Congress protects small pilots from hidden surveillance-based airport fees
S. 2175 — Pilot and Aircraft Privacy Act · Filed by Ted Budd (R-NC) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Jun 25, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill restricts how automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) data—real-time aircraft location and identification information—can be used. It bars anyone, including government agencies, from using ADS-B data to identify aircraft for the purpose of assessing fees or charges. It also requires public airports to disclose their cost-reduction efforts and revenue sources before imposing landing or take-off fees on general aviation aircraft, and mandates that any such fees be used only for airside safety projects.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is defensive: it blocks a revenue tool (ADS-B-based fee identification) and imposes transparency and use-restriction requirements on airports. The functional effect is to protect a broad constituency (general aviation operators, flight schools, charities) from hidden or arbitrary fees while preserving legitimate airport funding for safety.
What the text implies
- The ADS-B prohibition may limit future FAA capacity to implement usage-based or congestion-pricing models for airspace, even if such models were designed to improve efficiency rather than raise revenue.
- The transparency requirement for airport fees creates a public record of airport finances, potentially exposing cost structures and revenue gaps that may invite political pressure or federal intervention.
- Restriction of fee revenue to 'airside safety projects' may narrow airports' ability to fund terminal improvements, ground infrastructure, or other non-safety operational needs, potentially affecting service quality.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
General aviation pilots and small aircraft operators are protected from opaque fee structures and surveillance-based charges, while airports retain the ability to fund safety but must justify fees publicly. The transparency requirement and restriction on fee use serve the public interest by preventing arbitrary or hidden cost-shifting to a broad constituency (flight schools, charities, small businesses relying on general aviation).
Who stands to gain
- general aviation operators and owners
- flight schools and training organizations
- charities and non-profit aviation services
Named in the bill
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Secretary of Transportation, general aviation aircraft operators, public-use airports, air traffic controllers
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 3 Republicans.
- Jun 25, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jun 25, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
11 lobbying clients named this bill on 15 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $2,745,153 in lobbying spend. A filing names 4 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 92% of bills with at least one filing.
Ted Budd, the sponsor, reported $300,250 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Association of Airport Executives — $1,172,100 on 1 filing
- Airports Council International -- North America — $775,201 on 1 filing
- Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association — $320,000 on 1 filing
- Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association — $120,000 on 2 filings
- Airports Council International - North America — $120,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 21, 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 (3,556 characters) on Apr 14, 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 Dec 2025 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 21, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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