Action Alert: Help Needed Immediately to Defeat Amendment Limiting Airport Ability to Set and Collect User Fees
October 17, 2025
As we noted in an earlier Alert, the Senate Commerce Committee next Tuesday, October 21, is scheduled to consider legislation known as the ROTOR Act that was introduced in the wake of the tragic January accident at DCA to establish new requirements for the utilization of Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) technology by virtually all aircraft and helicopters. Committee leaders have been working over the past few days to make changes to the bill as introduced and ensure that it has broad, bipartisan support when it is considered next week. Late yesterday, Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) announced an agreement to that end.
As we also noted in our Alert and have been warning in recent weeks, the focus of the bill on ADS-B utilization offers proponents of the so-called Pilot and Aircraft Privacy Act (S. 2175/H.R.4146) an opportunity to amend the ROTOR Act in committee next week to include that legislation, which AAAE, ACI-NA, and many airports adamantly oppose. The AOPA-backed Pilot and Aircraft Privacy Act, sponsored by Senator Ted Budd (R-NC) and Rep. Bob Onder (R-MO), 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.
We have learned that Senator Budd does intend to file the PAPA bill as an amendment to the ROTOR Act, and we need your help immediately to oppose adoption of the amendment. Please weigh in with your Senators, particularly those on the Senate Commerce Committee, as soon as possible to oppose adoption of the Budd amendment to the ROTOR Act, which would significantly limit the ability of airport operators to impose reasonable and necessary fees on both commercial and general aviation aircraft. 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 the Budd amendment is adopted, we will have a very difficult time removing it 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
Stay tuned for updates on the state of play with the markup next week and possible further calls to action with additional details and specifics.
