I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2591
To require the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to revise
regulations for certain individuals carrying out aviation activities who
disclose a mental health diagnosis or condition, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL2, 2025
Mr. C
ASTEN(for himself, Mr. STAUBER, Mr. LARSENof Washington, and Mr.
M
ANN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Transportation and Infrastructure
A BILL
To require the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Admin-
istration to revise regulations for certain individuals car-
rying out aviation activities who disclose a mental health
diagnosis or condition, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Mental Health in Avia-4
tion Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. REGULATIONS FOR INDIVIDUALS CARRYING OUT 1
AVIATION ACTIVITIES. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 3
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 4
Federal Aviation Administration shall update regulations, 5
including in part 67 of title 14 of Code of Federal Regula-6
tions, as appropriate, and take any other actions necessary 7
to implement the recommendations of the aviation work-8
force mental health task group established under section 9
411(d) the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 to encourage 10
individuals to— 11
(1) seek help for mental health conditions or 12
symptoms of mental health conditions; and 13
(2) to disclose conditions or symptoms de-14
scribed in paragraph (1). 15
(b) C
ONSULTATION.—In carrying out this section, 16
the task group described in subsection (a) shall consult 17
with relevant stakeholders from the aviation and medical 18
communities, as necessary, including— 19
(1) the certified exclusive bargaining represent-20
atives of air traffic controllers of the Administration 21
certified under section 7111 of title 5, United States 22
Code; 23
(2) the principal organization representing the 24
largest certified collective bargaining representative 25
of airline pilots; 26
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(3) aviation medical examiners, as described in 1
section 183.21 of title 14, Code of Federal Regula-2
tions; and 3
(4) any other stakeholder determined relevant 4
by the task group, including any stakeholders de-5
scribed in section 411(d)(3)(B) of the FAA Reau-6
thorization Act of 2024. 7
(c) R
EPORTREQUIREMENTS.—Section 411(d)(4) of 8
the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 (Public Law 118– 9
63) is amended— 10
(1) in subparagraph (B) by striking ‘‘and’’ at 11
the end; 12
(2) in subparagraph (C) by striking the period 13
at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 14
(3) by adding at the end the following: 15
‘‘(D) a review and evaluation of any rec-16
ommendations reached by the National Trans-17
portation Safety Board related to aviation 18
workforce mental health; and 19
‘‘(E) a description of relevant clinical stud-20
ies, research, diagnostic manuals, and protocols 21
used by the licensed professionals as of the date 22
of enactment of this Act.’’. 23
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SEC. 3. ANNUAL REVIEW OF MENTAL HEALTH SPECIAL 1
ISSUANCE PROCESS. 2
The Administrator of the Federal Aviation Adminis-3
tration shall conduct an annual review, and update, as ap-4
propriate, the applicable regulations and policies, on men-5
tal health-related special issuance for pilots and air traffic 6
controllers to— 7
(1) reclassify and approve additional medica-8
tions that may be safely prescribed to airmen to 9
treat mental health conditions; 10
(2) improve mental health knowledge and train-11
ing for aviation medical examiners; 12
(3) if the Administrator determines appropriate, 13
delegate additional authority to aviation medical ex-14
aminers consistent with the recommendation of the 15
Mental Health Aviation Rulemaking Committee de-16
scribed in section 5; and 17
(4) improve the special issuance process for pi-18
lots and air traffic controllers. 19
SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATION FOR ADDI-20
TIONAL AVIATION MEDICAL EXAMINERS. 21
There is authorized to be appropriated $13,740,000 22
to the Administrator for each of fiscal years 2026 through 23
2029 to— 24
(1) recruit, select, train, and delegate the nec-25
essary authorities to additional aviation medical ex-26
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aminers and human intervention motivation study 1
aviation medical examiners, including those who are 2
psychiatrists; 3
(2) expand capacity to provide oversight of 4
aviation medical examiners and clear the backlog of 5
special issuance requests and cases awaiting review 6
at the Office of Aerospace Medicine; and 7
(3) support any other related activities, as de-8
termined by the Administrator. 9
SEC. 5. IMPLEMENTATION OF AVIATION RULEMAKING 10
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS. 11
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 12
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 13
Federal Aviation Administration shall implement the rec-14
ommendations of the Mental Health and Aviation Medical 15
Clearances Aviation Rulemaking Committee which were 16
submitted to the Administrator on April 1, 2024. 17
(b) C
ONSULTATION.—Subject to section 2, the Ad-18
ministrator shall consult with parties in the implementa-19
tion described in subsection (a). 20
SEC. 6. PUBLIC INFORMATION CAMPAIGN. 21
(a) I
NGENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro-22
priated to the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Ad-23
ministration $1,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 24
through 2029 for a public information campaign or similar 25
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public education efforts to destigmatize individuals in (or 1
interested in joining) the aviation industry who seek men-2
tal health care, to broaden awareness of available sup-3
portive services, and establish trust with pilots and air 4
traffic controllers. 5
(b) R
EPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the Admin-6
istrator creates the public information campaign described 7
in subsection (a), the Administrator shall submit to appro-8
priate committees of Congress a report describing the ac-9
tions taken to develop such campaign and the plans for 10
implementation. 11
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 12
In this Act: 13
(1) A
PPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON -14
GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con-15
gress’’ means— 16
(A) the Committee on Transportation and 17
Infrastructure of the House of Representatives; 18
and 19
(B) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 20
and Transportation of the Senate. 21
(2) S
PECIAL ISSUANCE.—The term ‘‘special 22
issuance’’ has the meaning given the term in section 23
67.401 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations. 24
Æ
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