FAA USER FEE LEGISLATION PROPOSALS
May, 2007
Note from SLAC
Update:
Following us a
collection of information on the current discussions in Congress concerning
revising the entire method of collecting Aviation User Fees for modernization
and maintenance of the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system.
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Message from Bob Walch, President of SLAC:
“This
is a very significant consideration that will effect the long time survival of
general aviation. I would send it out
in the
Update. General aviation will deteriorate if this
bill is passed. I sent my contribution
to AOPA to support their fight against this travesty yesterday. I would suggest all friends of aviation
consider sending financial aid to AOPA to fight this battle for us. It is not political - it is an infringement upon
our right to fly. The boaters have
their waterways maintained by public funds .....why not the Light
Sports the Mooneys the Pipers the Beeches and the Cessnas? This bill is only a first step. If passed, it will be followed legislation that
will remove much of general aviation, as we know it today, out of the
skies as it has happened in Europe.
The economic impact of general aviation is a significant
contribution to the GNP and government should do those things which will cause
it to grow and flourish rather than hinder its advancement”.
Bob
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Read
a sample letter written by member Harold
Thomas to his Idaho representative in Congress.
Write to:
Senator
Jon Kyl
U.S.
Senate
Senate
Hart Office Bldg., Rm. 730
Washington,
DC 20510
Fax
number 202/224-2207
If you write, would suggest you
use some of the information in the Message from Bob above as well as the letter
written by Harold.
Vern
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Special Notice from AOPA President Phil
Boyer May 16, 2007
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==> ATTENTION PILOTS <==
ROUND ONE OVER--NO MORE SENATE CONTACT NEEDED, FOR NOW
My apologies for the e-mail exchanges we have been having this week, but I did
want to thank you for your tremendous response to yesterday's message asking
for immediate action in contacting your senator to fight user fees. Let me
assure you that your phone calls were very important in disrupting the
airlines' attempt to have user fees pass unopposed by the Senate Commerce
Committee. This committee is the first of nearly a dozen political bodies that
will weigh in on the FAA financing issue.
We lost a close vote by a margin of 12 to 11 on the Nelson/Sununu amendment
that would have struck the $25 air traffic modernization "surcharge"
from the Senate FAA funding bill. By early evening last night, the after-hours
Senate office voicemails were filled to capacity by many of the more than
135,000 AOPA members who heeded our call to action. Late yesterday afternoon, I
was actually waiting to see a senator in his office and watching and listening
while his administrative staff was answering your calls.
Note from Update: For information on the
$25 air traffic modernization “surcharge”
see the following section.
Eleven members of the Commerce Committee deserve special recognition from
pilots for their tremendous work in supporting the fight against user fees.
First of all, Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and John Sununu (R-N.H.) did excellent
work in stepping forward to sponsor the amendment. Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.),
Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas),
Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), John Ensign (R-Nev.), Jim
DeMint (R-S.C.), and David Vitter (R-La.) all supported the amendment.
On the other side, there were 12 senators who supported user fees: Sens. John
D. Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Trent Lott (R-Miss.), Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Daniel
K. Inouye (D-Hawaii), John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Maria
Cantwell (D-Wash.), Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Claire C. McCaskill (D-Mo.),
Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), and John Thune (R-S.D.).
Frankly, even this defeat sent a very strong message that AOPA members do not
support user fees for any segment of aviation! This is important because we are
still in the early stages. This bill will also need action
by the Senate Finance Committee before it reaches a vote by the full Senate.
Your hard work has been an impressive opening round, and we still have yet to
see any action in the House of Representatives.
By midday Thursday, May 17, you can access our full Web story
( http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2007/070516amendment.html
). More importantly, for those of you who made contacts of any kind, this Web
story will contain audio clips if your senator spoke on behalf of or in
opposition to the amendment.
This will not be the only time we call on you this year, but you have proven
that our highly targeted method of AOPA member contact is effective.
Thanks so much,
Phil Boyer
AOPA President
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Sens. Nelson, Sununu, and Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) fought valiantly for GA. Nelson made it clear that the current FAA funding system would be able to generate more than enough money to modernize the ATC system.
Noting that the Rockefeller-Lott FAA funding bill would give the airlines a tax break by eliminating its 4.3-cent fuel tax and replacing it with a $25-per-flight user fee on all turbine-powered aircraft flying in controlled airspace, Nelson asked, "Who do you want to pay? You have to make a choice; do you want it from the user fee or a continuation of the existing fuel tax on commercial aviation?"
Nelson said that Florida, like Alaska, depended
upon GA, and that his entire state was covered by controlled airspace. Every
turboprop flying point to point in Florida would pay the $25-per-flight fee.
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