Legislation Filed In Rules Committee Would Preserve
Opt-Out
The NBAA said Tuesday it welcomes legislation filed with the
House Rules Committee that includes language to preserve the Block
Aircraft Registration Request (BARR) program. At the request of
U.S. Representatives Sam Graves (R-6-MO) and Leonard Boswell
(D-3-IA), the language has been included by Rep. John Mica
(R-7-FL), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure
(T&I) Committee, in the manager's amendment to the FAA
Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2011 (H.R. 658), which was filed
with the Rules Committee Tuesday.
The legislation directs the FAA to allow aircraft owners and
operators to opt-out of having their flight information published
by flight-tracking services. The amendment goes on to note that the
online broadcast of general aviation movements by government
against citizens' will "does not serve a public policy
objective."
NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen thanked Reps. Graves, Boswell
and Mica, as well as Rep. Thomas Petri (R-6-WI), Chairman of the
T&I Committee's Subcommittee on Aviation, for their work to
include the BARR-related provisions in the manager's amendment to
H.R. 658.
"On behalf of NBAA Member Companies across the U.S., we commend
these Congressional leaders for supporting the BARR program, and
taking this important action to help protect citizens' privacy,
prevent corporate espionage, and preserve the security of business
operations," Bolen said.
The action taken by the Congressmen comes in response to the
FAA's recent publication in the Federal Register of a plan to
severely limit participation in the BARR program. The government's
plans for curtailing the BARR program have been met with strong
objections by NBAA, which has noted that the proposal represents an
unwarranted invasion of the privacy of aircraft owners and
operators, a threat to the competitiveness of U.S. companies and a
potential security risk to persons on board general aviation
aircraft.
"Today's action in Congress comes as very good news, not only
for the thousands of companies that rely on the BARR program, but
for any citizen who recognizes that privacy is a fundamental value,
and that government should take steps to preserve that privacy, not
facilitate its intrusion," Bolen said. "We thank Congressmen
Graves, Boswell, Mica and Petri for recognizing the importance of
this issue, and taking this critical step to protect citizens from
electronic stalking of their aviation movements."