Congressmember Karen Bass was re-elected to her sixth term representing the 37th Congressional District in November 2020. Congressmember Bass serves on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs where she is the Chair of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Global Human Rights. She also serves on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, where she is active in working to craft sound criminal justice reform policies.
Tackling the harmful economic and health effects of airplane noise is a top priority for Congresswoman Karen Bass and for the Congressional Quiet Skies Caucus. Rep. Bass represents California’s 37th Congressional District, which borders Santa Monica Airport (SMO) and is located a few miles north of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
After the 2018 FAA implementation of the Southern California Metroplex project as part of the NextGen update of US airspace mandated by Congress in 2004, the narrowing of the North Downwind Arrival flight path into Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) concentrated noise over Culver City and West Adams, neighborhoods nearly eight miles away from the airport where flight noise had never been a large problem before. Other districts across the nation have been similarly affected. These problems led to the creation and growth of the Congressional Quiet Skies Caucus, and several Members of Congress have been active in proposing legislation to address aircraft noise.
Air travel is a significant part of the U.S. economy, and the safety of U.S. air travel, facilitated by the FAA and all those involved in the use of U.S. air space, is a point of pride. The updating of U.S. airspace under the FAA NextGen project was intended to enhance the reliability, efficiency and safety of air travel. But excessive, concentrated noise both from NextGen and from the increase in air traffic does real harm to human health and local economies.
Rep. Bass has introduced several pieces of legislation, including amendments to the FAA reauthorization and to appropriations measures, some of which have passed into law. She has also worked with her Quiet Skies Caucus colleagues and supported bills they have introduced. Rep. Bass and her staff continue to seek new avenues to tackle noise and bring relief to those suffering from aviation noise.