FAA SMS Compliance Review Act of 2026
Summary
What This Bill Does
The FAA SMS Compliance Review Act requires the FAA Administrator to convene an independent expert panel within 60 days to review FAA Safety Management System compliance. The review gives Congress and the agency outside assessment of whether FAA's internal safety-management practices are being followed as intended.
Who Benefits and How
Air passengers benefit if an independent review identifies gaps in FAA safety-management compliance. Aviation safety experts benefit from a formal panel role in reviewing FAA systems. FAA safety offices benefit from outside findings that can improve internal risk controls. Congressional aviation committees benefit from a concrete review of FAA SMS implementation.
Who Bears the Burden and How
FAA must convene the panel and support the compliance review. Independent expert panel members must evaluate FAA SMS evidence and produce findings. FAA program offices may need to provide documents, interviews, and corrective action plans. Airlines may be indirectly affected if FAA changes oversight practices after the review.
Key Provisions
- Requires FAA to convene an independent expert panel within 60 days.
- Directs the panel to review FAA Safety Management System compliance.
- Provides Congress with outside evidence on FAA safety-management performance.
- Creates potential follow-on compliance work for FAA program offices.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Requires FAA to convene an independent expert panel to review compliance with the FAA Safety Management System.
Key Policy Areas
Aviation, Transportation Safety
Primary Purpose
Requires FAA to convene an independent expert panel to review compliance with the FAA Safety Management System.
Policy Domains
Bill provisions
Identified Gains
- Air passengers
- Aviation safety experts
- FAA safety offices
- Congressional aviation committees
Identified Costs
- FAA
- Independent expert panel members
- FAA program offices
- Airlines
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
ReportedCommittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported …
Ms. Cantwell (for herself, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Markey, Mr. Warner, …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, …
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Airlines, Aviation safety experts
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "administrator"
- → FAA Administrator
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology