United States S 1459: MOBILE Act

Bill Text

II
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION S. 1459
To require the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to issue
regulations concerning accommodations for powered wheelchairs, and for
other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MAY 4, 2023
Ms. DUCKWORTH (for herself and Mr. THUNE) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation
A BILL
To require the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Admin-
istration to issue regulations concerning accommodations
for powered wheelchairs, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘Mobility Aids On 4
Board Improve Lives and Empower All Act’’ or the ‘‘MO-5
BILE Act’’. 6
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•S 1459 IS
SEC. 2. REGULATIONS RELATED TO POWERED WHEEL-1
CHAIRS; OTHER EVALUATIONS REGARDING 2
WHEELCHAIRS. 3
(a) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 1 year after the 4
date of enactment of this section, the Secretary of Trans-5
portation (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) 6
shall issue a notice of proposed rulemaking requiring air 7
carriers and foreign air carriers (as defined in section 8
40102 of title 49, United States Code)— 9
(1) to publish, on a prominent and easily acces-10
sible place on the website of the carrier, information 11
describing the dimensions of the cargo holds of all 12
aircraft types in the air carrier’s fleet, including the 13
dimensions of the cargo hold entry; and 14
(2) in the case of a qualified individual with a 15
disability (as defined in section 382.3 of title 14, 16
Code of Federal Regulations) traveling with a wheel-17
chair (including a powered wheelchair, manual 18
wheelchair, or scooter) who has purchased a ticket 19
for a flight from the air carrier but who cannot fly 20
on the existing aircraft because the wheelchair of 21
such qualified individual cannot fit in the cargo hold, 22
to offer a refund to such qualified individual of any 23
previously paid fares, fees, and taxes applicable to 24
such flight. 25
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•S 1459 IS
(b) EVALUATION OF DATA REGARDING MISHANDLED 1
WHEELCHAIRS.—Not later than 6 months after the date 2
of enactment of this section, and annually thereafter, the 3
Secretary shall— 4
(1) evaluate data (which shall be delineated by 5
type of wheelchair being mishandled, such as pow-6
ered wheelchairs, manual wheelchairs, and scooters, 7
and by type of mishandling, such as damage (includ-8
ing the type of damage, such as broken drive wheels 9
or casters, bent or broken frames, damage to elec-10
trical connectors or wires, control input devices, 11
joysticks, upholstery, or other components, and any 12
other type of damage deemed appropriate by the 13
Secretary), delay, or loss) regarding the frequency of 14
mishandling of wheelchairs (as defined in section 15
37.3 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations) occur-16
ring on aircraft; 17
(2) determine whether there are issues with re-18
spect to such frequency and type of mishandling; 19
and 20
(3) review and report any claims for which an 21
air carrier has conclusive evidence of fraud. 22
(c) REPORT ON MISHANDLED WHEELCHAIRS.—Not 23
later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this 24
section, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on 25
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•S 1459 IS
Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and 1
the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of 2
the House of Representatives a report (which shall be 3
made publicly available on the website of the Department 4
of Transportation) regarding the results of each such eval-5
uation and determination under subsection (b), including 6
how the Secretary plans to address such results through 7
consultation with air carriers, wheelchair manufacturers, 8
national disability and disabled veterans organizations, 9
and other relevant stakeholders. 10
(d) FEASIBILITY OF IN-CABIN WHEELCHAIR RE-11
STRAINT SYSTEMS.— 12
(1) ROADMAP.—Not later than 1 year after the 13
date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall 14
submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 15
Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on 16
Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of 17
Representatives a publicly available strategic road-18
map that describes how the Department of Trans-19
portation and the United States Access Board, re-20
spectively, shall, in accordance with the rec-21
ommendations from the National Academies of 22
Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Tra