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05-12-2015, 12:22 PM
http://www.wsj.com/articles/report-cites-hurdles-to-privatizing-air-traffic-control-1431432252
Study Raises Legal Questions in Efforts to Privatize Air-Traffic Control Congressional Research Service findings highlight partisan differences around FAA reauthorization
http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-IJ411_0512pr_J_20150512082127.jpg ENLARGE
Various industry officials, interest groups and lawmakers increasingly advocate privatization of traffic-control services as a solution to the FAA’s unstable funding and lagging traffic-control modernization efforts Photo: Associated Press
By Andy Pasztor
Updated May 12, 2015 8:17 a.m. ET 4 COMMENTS (http://www.wsj.com/articles/report-cites-hurdles-to-privatizing-air-traffic-control-1431432252#livefyre-comment)
A congressional study slated for release on Tuesday raises legal questions about proposals to privatize the Federal Aviation Administration’s traffic-control services, including how fees would be levied and safety standards enforced.
Prepared by the Congressional Research Service, the study spells out what it considers constitutional hurdles to creating a private, nonprofit corporation to take over the government’s air-traffic control network, according to Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon, the ranking Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee who asked for the study. He is a leading opponent of such privatization initiatives.
In an interview Monday, Rep. DeFazio said that experts at the Congressional Research Service have concluded that based on U.S. Supreme Court opinions and other precedents, a privatized entity may lack legal authority to carry out basic functions such as regulating safety, or levying fees or rates on users of traffic-control services. CRS is the public policy research arm of Congress.
Various industry officials, interest groups and lawmakers, including Republican leaders of the full transportation panel and its aviation subcommittee, increasingly advocate privatization as a solution to the FAA’s unstable funding and lagging traffic-control modernization efforts. They contend that under the agency’s current structure, subject to the vagaries of budgets whipsawed by tax policy and political disputes, the FAA won’t be able to deliver on the long-term promises of NextGen, a $40 billion modernization initiative.
Proponents of privatization are looking at forming a nonprofit corporation run by stakeholders. Rep. William Shuster, the Pennsylvania Republican who chairs the full committee, has likened the FAA’s current situation to sticking with a 1950s-era federal highway system. The chairman and his staff are in the early stages of drafting a bill that hews to principles spelled out by The Business Roundtable, according to a person briefed on the details.
The group, an association of chief executives at U.S. companies, recently circulated a nine-page discussion paper based closely on Canada’s privatized air-traffic-controls system. John Engler, the group’s president, previously testified before Rep. Shuster that such a system could deliver superior services and lower costs.
The FAA’s traffic-control system handles more than 60 million aircraft annually across some 30 million square miles, including oceanic airspace. Efforts to radically change the structure have faltered since the 1980s, but this time proponents of change believe they have brighter prospects of reaching consensus.
But the anticipated report could slow momentum toward a comprehensive agreement on reform. At the very least, it highlights what could be a partisan split on Capitol Hill around how to best achieve shared goals.
Rep. DeFazio said he also opposes air traffic-control privatization because the process could result in transferring a roughly $5 billion aviation trust fund into the hands of a privately runs organization. “We are not in the business of handing over federal assets, he said. “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
Other privatization critics worry that stripping the traffic-control organization out of the FAA could endanger support and funding for the remaining parts of the agency, including safety oversight operations and certification of new aircraft and onboard systems.
Referring to the GOP initiative, Rep. DeFazio said “the objectives are the same” as Democratic goals to improve the FAA’s efficiency, even if “the form of the solutions are different.” In his comments on Monday, the veteran Oregon lawmaker said was still hopeful a bipartisan solution could be reached. He said “there are a lot of people” tracking the debate who still “haven’t expressed an opinion.”
Democratic and Republican staffers on the House transportation committee are scheduled to analyze alternative approaches in coming weeks, Rep. Fazio said, and report back to members.
Meanwhile, senators and their staffers have been slower than House counterparts in focusing on the political and operational ramifications of revamping traffic-control services. A Senate panel hearing is expected shortly.
At a hearing in April, Republican Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee which has jurisdiction over the FAA, praised Rep. Shuster’s efforts to develop “new approaches that may yield better results.”
For veteran industry and Capitol Hill observers, the debate is a reminder of various start-and stop FAA restructuring initiatives over the years—all of which eventually petered out. “It’s clearly time” to do something different,” Robert Crandall, the former chairman of American Airlines, told an industry gathering earlier this year. “We’ve been talking about it forever.”
