News & Information You’ll Want To Know In Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska & Iowa
by Yasmina Platt
Manager, AOPA Central Southwest Region
We are approaching the end of most of the legislative sessions in the Central Region and continuing to see a lot of good, pro-general aviation legislation being considered. I will concentrate on Missouri and Iowa here because they currently have the most busy and dynamic legislative sessions, issues, and initiatives.
We have three bills (Senate Bill 377, House Bill 1306 & 517) in Missouri attempting to create a flyaway exemption. Senator Dave Schatz, and Representatives Don Gosen and Galen Higdon, have, respectively, sponsored those bills. This flyaway exemption would exempt out-of-state residents from paying the state’s sales tax when purchasing an aircraft in Missouri, thus keeping more aircraft sales, aircraft maintenance, and aircraft upgrade work in Missouri, rather than seeing them go to neighboring states, such as Kansas to the west or Illinois to the east. These bills are all moving pretty well along the legislative process.
We also have two other bills in Missouri (HB 375, HB 263), and we are working on a potential third with identical language, attempting to amend Missouri’s existing Recreational Use Statute (RUS) to include “aviation activities.”
On March 12, 2015, I testified in favor of SB 377 before the Senate Ways and Means Committee and, on April 14th, I attended Missouri’s Aviation Day at the Capitol and visited with several legislators creating additional support for those two initiatives.
In my last article, I mentioned that we were working two specific issues in Iowa: 1) an exemption for flight schools and independent flight instructors from provisions of an anti-fraud law that requires educational entities to obtain a $50,000 bond and submit documentation to the Iowa College Student Aid Commission, and 2) a bill that would delete existing provisions of the Iowa Airport Zoning Act, create flight-safety hazards around airports, and threaten Iowa airports’ ability to obtain FAA funding. We have made progress on both of those issues.
House File 658, the House Education Appropriations Bill, was amended and passed on April 30th. One of the amendments inserted language to exempt flight training providers from the current anti-fraud law discussed above. However, while in the Senate, we will attempt to make a few tweaks to the bill to make the language even better.
While HF 556 would have abolished provisions of the Iowa Airport Zoning Act, the new HF 655 (which replaces HF 556) now has language to protect the Act per our (and the Iowa Public Airports Association’s) request.
Aviation Safety Activities
While our efforts may seem to focus around legislation, especially during the first few months of each year, AOPA regional managers also get to do a variety of other things and, as a flight instructor, I also get to teach safety meetings and other activities.
On April 21st, 23 flying companions attended the Pinch Hitter Course I taught in West Des Moines as part of the Iowa Aviation Conference. This two-hour ground school course covered everything from basic aerodynamics to dealing with emergencies (with and without a capable pilot at the controls).
The attendance and participation was fantastic! I had a great time and the attendees left knowing a lot more and feeling better about flying in small general aviation airplanes. Their task is now to go up with a local flight instructor to obtain some flight training.
On June 6th, while AOPA headquarters will be having its Homecoming Fly-in in Frederick, I will be participating at the Nebraska State Fly-In in Hebron, and I really hope to see you there!
I will also be speaking at the 2015 National Piper Short Wing Conference in Branson, Missouri on June 30th, and I am planning on flying on the 2015 Fly Kansas Air Tour with another AOPA staffer in late September.
Check your e-mails and voicemails often! You never know when I will show up at your airport, so don’t be surprised to get a last-minute note from me announcing that I plan on dropping in.
Our Airport Support Network Volunteers (ASNVs), different local aviation organizations, airport managers and even flying clubs (like the wonderful Mitchell Flying Club in Lee’s Summit, Missouri) are quickly learning that.
Ever since I started getting around the region via general aviation aircraft, I have been able to visit more airports, meet more of our ASNVs, talk with more aviation groups, participate in more local fly-ins, and help more flying clubs. Hope to see you soon!
@AOPACentralSW yasmina.platt@aopa.org www.aopa.org/fly-in
You can read more about the trips and legislation mentioned in this article by visiting www.aopa.org/central-southwest-rm.
And, of course, you can always reach me at yasmina.platt@aopa.org.
