fall. NATCA President Paul Rinaldi and EVP Trish Gilbert, along with GA staff, continue
to wor k closely with House and Senate committee staff to discuss NATCA's priorities for
the FAA reauthorization bill.
Update: On Thursday, October 22, the House Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee approved a six - year surface transportation reauthorizatio n proposal.
Chairman Shuster still needs to find revenue that would pay for the proposal, which must
come from the House Ways and Means Committee. In the meantime, a short - term bill
has been introduced to extend surface transportation programs until Novemb er 20 in
order to give lawmakers more time to work on the long - term bill. H.R. 3819 is expected
to be voted on during the week of October 26. The Senate has already passed its
version of surface transportation legislation. As soon as Congress is able to fi nish the
highway bill, there is greater likelihood that FAA Reauthorization will have a path forward
to introduction and passage in the House.
UPCOMING HEARING ON DRONES : On Wednesday, October 28, FAA Administrator
Michael Huerta testified before The Sena te Appropriations Subcommittee on
Transportation, Housing and Urban Development about integrating drones into the
national air space. At an AeroClub luncheon last week, the Administrator announced that
the FAA hopes to have the final rule for unmanned aeri al vehicles (UAV) completed by
spring 2016.
COLA BILL INTRODUCED : Last week it was announced that there will be no cost of
living adjustment (COLA) for federal retirees and Social Security beneficiaries next year
because, according to the Consumer Price Index Figures, there is no need for an
increase. Last week, Rep. Alan Grayson (D - FL) introduced Seniors Deserve a Raise Act
(H.R. 3761) to provide a 2.9% COLA in 2016. The bill would tie future COLAs to the
Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI - E), an index that weighs more heavily the
items on which seniors tend to spend their money, such as medical expenses. More on
this to follow.
COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
STAFFING
Last week, we continued to work with NATCA Leadership and the Government
Affairs De partment to maintain momentum on our comprehensive and successful media
campaign to draw attention to new data that shows how critical the nationwide controller
staffing shortage has become.
We set up an interview for Executive Vice President Trish Gilber t with Travel
Weekly, which reaches a large and important audience of travelers. The article, which
ran earlier this week, includes an in - depth analysis of how the issue plays into larger
policy discussions on FAA reform currently being discussed in Congre ss (as detailed
above in the Government Affairs update). You can read the article here.
In addition, we work ed with LAX FacRep Mike Foote, who was interviewed by the
Los Angeles Times , set up Atlanta TRACON FacRep Mike Ryan with an interview on a
local Atlanta newstalk radio station, and assisted the reporting of National Public Radio's
Morning Edition program b y providing the facts of the issue and arranging for a taped
interview with Dallas TRACON FacRep Scott Montroy.
Our continuing efforts to work with media outlets requesting information about
their local facilities resulted in a good TV story out of Greens boro, N.C. You can view
that story here .
