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On March 13, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation approved the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Reauthorization Act of 2003 (S. 579).


Introduced March 7 by senators John McCain (R-Ariz.), Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.), Trent Lott (R-Miss.), John D. Rockefeller (D-W.V.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), the bill would authorize NTSB appropriations for fiscal years 2003 through 2006.


The committee approved appropriations of $76.7 million for FY2003, $83.7 million for FY2004, $88 million for FY2005 and $92.7 million for FY2006.


The bill also would authorize appropriations for NTSB's emergency fund, authorize appropriations and charge fees for the new NTSB Academy, and enable the board to transfer (under certain circumstances) responsibility for providing assistance to incident victim's families if another federal agency assumes control of an accident investigation.


S. 579 now moves to the full Senate for a vote.