Facility for Runway Operations and Safe Transportation Act
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The bill would amend federal aviation law so that airports can use Airport Improvement Program grant funds to build storage facilities for aircraft deicing equipment and fluids, not just the deicing equipment itself.
What this bill would do
What it would do
The bill would amend a definition in title 49 of the United States Code so that federal Airport Improvement Program grants, which airports use to fund development and safety projects, can pay for storage facilities for deicing equipment and fluids in addition to the deicing equipment and structures themselves. Under current law, according to the CRS summary, airports may use these grants for deicing structures and equipment but not for the buildings that store that equipment and the deicing fluids. The bill makes a narrow, single technical change to the statutory definition of "airport development" and does not create a new grant program, alter other eligibility rules, or provide additional funding beyond what airports could already draw from existing Airport Improvement Program allocations.
Key provisions
- 1Would amend the definition of airport development in title 49 to expand eligible use of Airport Improvement Program funds to include storage facilities for deicing equipment and fluids
Who would be affected
Airports that receive federal Airport Improvement Program grants, particularly those in cold-weather regions that regularly deice aircraft, along with the Federal Aviation Administration, which administers the grants and would apply the revised eligibility definition.
Why it matters
Airports currently able to fund deicing equipment but not its storage would gain flexibility to use existing federal grant dollars for a related need, potentially reducing out-of-pocket costs for storage construction and improving how deicing fluids and equipment are housed and managed.
What would change
Changes to existing law
Amends 49 U.S.C. § 47102(3)(B)(v) (Sec. 2)
Strikes limiting language so that storage facilities for deicing equipment and fluids qualify as airport development eligible for grant funding
Agencies directed to act
Funding and costs
Congressional Budget Office estimate
CBO estimates the FROST Act (H.R. 3423) would increase direct spending by less than $500,000 over the 2025–2035 period, with no effect on revenues.
The bill would allow airport sponsors to use existing Airport Improvement Program and Airport Infrastructure Grants funding to acquire storage facilities for aircraft de-icing equipment and fluids — an expense currently ineligible under those programs. CBO estimates that enacting the bill would increase direct spending (previously appropriated but unspent balances that would now be drawn down) by less than $500,000 over the 2025–2035 period, and would have no effect on revenues or the deficit beyond that negligible amount. The bill does not provide any new budget authority and would not increase spending in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2036. CBO identified no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates in the bill.
Legislative status & sources
Latest action
Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Official CRS summary
Show the CRS summaryHide the CRS summary
This bill allows airport sponsors to use funds from Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grants for storage facilities for aircraft deicing equipment and fluids.
Under current law, airports may use AIP funds for structures and equipment that are used to deice aircraft, but not for the associated storage facilities.
Legislative subjects
Aviation and airports; Transportation and Public Works; Transportation safety and security
Committee report
H. Rept. 119-237