Swine Flu, TARP Response Sidetrack NBTA's Lobbying Efforts

When the National Business Travel Association set its government affairs agenda at the beginning of 2009, the usual crop of topics dominated the list: Federal Aviation Administration funding, Transportation Security Administration issues and U.S. entry policies. However, a swirl of rhetoric and regulation in Washington is posing challenges to the corporate travel industry—from travel guidelines for companies receiving funds under the Troubled Asset Relief Program to the more recent round of rhetoric regarding travel in the time of swine flu—and have taken center stage in the association's lobbying efforts.

NBTA last month reported $50,000 in expenses related to lobbying during the first three months of the year through the Monument Policy Group, whose client roster also includes the U.S. Travel Association and companies outside of the travel industry.

"I've been doing work for the travel industry in this type of role for the past three years, and it's been the busiest few months I've ever seen," said Monument founder and partner Stewart Verdery. "That's because the industry is under a lot of stress."

According to public lobbying disclosures released last month, issues NBTA has sought to lobby on include FAA reauthorization, the global entry program and Secure Flight, among others.

"We put together a policy agenda at the beginning of the year and two things that weren't on it, which has probably made us the most busy, were the meetings regulation issues—the TARP stuff—then more recently the flu. It's interesting how quickly things change," Verdery said.

Influenza A (H1N1), more commonly known as swine flu, has been more a matter of making "sure that the politicians and the officials understand that rhetoric has impacts and to be very careful in the way they describe what the rule should be for travel in the U.S., to the U.S. and to other countries. Those types of things can have tremendous impacts," Verdery said. "The TARP stuff has been more complicated. It's part government, part media and part corporate behavior. Congress passed something that said they have to require boards of directors to have policies, but they didn't really say what those policies have to be and they haven't implemented that. We expect that to happen relatively soon."

Verdery said the Treasury Department is expected to release guidelines on meetings and travel for companies that have received TARP funds. "It's kind of unusual. We're actually asking Treasury to do more than what the law requires. We'd like them to give some certainty to the marketplace that travel is OK and, especially for the non-TARP companies who are worried about a bad press story, that travel is just as much a part of their business, as purchasing, IT or advertising and all the other things you need to do to make a profit."

NBTA, meanwhile, continues to push on matters already on the radar before the industry became embroiled in matters of TARP funds and flu. While the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2009 includes some funding for the Next Generation Air Transportation System, the bill also includes a proposal to raise the Passenger Facility Charge, a passenger tax collected by airports, and a provision that could give the Transportation Secretary power to review and sunset antitrust immunity for international airline alliances.

"The funding for NextGen that is in the House bill is a good start," Verdery said. "We wish it wasn't coupled with other more controversial provisions, like the PFC increase and the antitrust provision, which we think would be very disruptive. We want that bill to move forward and we hope that it improves."

NBTA this week praised the inclusion of "legislative language" in the House's TSA reauthorization bill that the association says will enhance the Registered Traveler program's "risk management and traveler facilitation potential." The provision builds on recommendations NBTA released in January as part of its government agenda, which encouraged TSA to "resume and expand the security threat assessments for RT members to allow for security checkpoint benefits."

TSA in July last year abandoned the security threat assessment and relinquished some involvement in the program. NBTA president Kevin Maguire this month said, "We also continue to urge that TSA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection should integrate RT with international trusted traveler programs, such as Global Entry to make enrollment more convenient."

CBP last month expanded the Global Entry program, already available to Americans, to Dutch citizens through a reciprocal agreement with the Netherlands. Verdery said, "We're hopeful CBP will be more aggressive on getting Global Entry to other airports."

A spokesperson said CBP is working on a similar program with Germany, while a reciprocal U.S.-U.K. Global Entry offering announced last year is "still in development."

The Global Entry program, which automates passport control and eases entry processes, is limited to travelers deemed by the U.S. government as low-risk after undergoing a "vigorous background check." The automated entry process already is available at major entry points in the United States including airports in New York, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago and Miami. CBP said it plans to expand the program to 13 additional airports by year-end, including those in Newark, San Francisco, Orlando, Boston, Philadelphia and Seattle.

Meanwhile, Verdery said NBTA and Monument also are examining policies related to taxes collected on nonrefundable tickets that go unused. "The law is right now that if you buy an airplane ticket and it's nonrefundable, you cannot get a refund for your taxes to the FAA. It's not a whole lot of money per ticket but if you're buying tremendous volumes of tickets, it adds up."

Verdery said Monument is working with the U.S. Government Accountability Office to investigate the issue. "We're hopeful that once we get the research back that Congress will take a look at this as a basic fairness questions," Verdery said.

NBTA is far from the only U.S.-based travel association seeking influence in Washington. The Air Transport Association for the first three months of the year spent $1.34 million in lobbying activities, addressing a myriad of issues, including the proposal to sunset airline alliances, new requirements for carriers "to disclose the nature and source of delays and cancellations experienced by air travelers," carbon tax proposals and FAA funding. ATA for the same period in 2008 reported $1.1 million in expenses related to lobbying.

The U.S. Travel Association, formerly the Travel Industry Association of America, spent $305,500 in lobbying expenses during the first quarter, focusing on issues ranging from visa entry programs, FAA reauthorization, the Travel Promotion Act, TSA screening and the Electronic System for Travel Authorization. The Travel Industry Association of America last year reported lobbying expenses of $317,500 during the first quarter.

The American Hotel & Lodging Association spent $350,000 during the first quarter, tackling issues related to health insurance and immigration reform, in addition to such travel industry-focused initiatives as the Travel Promotion Act.