Shortly after congressmen Vernon Ehlers and Allen Boyd spearheaded the formation of a General Aviation Caucus in the House of Representatives in April, the group mobilized to rein in the Transportation Security Administration’s policymaking-by-decree practices. The issue came to a head following an outcry from the general aviation community in reaction to the TSA’s Security Directives 08F and 08G, which require background checks and badges for general aviation pilots and aircraft owners operating at airports with any form of commercial service.
Lawmakers agreed with assertions by the general aviation community that the TSA has been using security directives (SDs) to bypass a rulemaking process that should, among other requirements, solicit and consider comments from affected parties. By a 219 to 211 vote, an amendment was added to the Transportation Security Administration Authorization Act that clarified the conditions under which the TSA would be authorized to issue security directives, limiting the practice only to situations involving an imminent threat and finite duration.
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