Federal Airport Grant Program Reauthorized
On October 9, 1996, President Clinton signed a bill into law reauthorizing funding for the Federal Aviation Administration for the next two years. Although this legislation covers all aspects of the FAA, the major impact for TxDOT is the reauthorization and changes made to the Airport Improvement Program.
Under the new legislation, the State Block Grant Program has now become permanent. That means that the Texas Department of Transportation will continue to manage the federal grant program for general aviation placing the reliever airport program, of which Texas has 21, and the non-primary commercial service airports, of which Texas currently has none, under state oversight as well. We think that this is a significant step in the right direction giving more flexibility and predictability for federal grant funding to these classes of airports. Funding levels for general aviation airports during Fiscal Year 1997 will continue at approximately the same level as Fiscal Year 1996.
Federal Legislative Concerns
Although the decline in federal funding for airports finally ended with the funding level approved for FY 1997, the Administration has submitted a budget for airport improvement grant funding for next year that could reduce our federal grant program for general aviation airports by 50%! With our overall airport grant program already severely under funded, a further reduction in federal funding would have an extremely detrimental impact on our state airport system.
A second concern is the balance of the Aviation Trust Fund. The collection of revenue for this fund ended on December 31, 1996. Unless Congress takes immediate action, the fund will be bankrupt by sometime in March leaving most of the FAA’s programs and services without financial resources with which to operate. Indications are that the Congress has made this matter a high priority. Hopefully, this problem will be corrected by the time you receive this newsletter. Stay tuned!