49 U.S.C. § 49104 — Lease of Metropolitan Washington Airports

(a) General — The lease between the Secretary of Transportation and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, made under section 6005(a) of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Act of 1986, must run for 50 years and include, at least, the following terms. (1) The Airports Authority must operate, maintain, protect, promote, and develop the Metropolitan Washington Airports as one unit and as the primary airports serving the Metropolitan Washington area. (2)(A) "Airport purposes" means using property (other than selling it) for: (i) aviation business or activities; (ii) activities needed to serve air-commerce passengers or cargo; (iii) nonprofit, public-use facilities that don't conflict with aviation needs; or (iv) any other business or activity the Secretary has approved that doesn't conflict with aviation needs. (B) During the lease, the airports' real property can be used only for airport purposes. (C) If the Secretary decides part of the leased property is being used for something other than airport purposes, the Secretary must (i) direct the Airports Authority to fix that, and (ii) retake the property if the Authority doesn't fix it within a reasonable time the Secretary decides. (3) The Airports Authority is subject to section 47107(a)-(c) and (e) — the standard federal-grant assurance rules — and to the assurances and conditions required of grant recipients under the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of 1982, as those rules stood on June 7, 1987. Unlike an ordinary grant recipient under section 47107(b), the Authority must spend all revenue the Metropolitan Washington Airports generate on the capital and operating costs of those airports. (4) For contracts to buy supplies or services estimated at more than $200,000, or for concession contracts, the Airports Authority must, to the maximum extent practical, use published competitive procedures to obtain full and open competition. A vote of 7 board members can grant exceptions to this requirement. (5)(A) Except as (B) says, all Metropolitan Washington Airports regulations (14 CFR part 159) became regulations of the Airports Authority as of June 7, 1987, and stay in effect until the Authority changes or revokes them under its own procedures. (B) Sections 159.59(a) and 159.191 of 14 CFR did not become Airports Authority regulations. (C) The Airports Authority cannot increase or decrease the number of instrument flight rule takeoffs and landings the High Density Rule (14 CFR 93.121 and following) authorized at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on October 18, 1986, and cannot impose a limit on the number of passengers taking off or landing there. (D) That limit in (C) doesn't apply to any increase in takeoffs and landings needed to carry out exemptions the Secretary grants under section 41718. (6)(A) Except as (B) says, the Airports Authority took on all rights, liabilities, and obligations of the Metropolitan Washington Airports as of June 7, 1987 — including leases, permits, licenses, contracts, agreements, claims, tariffs, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and litigation tied to those rights and obligations, whether or not judgment had been entered, damages awarded, or an appeal taken. The Authority must cooperate in giving the Attorney General's and Secretary's representatives adequate access to employees and records needed for duties tied to the period before June 7, 1987. The Authority also took over the FAA's Master Plans for the Metropolitan Washington Airports. (B) The dispute-resolution procedure in any contract entered into for the U.S. government before June 7, 1987 continues to govern that contract's performance, unless the parties agree otherwise. Tort damage claims by or against the government as owner and operator of the airports, arising before June 7, 1987, are handled as if the lease had never been entered into. (C) The FAA is responsible for reimbursing the Employees' Compensation Fund, under section 8147 of title 5, for compensation paid or owed after June 7, 1987, for any injury, disability, or death tied to events before that date, whether or not a claim had been filed or finalized by then. (D) The Airports Authority must keep all the collective bargaining rights that employees of the Metropolitan Washington Airports had before June 7, 1987. (7) The Comptroller General may periodically audit the Airports Authority's activities and transactions, following generally accepted management principles and rules the Comptroller General may prescribe, whenever the Comptroller General considers it appropriate. All the Authority's records and property stay in the Authority's own possession and custody. (8) The Airports Authority must develop a code of ethics and financial disclosure to ensure its board and employees make honest decisions. The code must include standards for deciding, for purposes of section 49106(d), what counts as a "substantial financial interest" and when an exception to the conflict-of-interest rule may be granted. (9) A landing fee for operating an aircraft, or revenue from parking automobiles, (A) at Washington Dulles International Airport can't be used for maintenance or operating expenses (excluding debt service, depreciation, and amortization) at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport; and (B) at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport can't be used for maintenance or operating expenses (excluding debt service, depreciation, and amortization) at Washington Dulles International Airport. (10) The Airports Authority must compute general aviation landing fees the same way it computes air carrier landing fees, except it may set a minimum landing fee no higher than the fee for a 12,500-pound aircraft. (11) The Secretary must include any other terms applicable to the parties that are consistent with, and carry out, this chapter. (b) Payments — (1) Subject to (2), under the lease the Airports Authority must pay the Treasury's general fund annually, computed using the GNP Price Deflator: (A) for the period from 1987 to 2026, an amount equal to $3,000,000 in 1987 dollars; and (B) for 2027 and later years, an amount equal to $15,000,000 in 2027 dollars. (2) The Secretary and the Airports Authority must renegotiate the lease payment level at least once every 10 years, to make sure the payment never falls, in any year, below $15,000,000 in 2027 dollars. (c) Enforcement of Lease Provisions — U.S. district courts have jurisdiction to compel the Airports Authority and its officers and employees to comply with the lease's terms. The Attorney General, or an aggrieved party, may bring an action on the government's behalf. (d) Extension of Lease — The Secretary and the Airports Authority may negotiate a lease extension at any time.