House Passes Waters’ Amendment on Federal Aviation Administration

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment by Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-35) to prohibit consolidation of the regional offices of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) without oversight.  The amendment was offered with the assistance of her colleague, Congressman Alcee Hastings (FL-23).  The amendment was incorporated into the FAA Reauthorization Act, which then passed the House of Representatives and is now awaiting consideration in the U.S. Senate.

"I am pleased that my colleagues supported my amendment to require the FAA to obtain congressional oversight and public comment prior to consolidating services in its regional offices," said Congresswoman Waters.

The FAA has nine regional offices serving airports in all fifty states.  One of these offices, the Western-Pacific Regional Office, is located in Hawthorne, California, in Congresswoman Waters' congressional district.  This office serves all of Southern California, including Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), one of the busiest airports in the world.

"The FAA has consolidated services in the regional offices twice over the last two years.  The FAA did not seek or accept input from Congress, regional office employees, or the affected communities prior to reorganizing these offices and transferring employees from the Hawthorne office to offices in other parts of the country," said the Congresswoman.

Last year, the FAA consolidated administrative and technical support services in the regional offices.  FAA employees in the Hawthorne office were transferred to an FAA office in Seattle.  The previous year, the FAA relocated financial accounting services from the Hawthorne office to Oklahoma City.

The FAA is reportedly considering plans to consolidate the engineering services in the regional offices.  These plans probably would involve the transfer of experienced engineers from the Hawthorne office to Seattle.

"Engineering services are critical for the safe operation of air traffic control towers, and engineers should not be transferred outside of the Los Angeles area without congressional oversight and input from the public," said the Congresswoman.

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