AOPA backs mental health, medication bills

Hoeven and Duckworth introduced the Mental Health in Aviation Act of 2025, which directs the FAA to modernize aspects of its medical certification process to better support pilots and air traffic controllers who seek treatment. Pleasance noted the bill “would give pilots more options to seek care and reduce the stigma around mental health treatment.” The House passed a similar bill earlier this year.

Specifically, the Senate bill would:

• Require the FAA to revise regulations over the next two years to encourage voluntary disclosure of mental health conditions and treatment.
• Require annual reviews of the special issuance process to expand treatment options and approved medications.
• Provide up to $15 million annually through fiscal year 2029 to recruit and train more aviation medical examiners, including psychiatrists, to help reduce the current backlog of special issuance applications.
• Provide up to $1.5 million annually through fiscal year 2029 to launch a public information campaign to reduce stigma, raise awareness of available services, and build trust with pilots and air traffic controllers.
• Implement recommendations from the 2024 Mental Health and Aviation Medical Clearances Aviation Rulemaking Committee.

AOPA served on the rulemaking committee, which examined industry culture, persistent stigma, mistrust of the aeromedical process, and the often-complicated path to obtaining a medical certificate.

“For too long pilots have lived with the fear or stigma of seeking treatment for mental health concerns and your efforts to take meaningful steps to ensure pilots can prioritize their health are welcomed and appreciated,” Pleasance wrote.

The Aviation Medication Transparency Act of 2025 (H.R.2592) would require the FAA to provide clarity about which medications pilots holding or applying for an FAA-issued medical certificate can or cannot take.

Specifically, the bill would require the FAA to:

• Publish and maintain a comprehensive list of medications and treatments pilots can take.
• Indicate how long, on average, a pilot must refrain from flying in order to stabilize on an approved medication.
• Publish the list of medications that the agency has designated as “Do Not Issue.”
• Provide these lists to airmen when they first seek a medical certificate.
• Create a way for physicians to contact the FAA with medication-related questions.
• Draft the list of approved medications in consultation with airline pilot and ATC unions, as well as the Aeromedical Innovation and Modernization Working Group, of which AOPA is a member.

Pleasance noted that this information is “critical.” He told senators that although AOPA offers a medication database to provide guidance to pilots, the organization supports this bill because a “definitive list of medications” is “long overdue.”