Congress orders DOT to finally ban cell phone calls on planes
H.R. 9530 — Quiet Skies Act · Filed by Hillary Scholten (D-MI) · 5 cosponsors · Introduced Jun 29, 2026 · Reported out
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What it does
This bill requires the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations within 180 days prohibiting passengers from making voice calls on cell phones during commercial airline flights. It directs the DOT to enforce an existing statutory requirement (49 U.S.C. § 41725) that was previously unenforced, giving ordinary airline passengers a quieter flight experience by banning in-flight phone calls.
Why we flagged it
The bill is a straightforward directive to enforce an existing statutory prohibition on in-flight cell phone voice calls. It is not deregulation, not a carve-out, and not a subsidy—it is a mandate to the executive branch to do what Congress already required in law.
What the text implies
- The bill assumes 49 U.S.C. § 41725 exists and contains a prohibition on in-flight cell voice calls; if that statute does not contain such a prohibition or is narrower than assumed, the rule may not achieve the stated goal.
- The 180-day deadline is a hard enforcement trigger—if DOT misses it or issues a rule that is later challenged, litigation could delay implementation.
- The bill does not specify penalties, enforcement mechanisms, or how airlines will comply; those details will be in the rule itself and may affect practical impact.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary airline passengers benefit from a quieter, less disruptive flight environment. The bill enforces an existing statutory mandate that has languished unenforced, restoring a protection that Congress already intended but the executive branch has not implemented.
Named in the bill
Secretary of Transportation, Department of Transportation (DOT), 49 U.S.C. § 41725, Commercial airlines, Airline passengers
Where it stands
5 cosponsors: 4 Republicans, 1 Democrats.
- Jun 29, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jun 29, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure”
- Sep 15, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Sep 15, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Voice Vote”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $65,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 7 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Hillary Scholten, the sponsor, reported $769,940 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Global Business Travel Association — $65,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (345 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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