49 USC 44940 - Security Service Fee

(a) General Authority.—

(1) Passenger fees.—The Under Secretary of Transportation for Security shall impose a uniform fee, on passengers of air carriers and foreign air carriers in air transportation and intrastate air transportation originating at airports in the United States, to pay for the following costs of providing civil aviation security services:

(A) Salary, benefits, overtime, retirement and other costs of screening personnel, their supervisors and managers, and Federal law enforcement personnel deployed at airport security screening locations under section 44901.

(B) The costs of training personnel described in subparagraph (A), and the acquisition, operation, and maintenance of equipment used by such personnel.

(D) The costs of the Federal air marshals program.

(E) The costs of performing civil aviation security research and development under this title.

(F) The costs of Federal Security Managers under section 44903.

(G) The costs of deploying Federal law enforcement personnel pursuant to section 44903(h).

(H) The costs of security-related capital improvements at airports.

(I) The costs of training pilots and flight attendants under sections 44918 and 44921.

The amount of such costs shall be determined by the Under Secretary and shall not be subject to judicial review. For purposes of subparagraph (A), the term "Federal law enforcement personnel" includes State and local law enforcement officers who are deputized under section 44922.

(2) Air carrier fees.—

(A) Authority.—In addition to the fee imposed pursuant to paragraph (1), and only to the extent that the Under Secretary estimates that such fee will be insufficient to pay for the costs of providing civil aviation security services described in paragraph (1), the Under Secretary may impose a fee on air carriers and foreign air carriers engaged in air transportation and intrastate air transportation to pay for the difference between any such costs and the amount collected from such fee, as estimated by the Under Secretary at the beginning of each fiscal year. The estimates of the Under Secretary under this subparagraph are not subject to judicial review except for estimates and additional collections made pursuant to the appropriation for Aviation Security in Public Law 108–334: Provided, That such judicial review shall be pursuant to section 46110 of title 49, United States Code: Provided further, That such judicial review shall be limited only to additional amounts collected by the Secretary before October 1, 2007.

(B) Limitations.—

(i) Overall limit.—The amounts of fees collected under this paragraph for each fiscal year may not exceed, in the aggregate, the amounts paid in calendar year 2000 by carriers described in subparagraph (A) for screening passengers and property, as determined by the Under Secretary.

(ii) Per-carrier limit.—The amount of fees collected under this paragraph from an air carrier described in subparagraph (A) for each of fiscal years 2002, 2003, and 2004 may not exceed the amount paid in calendar year 2000 by that carrier for screening passengers and property, as determined by the Under Secretary.

(iii) Adjustment of per-carrier limit.—For fiscal year 2005 and subsequent fiscal years, the per-carrier limitation under clause (ii) may be determined by the Under Secretary on the basis of market share or any other appropriate measure in lieu of actual screening costs in calendar year 2000.

(iv) Finality of determinations.—Determinations of the Under Secretary under this subparagraph are not subject to judicial review except for estimates and additional collections made pursuant to the appropriation for Aviation Security in Public Law 108–334: Provided, That such judicial review shall be pursuant to section 46110 of title 49, United States Code: Provided further, That such judicial review shall be limited only to additional amounts collected by the Secretary before October 1, 2007.

(C) Special rule for fiscal year 2002.—The amount of fees collected under this paragraph from any carrier for fiscal year 2002 may not exceed the amounts paid by that carrier for screening passengers and property for a period of time in calendar year 2000 proportionate to the period of time in fiscal year 2002 during which fees are collected under this paragraph.

(b) Schedule of Fees.—In imposing fees under subsection (a), the Under Secretary shall ensure that the fees are reasonably related to the Transportation Security Administration's costs of providing services rendered.

(c) Limitation on Fee.—Fees imposed under subsection (a)(1) shall be $5.60 per one-way trip in air transportation or intrastate air transportation that originates at an airport in the United States.

(d) Imposition of Fee.—

(1) In general.—Notwithstanding section 9701 of title 31 and the procedural requirements of section 553 of title 5, the Under Secretary shall impose the fee under subsection (a)(1), and may impose a fee under subsection (a)(2), through the publication of notice of such fee in the Federal Register and begin collection of the fee within 60 days of the date of enactment of this Act, or as soon as possible thereafter.

(2) Special rules passenger fees.—A fee imposed under subsection (a)(1) through the procedures under subsection (d) ¹ shall apply only to tickets sold after the date on which such fee is imposed. If a fee imposed under subsection (a)(1) through the procedures under subsection (d) on transportation of a passenger of a carrier described in subsection (a)(1) is not collected from the passenger, the amount of the fee shall be paid by the carrier.

