Airport Regulatory Relief Act permits state highway standards

House Floor Schedule

Published January 1st, 2026

Detected April 5th, 2026

Summary

The U.S. House introduced H.R. 6427, the Airport Regulatory Relief Act of 2025, which would amend 49 USC 47114(d)(4) to permit nonprimary airports serving aircraft up to 60,000 pounds gross weight to use State highway specifications for airfield pavement construction funded under certain FAA programs. The Secretary must determine within 6 months (extendable by another 6 months) whether such specifications will not negatively affect safety.

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What changed

The bill would amend Section 47114(d)(4) of title 49, United States Code, to allow states to use their highway pavement specifications for airfield construction at nonprimary airports serving aircraft not exceeding 60,000 pounds gross gross weight. States must provide notice to the Secretary of Transportation of their intent to use highway specifications, and the Secretary must determine within 6 months that such specifications will not negatively affect safety. The Secretary may extend this determination period by 6 months with notification and justification, and may authorize additional extensions.

Nonprimary airports and state transportation departments should monitor this legislation as it progresses through Congress. If enacted, affected airports seeking federal funding for pavement projects would gain flexibility to use state highway standards, potentially reducing costs and administrative burden. The Secretary's safety determination requirement means this option would only become available after formal agency review.

What to do next

Monitor H.R. 6427 progress through Congress
Notify state transportation officials of potential new airfield pavement standards option
Prepare to submit notice to FAA Secretary if state intends to use highway specifications for airfield projects

Source document (simplified)

H.L.C.

Union Calendar No. H. R. 6427

119 CONGRESS TH 2 ESSION

[Report No. 119-]

To amend title 49, United States Code, to permit the use of State highway standards for airfield pavement construction and improvement under certain circumstances, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

4, 2025 ECEMBER Mr. B(for himself, Mr. C, Mr. T , and Ms. T ) intro-DEGICHSASEDAYLOR JOKUDA duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Trans- portation and Infrastructure --, 2026 ANUARY Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] [For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on December 4, 2025]

H.L.C.

A BILL

To amend title 49, United States Code, to permit the use of State highway standards for airfield pavement con- struction and improvement under certain circumstances, and for other purposes.

H.L.C.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3

This Act may be cited as the ''Airport Regulatory Re-4 lief Act of 2025''. 5

SEC. 2. USE OF STATE HIGHWAY STANDARDS. 6

Section 47114(d)(4) of title 49, United States Code, 7 is amended to read as follows: 8 -9 ''(4) U SE OF STATE HIGHWAY SPECIFICA .-- 10TIONS .--The Secretary shall use 11 ''(A) I N GENERAL the highway specifications of a State for airfield 12 pavement construction and improvement using 13 funds made available under this subsection or 14 subsection (c)(1)(D) at nonprimary airports 15 serving aircraft that do not exceed 60,000 pounds 16 gross weight if-- 17 ''(i) such State provides notice to the 18 Secretary that nonprimary airports in the 19 State intend to use such highway specifica-20 tions; and 21 ''(ii) the Secretary determines that 22 such specifications will not negatively affect 23 safety. 24

H.L.C.

.--The Secretary shall make 1''(B) DEADLINE a determination described in subparagraph 2 (A)(ii) not later than 6 months after a State 3 provides notice to the Secretary under subpara-4 graph (A)(i). 5 .--If the Secretary deter-6''(C) EXTENSION mines that the time provided under subpara-7 graph (B) is insufficient to make a determina-8 tion, the Secretary may extend the determination 9 period by 6 months, so long as the Secretary-- 10 ''(i) notifies the State that provided 11 notice pursuant to subparagraph (A)(i) of 12 the extension; and 13 ''(ii) provides justification for the ex-14 tension to such State. 15 .--The Sec-16''(D) ADDITIONAL EXTENSIONS retary may authorize additional extensions 17 under subparagraph (C).''. 18