Airport Alert: House to Consider ROTOR Act Next Week

February 19, 2026

When the House of Representatives returns next week, lawmakers are set to vote on Senate-passed aviation safety legislation (S. 2503) known as the Rotorcraft Operations Transparency and Oversight Reform (ROTOR) Act under an expedited procedure typically reserved for non-controversial, bipartisan bills. The ROTOR Act, which passed the Senate unanimously late last year and has the strong support of the families of DCA crash victims and numerous aviation groups including AAAE, would establish new requirements for the utilization of ADS-B technology by virtually all aircraft and helicopters and increase oversight of commercial and helicopter traffic and flight routes near airports. Notably, the ROTOR Act does not include the AOPA-backed Pilot and Aircraft Privacy Act (PAPA) – H.R. 4146/S. 2175 – or similar provisions and the bill is not subject to amendment next week under the expedited House procedure.

The move by House Speaker Mike Johnson to expedite consideration of the ROTOR Act is somewhat surprising given ongoing efforts by leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to draft their own safety legislation to implement NTSB recommendations in the wake of last year’s tragedy at DCA. It is likely that passage of the ROTOR Act would significantly lessen the urgency in Congress to pass additional aviation safety legislation, and it is not yet clear if that fact will influence the vote on the ROTOR Act next week.

We do expect that House T&I Committee leaders will introduce a bipartisan aviation safety bill as early as this week. As we noted in our weekly Federal Affairs call on Tuesday, we have been concerned that the recent endorsement of the PAPA bill by the NTSB Chair (see our Hearing Report) will drive efforts to add the PAPA legislation or something similar to the broader House safety measure. We have been in contact with House staff and coordinating with ACI-NA to re-emphasize our opposition to PAPA and the negative impact it would have on airport operators.

While the contours of future consideration of PAPA are unclear at this time, we urge you to continue your efforts to educate members of the House and Senate on your concerns with the legislation. As a reminder, the bill as introduced would prohibit the use of ADS-B technology for fee collections by airports and impose a series of other burdensome and time-consuming requirements on the imposition and collection of takeoff and landing fees on general aviation, regardless of the process or technology utilized to collect those fees.

To assist you:

• Background paper outlining AAAE concerns with PAPA
• Our previous call to action to push back on PAPA and pilot claims
• Contact information for House members here and Senators here

Thank you for your continued engagement and advocacy. If the AAAE team can be helpful in any way, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

Stay tuned for further updates and calls to action.