{"id":2952,"date":"2016-04-29T13:52:10","date_gmt":"2016-04-29T17:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/?p=2952"},"modified":"2016-04-29T15:34:52","modified_gmt":"2016-04-29T19:34:52","slug":"special-rule-for-model-aircraft-looking-promising-in-the-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/2016\/04\/29\/special-rule-for-model-aircraft-looking-promising-in-the-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Special Rule for Model Aircraft Looks Favorable in the House"},"content":{"rendered":"

The FAA Modernization and Reform Act with the Special Rule for Model Aircraft was passed into law in 2012, but this year the act is up for renewal. Since last year we have been active on the Hill making our case to protect and preserve the Special Rule for Model Aircraft. We explained the strengths of the special rule and proposed some language to further enhance it. <\/p>\n

These efforts include face-to-face meetings with legislators on Capitol Hill. We are also using a successful law and lobbying firm in DC to help with the House and Senate revision of the bill. <\/p>\n

As a result we now have a House version titled the Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization (AIRR) Act, which preserves our voluntary, community-based approached to managing the model aviation community. The House bill also provided a clear definition of a community-based organization (CBO) and tasks the FAA with developing a process for recognizing CBOS, both long-overdue tasks for the agency. In addition, the bill expands protections to allow model aircraft to be used as a teaching tool for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), as well as aeronautics.<\/p>\n

The Senate version, SB 2568, also keeps the Special Rule for Model Aircraft generally intact, but included additional provisions that could detrimentally impact our community. Fortunately many issues we resolved in earlier drafts or through manager\u2019s amendments. One particular onerous provision was a 400-foot altitude limit that initially applied to everyone, but we successfully worked to secure an exemption for AMA members.<\/p>\n

While we are thankful for the Senate to address many of our concerns, there is still language in the Senate version that could have a negative impact on our hobby. The Senate proposed unnecessary regulations on modelers who scratch build or kit bash. The bill also puts many flying sites near airports in jeopardy and could require all modelers to take an online FAA safety test.<\/p>\n

On April 12 we asked our members to write the Senate to express these concerns. In just a few days nearly 30,100 letters were sent to the Senate asking for support of an amendment that would lessen the negative impact on the model aircraft community. Just like in 2011, we again thank you for your prompt action. The call to action was shared by hobby shops, on forums, through social media, and in club meetings. And just like in 2011, the results may be slow and we may not see the immediate fruits from our April writing campaign for months.<\/p>\n

While at times frustrating, progress can be slow when working with Congress. This is by design. For a quick history lesson, when our country was laying the groundwork for a Federal government, there was a strong case to establish a slow-moving legislative body. Our newly formed country was hesitant to create a swift moving government that could rush through legislation. As a result, there are processes in Congress to keep the law writing process at a slower pace to allow for review, amendments, and citizen engagement.<\/p>\n

We will continue to work with Congress as the more favorable House version to go to a floor vote. Once the House and Senate versions are passed, the bills go to a Conference Committee. In the Conference Committee, the bill will undergo a new round of revisions and changes. Eventually the bill goes to another vote in the House and Senate and then gets signed into law by the President. This process could transpose over the next couple months. Considering this is a heated Presidential election year, it is also likely the process may stall until 2017.<\/p>\n

Below is a graphic that demonstrates our progress at this moment. We have a long road ahead and at any of these stages we may ask you to make your voice heard again. Please continue to monitor www.modelaircraft.org\/gov<\/a> and your email. <\/p>\n

As always, thank you for your support of the AMA during this long process and your efforts to protect our community.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The FAA Modernization and Reform Act with the Special Rule for Model Aircraft was passed into law in 2012, but this year the act is up for renewal. Since last year we have been active on the Hill making our case to protect and preserve the Special Rule for Model […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2952"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2959,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2952\/revisions\/2959"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}