Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2591 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 2591
5	5	To require the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to revise
6	6	regulations for certain individuals carrying out aviation activities who
7	7	disclose a mental health diagnosis or condition, and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	APRIL2, 2025
10	10	Mr. C
11	11	ASTEN(for himself, Mr. STAUBER, Mr. LARSENof Washington, and Mr.
12	12	M
13	13	ANN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
14	14	on Transportation and Infrastructure
15	15	A BILL
16	16	To require the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Admin-
17	17	istration to revise regulations for certain individuals car-
18	18	rying out aviation activities who disclose a mental health
19	19	diagnosis or condition, and for other purposes.
20	20	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
21	21	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
22	22	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
23	23	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Mental Health in Avia-4
24	24	tion Act of 2025’’. 5
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27	27	•HR 2591 IH
28	28	SEC. 2. REGULATIONS FOR INDIVIDUALS CARRYING OUT 1
29	29	AVIATION ACTIVITIES. 2
30	30	(a) I
31	31	NGENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 3
32	32	date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 4
33	33	Federal Aviation Administration shall update regulations, 5
34	34	including in part 67 of title 14 of Code of Federal Regula-6
35	35	tions, as appropriate, and take any other actions necessary 7
36	36	to implement the recommendations of the aviation work-8
37	37	force mental health task group established under section 9
38	38	411(d) the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 to encourage 10
39	39	individuals to— 11
40	40	(1) seek help for mental health conditions or 12
41	41	symptoms of mental health conditions; and 13
42	42	(2) to disclose conditions or symptoms de-14
43	43	scribed in paragraph (1). 15
44	44	(b) C
45	45	ONSULTATION.—In carrying out this section, 16
46	46	the task group described in subsection (a) shall consult 17
47	47	with relevant stakeholders from the aviation and medical 18
48	48	communities, as necessary, including— 19
49	49	(1) the certified exclusive bargaining represent-20
50	50	atives of air traffic controllers of the Administration 21
51	51	certified under section 7111 of title 5, United States 22
52	52	Code; 23
53	53	(2) the principal organization representing the 24
54	54	largest certified collective bargaining representative 25
55	55	of airline pilots; 26
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58	58	•HR 2591 IH
59	59	(3) aviation medical examiners, as described in 1
60	60	section 183.21 of title 14, Code of Federal Regula-2
61	61	tions; and 3
62	62	(4) any other stakeholder determined relevant 4
63	63	by the task group, including any stakeholders de-5
64	64	scribed in section 411(d)(3)(B) of the FAA Reau-6
65	65	thorization Act of 2024. 7
66	66	(c) R
67	67	EPORTREQUIREMENTS.—Section 411(d)(4) of 8
68	68	the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 (Public Law 118– 9
69	69	63) is amended— 10
70	70	(1) in subparagraph (B) by striking ‘‘and’’ at 11
71	71	the end; 12
72	72	(2) in subparagraph (C) by striking the period 13
73	73	at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 14
74	74	(3) by adding at the end the following: 15
75	75	‘‘(D) a review and evaluation of any rec-16
76	76	ommendations reached by the National Trans-17
77	77	portation Safety Board related to aviation 18
78	78	workforce mental health; and 19
79	79	‘‘(E) a description of relevant clinical stud-20
80	80	ies, research, diagnostic manuals, and protocols 21
81	81	used by the licensed professionals as of the date 22
82	82	of enactment of this Act.’’. 23
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85	85	•HR 2591 IH
86	86	SEC. 3. ANNUAL REVIEW OF MENTAL HEALTH SPECIAL 1
87	87	ISSUANCE PROCESS. 2
88	88	The Administrator of the Federal Aviation Adminis-3
89	89	tration shall conduct an annual review, and update, as ap-4
90	90	propriate, the applicable regulations and policies, on men-5
91	91	tal health-related special issuance for pilots and air traffic 6
92	92	controllers to— 7
93	93	(1) reclassify and approve additional medica-8
94	94	tions that may be safely prescribed to airmen to 9
95	95	treat mental health conditions; 10
96	96	(2) improve mental health knowledge and train-11
97	97	ing for aviation medical examiners; 12
98	98	(3) if the Administrator determines appropriate, 13
99	99	delegate additional authority to aviation medical ex-14
100	100	aminers consistent with the recommendation of the 15
101	101	Mental Health Aviation Rulemaking Committee de-16
102	102	scribed in section 5; and 17
103	103	(4) improve the special issuance process for pi-18
104	104	lots and air traffic controllers. 19
105	105	SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATION FOR ADDI-20
106	106	TIONAL AVIATION MEDICAL EXAMINERS. 21
107	107	There is authorized to be appropriated $13,740,000 22
108	108	to the Administrator for each of fiscal years 2026 through 23
109	109	2029 to— 24
110	110	(1) recruit, select, train, and delegate the nec-25
111	111	essary authorities to additional aviation medical ex-26
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114	114	•HR 2591 IH
115	115	aminers and human intervention motivation study 1
116	116	aviation medical examiners, including those who are 2
117	117	psychiatrists; 3
118	118	(2) expand capacity to provide oversight of 4
119	119	aviation medical examiners and clear the backlog of 5
120	120	special issuance requests and cases awaiting review 6
121	121	at the Office of Aerospace Medicine; and 7
122	122	(3) support any other related activities, as de-8
123	123	termined by the Administrator. 9
124	124	SEC. 5. IMPLEMENTATION OF AVIATION RULEMAKING 10
125	125	COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS. 11
126	126	(a) I
127	127	NGENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 12
128	128	date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 13
129	129	Federal Aviation Administration shall implement the rec-14
130	130	ommendations of the Mental Health and Aviation Medical 15
131	131	Clearances Aviation Rulemaking Committee which were 16
132	132	submitted to the Administrator on April 1, 2024. 17
133	133	(b) C
134	134	ONSULTATION.—Subject to section 2, the Ad-18
135	135	ministrator shall consult with parties in the implementa-19
136	136	tion described in subsection (a). 20
137	137	SEC. 6. PUBLIC INFORMATION CAMPAIGN. 21
138	138	(a) I
139	139	NGENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro-22
140	140	priated to the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Ad-23
141	141	ministration $1,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 24
142	142	through 2029 for a public information campaign or similar 25
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145	145	•HR 2591 IH
146	146	public education efforts to destigmatize individuals in (or 1
147	147	interested in joining) the aviation industry who seek men-2
148	148	tal health care, to broaden awareness of available sup-3
149	149	portive services, and establish trust with pilots and air 4
150	150	traffic controllers. 5
151	151	(b) R
152	152	EPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the Admin-6
153	153	istrator creates the public information campaign described 7
154	154	in subsection (a), the Administrator shall submit to appro-8
155	155	priate committees of Congress a report describing the ac-9
156	156	tions taken to develop such campaign and the plans for 10
157	157	implementation. 11
158	158	SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 12
159	159	In this Act: 13
160	160	(1) A
161	161	PPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON -14
162	162	GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con-15
163	163	gress’’ means— 16
164	164	(A) the Committee on Transportation and 17
165	165	Infrastructure of the House of Representatives; 18
166	166	and 19
167	167	(B) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 20
168	168	and Transportation of the Senate. 21
169	169	(2) S
170	170	PECIAL ISSUANCE.—The term ‘‘special 22
171	171	issuance’’ has the meaning given the term in section 23
172	172	67.401 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations. 24
173	173	Æ
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