Sponsors (44)
Requires FAA to revise mental-health rules, implement committee recommendations, fund additional AMEs and backlog clearance, and run a destigmatization campaign for aviation personnel.
Official title: 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.
Introduced April 2, 2025 by Sean Casten · Last progress September 9, 2025
The bill aims to reduce stigma and modernize aviation mental‑health certification—potentially improving safety and speeding reinstatements—while redirecting recurring FAA funds and imposing administrative changes that could raise costs, introduce transitional uncertainty, and leave some pilots wary of career impacts.
Pilots, air traffic controllers, and other aviation personnel will face reduced stigma and clearer regulatory support to seek mental‑health care, increasing treatment uptake and improving safety and worker wellbeing.
Pilots and controllers will generally get medical‑certification decisions faster and face fewer backlog‑related career disruptions because the FAA will fund hires, streamline processes, and delegate appropriate authority to qualified Aviation Medical Examiners (AMEs).
A wider range of approved mental‑health medications, regular updates to clinical standards, and improved AME training/delegation should align aviation medical rules with current clinical practice and enable safer, timelier treatment for personnel.
The bill diverts recurring FAA funds (roughly $13.74M/year plus $1.5M/year in specified line items) that could otherwise fund other FAA priorities or infrastructure, reducing flexible resources for the agency.
Implementing new certification rules, training, review processes, and outreach will impose administrative and compliance costs on the FAA, airlines, AMEs, and pilots—potentially increasing paperwork, evaluations, and agency expenses.
Despite stated encouragements, some pilots and controllers may still fear penalties or face more restrictive fitness determinations under expanded mental‑health standards, risking career disruptions and raising rights/liberties concerns.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Requires the FAA to revise rules and processes to encourage aviation personnel to seek mental-health care, implement recommendations from a specialized aviation mental-health committee, fund more aviation medical examiners (including psychiatrists), and run a public education campaign to reduce stigma. Sets deadlines for regulatory updates and implementation, requires consultation with labor and medical stakeholders, and directs the FAA to justify any unimplemented recommendations to Congress. Provides multi-year funding set-asides from existing FAA accounts for hiring, training, backlog clearance, oversight, and public outreach, and defines which congressional committees receive reports and justifications.