49 U.S.C. § 47173 — Airport funding of FAA staff

(a) Acceptance of Sponsor-Provided Funds. No matter what other law says, the FAA Administrator can accept money from an airport sponsor — including money the sponsor got under section 47114(c) — to hire more staff or pay consultants to (1) speed up processing, review, and completion of environmental work on an airport development project; (2) conduct special environmental studies tied to a federally funded airport project; (3) conduct special studies to support approved noise compatibility measures under part 150 of title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations; (4) conduct special studies to support environmental mitigation ordered in an FAA record of decision or finding of no significant impact; and (5) speed up environmental work tied to new or changed flight procedures, including performance-based navigation procedures. (b) Administrative Provision. Instead of the sponsor paying directly out of funds apportioned to it under section 47114, the Administrator — with the sponsor's agreement — can shift funds that would otherwise go to the sponsor into the account the Administrator uses for this work. (c) Receipts Credited as Offsetting Collections. Despite section 3302 of title 31, any money accepted this way (other than money transferred under subsection (b)) (1) is credited as offsetting collections to the account that finances this work; (2) can be spent only on the costs of that work; and (3) stays available until spent. (d) Maintenance of Effort. No money may be accepted under (a) or transferred under (b) in any fiscal year in which the FAA doesn't allocate at least what it spent in fiscal year 2002 (not counting money it received under section 337 of the 2002 Department of Transportation appropriations act) for this work.