H.R. 3477

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3477 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3477

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to require certain air 
carriers to develop and regularly update an operational resiliency 
strategy, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

May 17, 2025

Mr. Larsen of Washington (for himself and Mr. Cohen) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation 
and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to require certain air 
carriers to develop and regularly update an operational resiliency 
strategy, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Ensuring Airline Resiliency to 
Reduce Delays and Cancellations Act''.

SEC. 2. AIRLINE OPERATIONAL RESILIENCY PLANS.

(a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall require a covered 
carrier to develop and regularly update an operational resiliency 
strategy to prevent or limit the impact of future flight disruptions on 
passengers.
(b) Operational Resiliency Strategy.--In each operational 
resiliency strategy developed under subsection (a), a covered carrier 
shall include a description of--
(1) the potential impact of severe weather and other 
reasonably anticipated disruptive events on the operations of 
the carrier and how the carrier seeks to prevent or limit the 
impact of such events on passengers;
(2) the potential impact of severe weather events and other 
reasonably anticipated disruptive events on--
(A) staffing models, including the ability of such 
models to ensure the workforce is able to adequately 
respond to such events and reschedule passengers, 
flight crews, operations staff, and other appropriate 
personnel; and
(B) the current information and technology systems 
of the carrier, including crew scheduling systems, and 
the preparedness of such systems to continue operations 
after such an event or disruption;
(3) the preparedness of the carrier to maintain operations 
and limit or prevent the impact of other potential disruptive 
events identified by the carrier;
(4) the extent to which the carrier addresses known 
cybersecurity risks and information technology deficiencies and 
vulnerabilities to prevent potential flight disruptions; and
(5) any other issues the Secretary determines appropriate 
to protect consumers and maintain the operational stability of 
the airline industry.
(c) Proprietary Information.--The Secretary shall develop a method 
to protect the confidentiality of any trade secret or proprietary 
information submitted in an operational resiliency strategy under 
subsection (b).
(d) Evaluation.--
(1) Audit.--Not later than 3 years after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 
States shall initiate an audit to evaluate the effectiveness of 
the operational resiliency strategies developed under this 
section by covered air carriers.
(2) Stakeholder feedback.--Upon completion of the audit 
under paragraph (1), the Comptroller General shall solicit 
responses from the covered carriers regarding the findings of 
the audit and include any such responses in the report in 
paragraph (3).
(3) Report.--Not later than 1 year after completion of the 
audit conducted under paragraph (1), the Comptroller General 
shall submit to the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 
Senate a report on the findings of the audit.
(e) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be 
construed to--
(1) grant additional authority to the Secretary beyond the 
authority to require a covered air carrier to develop or update 
an operational resiliency strategy in accordance with this Act; 
or
(2) prevent the Secretary from assessing an operational 
resiliency strategy and providing guidance and technical 
assistance to a covered carrier in developing and updating such 
a strategy required under this Act.
(f) Covered Carrier.--In this section, the term ``covered carrier'' 
has the meaning given such term in section 259.3 of title 14, Code of 
Federal Regulations (or successor regulations).
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