WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, the NOTAM Improvement Act, legislation introduced by U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), passed the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. Following the committee’s approval, the legislation can now be considered by the full Senate.

Senator Capito introduced the NOTAM Improvement Act in January 2023 to help prevent future Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) system outages. Specifically, the legislation would require the FAA to establish a task force to update and strengthen the resiliency and cybersecurity of the NOTAM system, which alerts pilots of safety and location hazards on flight routes.

“The system failure that grounded all flights earlier this year cannot happen again, and I was proud to join my colleagues Senators Klobuchar and Moran in advancing our legislation that will prevent similar outages in the future. The NOTAM Improvement Act creates a taskforce of experts to develop specific improvements for this critical system, and I’m pleased to see it take a major step forward today in passing the Senate Commerce Committee. I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, in both chambers, to join our efforts and get this legislation to the president’s desk as soon as possible,” Senator Capito said.

BACKGROUND:

The NOTAM Improvement Act would require the FAA to establish a task force to update and strengthen the resiliency and cybersecurity of the NOTAM system, which alerts pilots of safety and location hazards on flight routes. The task force would be composed of representatives from air carriers, airports, and airline pilot, aircraft dispatcher, and FAA personnel unions, as well as aviation safety and cybersecurity experts. Representative Pete Stauber (R-Minn.), who has previously introduced legislation to improve the NOTAM system, introduced similar legislation that passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 424-4 on Wednesday, January 25.

Full text of legislation is available here.

 

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