A bill to amend title 5, United States Code, to provide that civilian air traffic controllers of the Department of Defense shall be treated the same as air traffic controllers of the Department of Transportation for purposes of retirement, and for other purposes.
Public Law 96-347 · H.R. 1781 · 96th Congress · began in the House
Signed by Jimmy Carter (D) on Sep 12, 1980 · Government Operations and Politics
Sponsor: Rep. William Dickinson (R-AL-2)
Cosponsors (1): Rep. Donald Mitchell
Passage votes
- HouseMethod not stated
- SenateMethod not stated
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
Directs that civilian air traffic controllers of the Department of Defense shall be treated the same as air traffic controllers of the Department of Transportation for purposes of retirement.
Permits the Secretary of Transportation and the Secretary of Defense to jointly prescribe regulations and make determinations relating to the definition, training, involuntary separation for retirement, and mandatory separation of air traffic controllers employed by the Department of Transportation and the Department of Defense.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Post Office and Civil Service Committee · House · referred to, reported by
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 13 actions.
- Sep 12, 1980Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- PresidentPresident · Public Law 96-347.
- Sep 2, 1980PresidentPresident · Measure presented to President.
- PresidentPresident · Measure enrolled in Senate.
- Aug 28, 1980PresidentPresident · Measure enrolled in House.
- Aug 27, 1980FloorFloor · Measure passed Senate.
- Aug 18, 1980CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
- Jun 11, 1980CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
- Jun 9, 1980FloorFloor · Measure passed House, amended.
- FloorFloor · Measure called up under motion to suspend rules and pass in House.
- Jun 5, 1980CommitteeCommittee · Reported by House Post Office and Civil Service Committee
- Feb 1, 1979CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Post Office and Civil Service Committee
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the House
Data notes
Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.
Official record
The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.