NBAA Backs Two Aviation Mental Health and Medication Transparency Bills Advancing in Congress
Why It MattersLegislative momentum on pilot mental health disclosure and medication transparency signals a push toward standardized, published FAA guidance rather than case-by-case certification uncertainty across the pilot and controller workforce.
What happened
The National Business Aviation Association has voiced support for two bills moving through the U.S. Congress: the Mental Health in Aviation Act, passed earlier this year by the House of Representatives, and the Aviation Medication Transparency Act, recently passed by the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee.
The Mental Health in Aviation Act would modernize mental health guidance regulations for pilots and air traffic controllers to encourage earlier disclosure and treatment of mental health conditions. It would mandate annual reviews of the FAA's Special Issuance Medical Certification process, allocate $15 million annually from FY2026 through FY2029 to the FAA's Office of Aerospace Medicine to expand and train additional medical examiners, and allocate $1.5 million annually over the same period for a public information campaign aimed at reducing stigma around mental health care.
The Aviation Medication Transparency Act would require the FAA to publish, within one year of enactment and updated annually, a comprehensive list of medications safe for pilots, air traffic control specialists, and trainees. The list would flag any duty-limitation periods tied to specific medications and categorize each as "can be safely prescribed," "Do Not Issue," or "Do Not Fly." The act would also provide guidance for doctors to contact the FAA with questions.
NBAA also noted support for other measures advancing in Congress, including the Senate Agriculture Committee's passage of the Agricultural Act of 2026 (Farm Bill), which contains provisions supporting the development and deployment of sustainable aviation fuel, and the Senate Commerce Committee's passage of the Runway Surface Awareness and Focused, Effective Training and Technology (Runway SAFE-T) Act, which would direct the FAA to form an industry-government task force to improve training programs and safety equipment for airport vehicle operators at commercial airports.
Industry impact & what to watch
Aviation safety regulation has increasingly treated pilot and controller wellbeing as a systems problem rather than an individual disclosure risk, and these two bills extend that logic into both mental health certification and medication guidance. A published, annually updated medication list with clear "can be safely prescribed," "Do Not Issue," and "Do Not Fly" categories would give operators and examiners a shared reference point that currently depends on case-by-case FAA review.
The Special Issuance Medical Certification process has long been a source of uncertainty for pilots weighing whether to disclose a condition, and funding dedicated to expanding trained medical examiners addresses one practical bottleneck in that process. Business aviation operators, who rely on a smaller pool of pilots per aircraft than airlines, have a direct stake in how quickly certification questions get resolved.
What happens next depends on whether the Senate takes up the Mental Health in Aviation Act following House passage, and whether the Aviation Medication Transparency Act clears the full House after its committee vote. The Farm Bill's sustainable aviation fuel provisions and the Runway SAFE-T Act's task force mandate remain separate tracks worth following through their respective chambers.
