Maryland legislator withdraws bill to require student pilot background checks

After fierce opposition by AOPA and the entire aviation community, Maryland House Bills 1005 and 1208 have been withdrawn from consideration. These bills would have required background checks to be conducted on flight students in the state. A hearing on the bills that was scheduled for today in the Commerce and Government Matters Committee has been canceled.

"This is great news for Maryland pilots," AOPA Vice President of Regional Affairs Bill Dunn said. "We posted a pilot alert on the AOPA Web site and sent e-mails to all of our Maryland Airport Support Network volunteers asking members to write to legislators. It obviously worked."

AOPA continues to oppose several security-related bills in other states. To help members identify those bills and their current status, AOPA has compiled a list of those bills and their current status. "This will provide members with an invaluable tool in assessing what bills are pending in their state," said Dunn.

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