Stricken language would be deleted from and underlined language would be added to present law.
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State of Arkansas 1
95th General Assembly A Bill 2
Regular Session, 2025 HOUSE BILL 1976 3
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By: Representative Nazarenko 5
By: Senator J. Dotson 6
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For An Act To Be Entitled 8
AN ACT CONCERNING VERTIPORTS; TO CREATE THE OPEN 9
ACCESS TO PUBLIC-USE VERTIPORTS ACT; AND FOR OTHER 10
PURPOSES. 11
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Subtitle 14
CONCERNING VERTIPORTS; AND TO CREATE THE 15
OPEN ACCESS TO PUBLIC -USE VERTIPORTS 16
ACT. 17
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS: 19
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SECTION 1. Arkansas Code Title 14 is amended to add an additional 21
chapter to read as follows: 22
CHAPTER 365 23
VERTIPORTS 24
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Subchapter 1 — General Provisions [Reserved.] 26
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Subchapter 2 — Open Access to Public -Use Vertiports Act 28
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14-365-201. Title. 30
This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Open Access to 31
Public-Use Vertiports Act". 32
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14-365-202. Definitions. 34
As used in this subchapter: 35
(1) "Political subdivision" means a county, municipality, or any 36 HB1976
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other unit of local government in the state; 1
(2) "Public-use vertiport" means a vertiport that is: 2
(A) Intended to be used for public purposes; 3
(B) Under the control of a public agency; and 4
(C) Located on property that is publicly owned; and 5
(3) "Vertiport" means infrastructure or a system with supporting 6
services and equipment intended for the take -off, landing, and ground -7
handling of crewed or uncrewed vertical take -off and landing aircraft, 8
including without limitation a: 9
(A) Public-use airport; and 10
(B) Private airport. 11
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14-365-203. Purpose. 13
It is the policy of the state to promote the development of a network 14
of public-use vertiports that will provide equitable access to citizens of 15
this state who may benefit from advanced air mobility operations for cargo 16
and passenger service and to avoid any public -use vertiport monopolization or 17
discrimination by: 18
(1) Funding the planning for and construction of vertiports with 19
funding appropriated by the General Assembly; 20
(2) Encouraging local zoning and other land use authorities to 21
ensure an adequate number and a varied location of public -use vertiports to 22
serve citizens throughout the state; and 23
(3) Promoting competition and equity of access by prohibiting 24
the state or a political subdivision from granting an exclusive right of 25
access to one (1) or more vertiport operators at any public -use vertiport. 26
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14-365-204. Applicability. 28
This subchapter applies to a vertiport that is operated by an advanced 29
air mobility operator authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration to 30
engage in passenger or cargo services in scheduled or nonscheduled service in 31
or affecting interstate commerce. 32
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14-365-205. Vertiport safety. 34
(a) Each vertiport design shall comply with any rule or advisory 35
circular published by the Federal Aviation Administration that contains 36 HB1976
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standards for vertiport design and performance characteristics. 1
(b) A vertiport owner or operator shall submit a vertiport layout plan 2
to the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration in the form and 3
manner determined by the administrator, and operations shall not be conducted 4
at the vertiport until the vertiport layout plan is approved by the 5
administrator. 6
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14-365-206. Prohibited zoning. 8
(a) A political subdivision shall not use its zoning and land use 9
authority to grant or permit an exclusive right to one (1) or more vertiport 10
owners or operators. 11
(b) A political subdivision shall use its zoning and land use 12
authority to promote reasonable access to advanced air mobility operators and 13
public-use vertiports within the jurisdiction of the political subdivision. 14
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14-365-207. Subchapter supplemental — Severability. 16
(a) This subchapter is supplemental to any provision of federal law 17
pertaining to the design, construction, operation, or maintenance of a 18
vertiport designed or constructed with a grant under 49 U.S.C. § 47101 et 19
seq. 20
(b) A provision of this subchapter found in conflict with or otherwise 21
preempted by federal law shall be null and void without invalidating any 22
other provision of this subchapter, and to this end the provisions of this 23
subchapter are severable. 24
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