49 U.S.C. § 45106
Section 45106 · Relationship to other laws, regulations, standards, and orders
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 8 court decisions — leading case Schmeling v. Nordam (1996)
Most recently applied in Aeronautical Repair Station Ass'n v. Federal Aviation Administration (July 2007)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) Effect on State and Local Government Laws, Regulations, Standards, or Orders.—A State or local government may not prescribe, issue, or continue in effect a law, regulation, standard, or order that is inconsistent with regulations prescribed under this chapter. However, a regulation prescribed under this chapter does not preempt a State criminal law that imposes sanctions for reckless conduct leading to loss of life, injury, or damage to property.
(b) International Obligations and Foreign Laws.—(1) In prescribing regulations under this chapter, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration—
(A) shall establish only requirements applicable to foreign air carriers that are consistent with international obligations of the United States; and
(B) shall consider applicable laws and regulations of foreign countries.
(2) The Secretaries of State and Transportation jointly shall request the governments of foreign countries that are members of the International Civil Aviation Organization to strengthen and enforce existing standards to prohibit crewmembers in international civil aviation from using alcohol or a controlled substance in violation of law or a United States Government regulation.
(c) Other Regulations Allowed.—This section does not prevent the Administrator from continuing in effect, amending, or further supplementing a regulation prescribed before October 28, 1991, governing the use of alcohol or a controlled substance by airmen, crewmembers, airport security screening employees, air carrier employees responsible for safety-sensitive functions (as decided by the Administrator), or employees of the Administration with responsibility for safety-sensitive functions.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 45106(a) 49 App.:1434(e)(1). Aug. 23, 1958, Pub. L. 85–726, 72 Stat. 731, §614(e); added Oct. 28, 1991, Pub. L. 102–143, §3(a), 105 Stat. 956. 45106(b) 49 App.:1434(e)(3). 45106(c) 49 App.:1434(e)(2). In subsection (a), the word “prescribe” is substitued for “adopt” for consistency in the revised title and with other titles of the United States Code. The word “rule” is omitted as being synonymous with “regulation”. The word “ordinance” is omitted as being included in “law” and “regulation”. The words “actual” and “whether the provisions apply specifically to employees of an air carrier or foreign air carrier, or to the general public” are omitted as surplus.
In subsection (c) the word “prevent” is substituted for “restrict the discretion of” to eliminate unnecessary words.
Amendments
2001—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 107–71 substituted “screening employees” for “screening contract employees”.