(3) Subsequent modification of fee.—After imposing a fee in accordance with paragraph (1), the Under Secretary may modify, from time to time through publication of notice in the Federal Register, the imposition or collection of such fee, or both.

(4) Limitation on collection.—No fee may be collected under this section, other than subsection (i), except to the extent that the expenditure of the fee to pay the costs of activities and services for which the fee is imposed is provided for in advance in an appropriations Act or in section 44923.

(e) Administration of Fees.—

(1) Fees payable to under secretary.—All fees imposed and amounts collected under this section are payable to the Under Secretary.

(2) Fees collected by air carrier.—A fee imposed under subsection (a)(1) shall be collected by the air carrier or foreign air carrier that sells a ticket for transportation described in subsection (a)(1).

(3) Due date for remittance.—A fee collected under this section shall be remitted on the last day of each calendar month by the carrier collecting the fee. The amount to be remitted shall be for the calendar month preceding the calendar month in which the remittance is made.

(4) Information.—The Under Secretary may require the provision of such information as the Under Secretary decides is necessary to verify that fees have been collected and remitted at the proper times and in the proper amounts.

(5) Fee not subject to tax.—For purposes of section 4261 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 4261), a fee imposed under this section shall not be considered to be part of the amount paid for taxable transportation.

(6) Cost of collecting fee.—No portion of the fee collected under this section may be retained by the air carrier or foreign air carrier for the costs of collecting, handling, or remitting the fee except for interest accruing to the carrier after collection and before remittance.

(f) Receipts Credited as Offsetting Collections.—Notwithstanding section 3302 of title 31, any fee collected under this section—

(1) shall be credited as offsetting collections to the account that finances the activities and services for which the fee is imposed;

(2) shall be available for expenditure only to pay the costs of activities and services for which the fee is imposed; and

(3) shall remain available until expended.

(g) Refunds.—The Under Secretary may refund any fee paid by mistake or any amount paid in excess of that required.

(h) Exemptions.—The Under Secretary may exempt from the passenger fee imposed under subsection (a)(1) any passenger enplaning at an airport in the United States that does not receive screening services under section 44901 for that segment of the trip for which the passenger does not receive screening.

(i) Deposit of Receipts in General Fund.—

(1) In general.—Beginning in fiscal year 2014, out of fees received in a fiscal year under subsection (a)(1), after amounts are made available in the fiscal year under section 44923(h), the next funds derived from such fees in the fiscal year, in the amount specified for the fiscal year in paragraph (4), shall be credited as offsetting receipts and deposited in the general fund of the Treasury.

(2) Fee levels.—The Secretary of Homeland Security shall impose the fee authorized by subsection (a)(1) so as to collect in a fiscal year at least the amount specified in paragraph (4) for the fiscal year for making deposits under paragraph (1).

(3) Relationship to other provisions.—Subsections (b) and (f) shall not apply to amounts to be used for making deposits under this subsection.

(4) Fiscal year amounts.—For purposes of paragraphs (1) and (2), the fiscal year amounts are as follows:

(A) $390,000,000 for fiscal year 2014.

(B) $1,190,000,000 for fiscal year 2015.

(D) $1,280,000,000 for fiscal year 2017.

(E) $1,320,000,000 for fiscal year 2018.

(F) $1,360,000,000 for fiscal year 2019.

(G) $1,400,000,000 for fiscal year 2020.

(H) $1,440,000,000 for fiscal year 2021.

(I) $1,480,000,000 for fiscal year 2022.

(J) $1,520,000,000 for fiscal year 2023.

(Added Pub. L. 107–71, title I, §118(a), Nov. 19, 2001, 115 Stat. 625; amended Pub. L. 108–7, div. I, title III, §351(b), Feb. 20, 2003, 117 Stat. 420; Pub. L. 108–176, title VI, §605(b)(1), (2), Dec. 12, 2003, 117 Stat. 2568; Pub. L. 110–53, title XVI, §1601, Aug. 3, 2007, 121 Stat. 477; Pub. L. 110–161, div. E, title V, §540, Dec. 26, 2007, 121 Stat. 2079; Pub. L. 113–67, div. A, title VI, §601(a)(1), (2), (b), (c), Dec. 26, 2013, 127 Stat. 1187.)

Amendment of Subsections (a)(2) and (d)(1)

Pub. L. 113–67, div. A, title VI, §601(a), Dec. 26, 2013, 127 Stat. 1187, provided that, effective Oct. 1, 2014, this section is amended:

(1) by repealing subsection (a)(2), and

(2) in subsection (d)(1), by striking ", and may impose a fee under subsection (a)(2),".

See 2013 Amendment notes below.

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Last modified: October 26, 2015