USCTA Alert

October 17, 2025 -- 5:45 p.m. EDT

Following up on our Action Alert from earlier today, we have learned that Senator Ted Budd (R-NC) has filed three amendments with the Senate Commerce Committee that, if adopted, would limit the use of ADS-B technology by airports for reasonable and necessary user fee collections. By filing the amendments today, Senator Budd will have the opportunity to call for their consideration and adoption next Tuesday, October 21, during committee consideration of the bipartisan ROTOR Act, which has been drafted in response to the tragic January accident at DCA and would establish new requirements for the utilization of ADS-B technology by virtually all aircraft and helicopters.
 
The specific amendments that were filed, including links to their text:
•    Budd #1: Includes a prohibition on the use of ADS-B data by airports to identify any aircraft in order to assess a fee or impose a charge.
•    Budd #2: Includes the same ADS-B prohibition for airports and limits ADS-B utilization by air traffic controllers to tracking, improving safety and efficiency, or other approved purposes after notice and public comment.
•    Budd #3: Includes the provisions of the Pilot and Aircraft Privacy Act (S. 2175/H.R.4146), which would prohibit airports from using ADS-B data to assess or collect landing or takeoff fees on any aircraft operator and impose significant new administrative hurdles on airports prior to imposing takeoff or landing fees on any general aviation aircraft. 

Now that specific amendments have been filed, we renew our request that you weigh in with your delegation in opposition, particularly Senators on the Senate Commerce Committee, as soon as possible. The quick messages to convey are:

• Please oppose the Budd amendments to the ROTOR Act when they are considered by the Commerce Committee on October 21.
• Adoption of these amendments would limit the ability of my airport and others across the country to impose and collect necessary and reasonable user fees that fund our facility and operations and allow us to comply with federal grant assurances.
• Adoption of these amendments would be an unnecessary distraction from important efforts to enhance safety in the underlying ROTOR Act.  

Additional background on the PAPA bill can be found here and a joint AAAE/ACI-NA document in opposition to the bill that you can share with your contacts on Capitol Hill is accessible here.
 
There is urgency to this request given the fact that the ROTOR Act will most certainly clear the Commerce Committee next week with bipartisan support. If any of the Budd amendments are adopted, we will have a very difficult time removing them from the legislation as it moves forward through the process. Please weigh in immediately. Again, members of the Senate Commerce Committee are the primary target at this point. They are:
 
Republicans
Ted Cruz, Texas (Chairman)
John Thune, South Dakota
Roger Wicker, Mississippi
Deb Fischer, Nebraska
Jerry Moran, Kansas
Dan Sullivan, Alaska
Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee
Todd Young, Indiana
Ted Budd, North Carolina
Eric Schmitt, Missouri
John Curtis, Utah
Bernie Moreno, Ohio
Tim Sheehy, Montana
Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia
Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming
 
Democrats
Maria Cantwell, Washington (Ranking Member)
Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota
Brian Schatz, Hawaii
Ed Markey, Massachusetts
Gary Peters, Michigan
Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin
Tammy Duckworth, Illinois
Jacky Rosen, Nevada
Ben Ray Luján, New Mexico
John Hickenlooper, Colorado
John Fetterman, Pennsylvania
Andy Kim, New Jersey
Lisa Blunt Rochester, Delaware
 
Thank you to those airports that have already weighed in. Your input has been very helpful as we communicate airport concerns with key offices.