop other aircraft with higher greenhouse gas emissions.
            (2) Exception.--Notwithstanding paragraph (1), in the case 
        of an emergency declared by the Secretary or a national 
        emergency declared by the President, the Secretary may 
        temporarily waive the provisions of such paragraph that prevent 
        the use of aircraft taken out of service pursuant to this 
        section for the purposes of responding to such emergency or 
        national emergency.
    (g) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to carry 
out the program established under this section $1,000,000,000 and such 
sums shall remain available until expended.
    (h) Definitions.--In this section the following definitions apply:
            (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
            (2) Air carrier.--The term ``air carrier'' has the meaning 
        given such term in section 40102 of title 49, United States 
        Code.
            (3) Currently used aircraft.--The term ``currently used 
        aircraft'' means--
                    (A) aircraft in the bottom 25 percent of the air 
                carrier's aircraft fleet in terms of fuel efficiency 
                per seat; and
                    (B) aircraft that have been in service for at least 
                1,500 hours in the previous calendar year.
            (4) Eligible aircraft.--The term ``eligible aircraft'' 
        means aircraft that must be new and considered by the Secretary 
        highly fuel-efficient with some consideration given to their 
        noise impact.
            (5) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Transportation.
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