Study Raises Legal Questions in Efforts to Privatize Air-Traffic Control Congressional Research Service findings highlight partisan differences around FAA reauthorization
http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-IJ411_0512pr_J_20150512082127.jpg ENLARGE
Various industry officials, interest groups and lawmakers increasingly advocate privatization of traffic-control services as a solution to the FAA’s unstable funding and lagging traffic-control modernization efforts Photo: Associated Press
By Andy Pasztor
Updated May 12, 2015 8:17 a.m. ET 4 COMMENTS (http://www.wsj.com/articles/report-cites-hurdles-to-privatizing-air-traffic-control-1431432252#livefyre-comment)
A congressional study slated for release on Tuesday raises legal questions about proposals to privatize the Federal Aviation Administration’s traffic-control services, including how fees would be levied and safety standards enforced.
Prepared by the Congressional Research Service, the study spells out what it considers constitutional hurdles to creating a private, nonprofit corporation to take over the government’s air-traffic control network, according to Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon, the ranking Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee who asked for the study. He is a leading opponent of such privatization initiatives.
In an interview Monday, Rep. DeFazio said that experts at the Congressional Research Service have concluded that based on U.S. Supreme Court opinions and other precedents, a privatized entity may lack legal authority to carry out basic functions such as regulating safety, or levying fees or rates on users of traffic-control services. CRS is the public policy research arm of Congress.
Various industry officials, interest groups and lawmakers, including Republican leaders of the full transportation panel and its aviation subcommittee, increasingly advocate privatization as a solution to the FAA’s unstable funding and lagging traffic-control modernization efforts. They contend that under the agency’s current structure, subject to the vagaries of budgets whipsawed by tax policy and political disputes, the FAA won’t be able to deliver on the long-term promises of NextGen, a $40 billion modernization initiative.
Proponents of privatization are looking at forming a nonprofit corporation run by stakeholders. Rep. William Shuster, the Pennsylvania Republican who chairs the full committee, has likened the FAA’s current situation to sticking with a 1950s-era federal highway system. The chairman and his staff are in the early stages of drafting a bill that hews to principles spelled out by The Business Roundtable, according to a person briefed on the details.
The group, an association of chief executives at U.S. companies, recently circulated a nine-page discussion paper based closely on Canada’s privatized air-traffic-controls system. John Engler, the group’s president, previously testified before Rep. Shuster that such a system could deliver superior services and lower costs.
The FAA’s traffic-control system handles more than 60 million aircraft annually across some 30 million square miles, including oceanic airspace. Efforts to radically change the structure have faltered since the 1980s, but this time proponents of change believe they have brighter prospects of reaching consensus.
But the anticipated report could slow momentum toward a comprehensive agreement on reform. At the very least, it highlights what could be a partisan split on Capitol Hill around how to best achieve shared goals.
Rep. DeFazio said he also opposes air traffic-control privatization because the process could result in transferring a roughly $5 billion aviation trust fund into the hands of a privately runs organization. “We are not in the business of handing over federal assets, he said. “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
Other privatization critics worry that stripping the traffic-control organization out of the FAA could endanger support and funding for the remaining parts of the agency, including safety oversight operations and certification of new aircraft and onboard systems.
Referring to the GOP initiative, Rep. DeFazio said “the objectives are the same” as Democratic goals to improve the FAA’s efficiency, even if “the form of the solutions are different.” In his comments on Monday, the veteran Oregon lawmaker said was still hopeful a bipartisan solution could be reached. He said “there are a lot of people” tracking the debate who still “haven’t expressed an opinion.”
Democratic and Republican staffers on the House transportation committee are scheduled to analyze alternative approaches in coming weeks, Rep. Fazio said, and report back to members.
Meanwhile, senators and their staffers have been slower than House counterparts in focusing on the political and operational ramifications of revamping traffic-control services. A Senate panel hearing is expected shortly.
At a hearing in April, Republican Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee which has jurisdiction over the FAA, praised Rep. Shuster’s efforts to develop “new approaches that may yield better results.”
For veteran industry and Capitol Hill observers, the debate is a reminder of various start-and stop FAA restructuring initiatives over the years—all of which eventually petered out. “It’s clearly time” to do something different,” Robert Crandall, the former chairman of American Airlines, told an industry gathering earlier this year. “We’ve been talking about it forever.”