The House and Senate now have to reconcile the two bills into one (S.223 & H.R. 658), pass it and convince the US President to sign it into law.
Amendments in either bill may not survive reconciliation.
Even Inhofe can realize his mistake (IMO) and change or remove his own amendment.
Amendments to HR 658 that will directly effect sUAS/UAS operators :
Miller (R-MI): Amendment No. 12: Directs the FAA to work with various federal agencies to integrate unmanned aerial systems into the national airspace system and would direct the Administrator to carry out safety studies to support such integration.
Shuster (R-PA): Amendment No. 24—Requires the FAA rulemaking activities conduct certain industry analyses prior to issuing regulations, and require the FAA to subject proposed regulations to certain cost-benefit studies
Amendments to HR 658 that may directly or indirectly effect some or all sUAS/UAS operators:
Graves (R-MO): Amendment No. 22: Provides an exemption for an air show in Cleveland, Ohio, from complying with certain airspace restrictions. The amendment would prohibit the FAA from imposing airspace restrictions on an air show or other aerial event located at the Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland, Ohio, due to an event at a stadium or other venue occurring at the same time.
Waxman (D-CA): Amendment No. 23—Expresses the sense of Congress that the FAA should work with the City of Santa Monica, consistent with FAA design guidelines, to address safety concerns at Santa Monica Airport.
Matheson (D-UT) / Pearce (R-NM): Amendment No. 30— Allows the Secretary of Transportation to release any airport, city, or county from the terms, conditions, reservations, or restrictions on deeds which the U.S. conveyed to an airport, city, county property for airport purposes, provided that the release results in furthering airport purposes.
Schiff (D-CA)[for Waters (D-CA)]: Amendment No. 31— Expresses the sense of the Congress that the operator of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) should consult on a regular basis with representatives of the community surrounding LAX regarding LAX operations and expansion plans. Representatives of the community would include any organization with at least 20 members located with 10 miles of the airport.
Comments
President Obama has already stated that he will veto any FAA Reauthorization Act if the bill decreases FAA funding or does not include the pro-union LaTourette amendment,
This is going to be a long, bitter battle for both Houses of Congress and in the final analysis sUAS/UAS regulation amendments are fairly meaningless in comparison to the important issues in this legislation.