Additionally, the NTSB provides assistance to victims' families in major airline and passenger rail disasters and serves as a board of appeals for certain transportation regulatory actions by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the U.S. Coast Guard. The agency has no authority to require implementation of its recommendations. The NTSB Reauthorization Act of 2006 ( P.L. Its principal means for effecting change in transportation safety is the issuance of safety recommendations to regulators, operators, and users of transportation systems. This influence has been visible in legislation enacted to require positive train control systems on many railroad lines, regulations to reduce airline pilot fatigue, state laws addressing distracted driving, federal safety standards for helicopter air ambulances, and improved safety standards for pipeline safety. Government Accountability Office Oversight

49 U.S.C. In 2013, GAO revisited NTSB management and operational practices, finding that the NTSB had made improvements, but needed to continue its efforts to further improve training center utilization, close-out processes for safety recommendations, interagency communications, financial management, and workforce diversity management. In particular, GAO recommended that senior leaders at the NTSB develop a specific strategy for maximizing the utility and utilization of the NTSB's cost accounting system. Reauthorization and Congressional Oversight Issues

Current issues that may arise in the context of proposed legislation reauthorizing the NTSB, or in the course of more general congressional oversight, include the adequacy of staffing resources and management of the NTSB Academy. Current safety issues relevant to the NTSB mission include the recoverability of vehicle recorders involved in aviation and maritime accidents, privacy of data collected aboard transportation vehicles or in the course of investigations, and the potential use of recorder data for purposes other than accident investigation and reconstruction. Additionally, the NTSB has developed a five-year strategic human capital plan. The NTSB Training Center

The National Transportation Safety Board Amendments Act of 2000 ( P.L. However, revenues from fees associated with training and transportation safety-related meetings have proven inadequate to cover the costs of the facility.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is a small, independent federal agency with responsibility for investigating transportation accidents; conducting transportation safety studies; issuing safety recommendations; aiding victims' families after aviation and passenger rail disasters; and promoting transportation safety.
The NTSB makes safety recommendations to federal and state agencies, transportation providers, and manufacturers, which may or may not choose to implement them. In recent years, NTSB recommendations have helped build support for laws enacted to mandate positive train control systems, a safety technology now being installed on certain railroad lines; Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations to address airline pilot fatigue; state laws addressing distracted driving; federal safety standards for helicopter air ambulances; and crashworthiness standards for helicopter fuel systems, which are required under a new federal law.
The NTSB was last reauthorized in 2006 when Congress approved a two-year reauthorization measure, covering FY2007 and FY2008 in the National Transportation Safety Board Reauthorization Act of 2006 (P.L. 109-443). Since then, the NTSB has addressed a number of Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommendations to improve its strategic planning, financial and human capital management, risk-based accident response, training, and communications. The agency has also increased staffing to better respond to accident investigation demands. In 2013, GAO cautioned that the NTSB needed to continue its efforts to further improve training center utilization, close-out processes for safety recommendations, interagency communications, financial management, and workforce diversity management, and it recommended that the NTSB develop a formal strategy to maximize the utility of its cost accounting system.
Some Members of Congress have expressed an interest in reauthorizing the NTSB. Issues that might be considered in the context of reauthorization include the adequacy of staffing resources and the cost of the NTSB's training center. Additionally, reauthorization could offer a legislative vehicle for addressing a number of transportation safety issues that directly relate to the NTSB mission, including the recoverability of vehicle recorders involved in aviation and maritime accidents, the privacy of data collected from vehicle recorders, and the use of recorder data for purposes other than accident investigation and reconstruction.