Legislative updates

SWAAAE's Legislative Committee monitors government operations, gathers information, identifies issues, and recommends courses of action to further the Chapter's mission. The committee tracks when bills or policies are introduced that have a material impact on aviation organizations and reports to the Chapter officers any issues that arise. The Committee also monitors changes in the body politic to forecast potential policy initiatives.

Current Updates

Issues on the Horizon:

Arizona State Updates

SB 1307 - Advanced Air Mobility Infrastructure: Requires the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) to update the statewide aviation plan to include infrastructure for electric-powered aircraft and requires the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) to provide educational materials to local jurisdictions regarding AAM. The Arizona Airports Association (AZAA) continues to lobby against the transfer of funds from the State Aviation Fund to the General Fund and is looking to regulate peer-to-peer car rentals at airports.

California State Updates

SB 661(Hurtado) - Airports Financial Assistance (Hurtado) was introduced in February 2025. This bill significantly increases funding for California airports by transferring state sales and use taxes from aviation fuel to the Aeronautics Account. California continues to struggle to find resolution to the statewide Aviation Fuel Tax discrepancy. Since that time, CAC assisted with developing a formula that would return roughly 70% of fuel tax revenue to airports. There appears to be disagreement between industry and the state about the estimated revenue at issue. In a recent call, it was concluded that airports, airlines and FBOs will work together to verify the revenue estimate based on actual taxpayer data before further discussions on revenue allocations.

California Aviation Emissions Updates: CARB's (California Air Resources Board) has invited responses to their suggested efforts to reduce aviation emissions. A4A is submitting comments and the CalStrat on behalf of the California Airports Council have plans to meet with CARB and California airport environmental staff next month to discuss their responses and the FAA's input.

Nevada State Updates

The Nevada Aviation Association held its annual conference in Las Vegas April 6-8th. Lt. Governor Anthony delivered the keynote address. He spoke of the importance of aviation to the state’s leisure and tourism industry, the critical nature of being able to connect remote parts of the state with metropolitan areas for movement goods and passengers. The Lt. Governor chairs the Tourism and Travel Nevada Committee and is Vice-Chair of the State Transportation Board.

Additionally State Assemblyman Brian Hibbetts and State Senator Fabian Donate were part of the Legislative Roundtable discussion on aviation and legislative issues and priorities including the efforts to create a Division of Aerospace at the state’s executive level. This discussion concerned policy and the need for a sustainable funding mechanism.

Finally, Congresswoman Dina Titus addressed attendees about the importance of aviation to the state’s economy and Washington’s infrastructure priorities that include airports. She highlighted the Transportation Committee’s Surface Transportation bill and in particular the section concerning grants to improve roadways that connect communities to airports nationwide. The Congresswoman is the minority member of the House Transportation Committee and the Aviation Subcommittee. Congresswoman Titus also discussed the House taking up the Alert Act the week of April 13th. The Alert Act is in response to the Reagan National accident last year and includes new separation standards for helicopters and the use of visual separation.

Nevada legislature convenes again February 2027.

Federal Updates:

Congressional Budget Adoption

Partial Federal Shutdown Congress has passed eleven of the twelve annual funding bills, with one remaining unfunded. Of those, the DHS/TSA/CBP bill remains unfunded due to policy concerns for ICE operations. Multiple bills to fund DHS have been introduced on both the House and Senate floor, however, while the Senate approved a funding bill in early April, the House voted the bill down. Congress is currently in recess with the second session to reconvene on Monday April 13th, 2026. There has been reporting that policy makers have come to agreement on funding DHS, with the potential to fully fund the department through the budget reconciliation process.

• Quarterly Regional Legislative Strategy Session: April 2, 2026

• Enjoin AAAE and ACI formal statements to fund the Department of Homeland Security and end the partial government shutdown

Previous Reports