General aviation pilots flying into Massachusetts: Heads up on a proposed new law that would make landing in The Bay State prohibitively expensive.
Massachusetts Senate Bill No. 2305 carries the title, “An Act to Mitigate the Climate Impact of Private and Corporate Air Travel.” It was introduced by Senator Julian Cyr in March and has since been referred to the Joint Committee on Transportation.
The bill begins by adding definitions of aircraft types to the General Laws of the Commonwealth.
The meat of bill states: “An airport commission governing a municipal or county owned airport or the board of directors of the Massachusetts Port Authority shall assess a climate impact landing fee of not less than $1,000 on personal aircraft, corporate owned aircraft, and charter rental aircraft each time that any such an aircraft is to land at an airport in the commonwealth.”
Did you catch the word “shall”?
Reinforcing the bill’s title, “Nothing in this section shall pertain to public aircraft, scheduled commercial passenger air transportation, freight or cargo aircraft.”
According to Airpac.com, there are 10,584 pilots in Massachusetts and 2,733 non-publicly owned aircraft.
Wikipedia states, as of 2009, 24 of the state’s 37 public use airports are “government owned, either by municipalities or the Massachusetts Port Authority.”
Section 51Q of the bill establishes a transportation infrastructure climate adaptation fund that “shall be administered exclusively by the secretary of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation…to invest in infrastructure owned by the commonwealth that requires repair and adaptation due to the effects of climate change.”
“Not less than 50 percent of the proceeds from each climate impact landing fee received by such an entity shall be deposited in the transportation infrastructure climate adaptation fund,” according to language in the proposed bill.
At present, the bill has no scheduled hearing.
But if it is passed into law, the new law would take effect Jan. 1, 2022.
I can’t image this bill will become law, but one never knows.
Julian Cyr would sacrifice jobs at every small airport in the state, as no one will fly into the state
or within the state, if this bill passes.
One twit state congressman proposed this, one. It’s not been scheduled. There are whackos on both sides of the aisle. Patience Grasshopper
I do know that. I wish You were right.
We are making plans to fly our RV7 out from Colorado to New England this Autumn so we can follow the ‘fall colors’ along the coast. We would be visiting relatives and friend along the way; staying in motels and dining out along the way. If this passes, we would simply stay in New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut a little longer, never touching the ground in Mass.
Sorry for you, business owners in Mass., but you voted for these idiots.
Idiot
Totally agree with You, David Ross
It’s just another money grab. Hey, you idiotic politicians and other liberals. I’ll type this slow and distinctly so you can get it through your thick skulls. THE CLIMATE IS GOING TO CHANGE. THERE’S NOT A DAMN THING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT. NO AMOUNT OF MONEY RIPPED OFF FROM PEOPLE WILL CHANGE THIS.
What’s so sad is that there are so many people who believe the BS about climate change being caused by mankind.
100% agree.
Damn David, I love it when you yell. Your scientific knowledge need a trifle brushing up
Climate changes all the time. It is the “average” of the weather over about a 30 year period. If mankind is causing climate change today, please account for climate change in they 10,000,000 BC 10,000 BC, etc.
I believe Bill is still watching CNN. He’s one of 63 left….
Is there a single liberal pilot that can justify that? I sure would like to hear it.
Because it if were to pass, I would simply land in another state and drive over. I agree with one of the earlier posts – it’s a nothing burger presented by a liberal that knows absolutely nothing about aviation.
Lets try dumping politicians into Boston Harbor this time. The tea was at least harmless.
Einstein was right when he said the two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.
Harlan Ellision, not Einstein
Several beautiful airports on Cape Cod….Marthas Vineyard, etc…that I’ve been to, and want to fly into in my old 182..
They’ll be out of business in a matter of days.
Undoubtedly one more silliness came from Democratics. I’m just going crazy to think we must handle them for more four years
You do understand that this is a state senator in Massachusetts proposing this for aircraft landing in Massachusetts, and is in no way related to the federal government or the current president? Of course you do. You must, I mean, it’s obvious.
This bill has no chance of moving out of committee, as local and regional pilots, FBOs, fuel suppliers, ATC unions and everyone remotely attached to aviation in Massachusetts is gonna be up that state senators ass and he won’t know what hit him.
Glen, I sincerely hope you are correct and that local folks inject some sanity into the situation. The worry however is that local folks won’t know it is happening until too late. Stranger things have happened.
Maybe this discussion can stand as a small part of a call-to-arms for the local aviation community in Mass.
The insanity of this bill, and others that will follow, is the employment destruction that will offset the government gain.
Obviously, General Aviation will be crippled. Only a few flights are Gulfstreams etc that can afford the $1000 fee. The bulk are Cessna and Piper and they don’t have that kind of money.
I remember when I got my instrument rating at Midway in Chicago, a little white car would follow the plane on landing to collect their $5 landing fee. When training aircraft did touch goes the airport would attempt to collect for every touch. The insanity of these practices is confounding.
With ADSB, you don’t need the little white car to collect the fee. The Government can just send you the bill….Cha Ching. Looks like thay guy just lost his job. Every time we key the mike, expect another fee. Once the Liberals dip a toe into Aviation Fees we rich folks with our fancy 150s & 172s can expect to support another social program for.
Jesus, One dumbass Democrat proposes this and all Dems are sullied. Goofy
This is a big nothing burger. We see wacky bills proposed at all levels of government all the time and they go no where. There are often representatives who are on the fringe who propose these types of bills, but the greater sum of a legislative body acts as a good filter for some of the more aberrant bills (with some exceptions like assaults on voter rights). My guess is that this bill will die in committee, likely never even getting a hearing, so let’s put the brakes on panic mode and wait and see what happens.
I remember “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.” Do not underestimate the evil that lurks in the minds of politicians, especially those from high tax states.
And Affordable insurance too. Ha Ha Ha Ha, well not for me
So he can drive his gas burning car to the state capital to vote on this bill, but I can’t land a glider in MA without paying a fee? Or my Long EZ that is more fuel efficient than your Prius? Or my electric plane?
Climate change is really affecting the ability for them to think reasonably. For the benefit of the rest of us, they should be denied use of anything that is derived from or produced by the use of petroleum products.
Is there a pill for Democrats?
An L pill
Lye?
This is too insane to comment on, hence I withdraw my comment.
Bill, I agree with your thoughts, but remember “Never doubt the power of large groups of stupid people”. Mass. is virtually a one-party state today with money problems. By linking this bill to the popular topic of climate change, how many people will support it without even reading the bill, doing no research about economic impact, and then casting an uninformed vote. Just because the pool of voters is limited to the state house and senate doesn’t mean sanity will prevail. A serious effort needs to be made to make sure this bill never comes to the floor.
Then the monkey see monkey do states of NY, NJ and CT will jump in and try to out do each other. Must be something in the Boston
water that causes criminal stupidity.
Dear Mr. Carter,
May I humbly submit, you are thinking much too logically.
The issue is raw power.
Best Regards,
Old Geezer