The National Transportation Safety Board received its requested $145 million for Fiscal Year 2024 in the President’s budget. This reflects an increase of $15.7 million from the current budget year, in order to invest in additional investigators and new technologies.
If approved by Congress, this would be the first major funding increase for the NTSB since the mid-1990s. The NTSB has had the same number of employees, around 400, since 1997, and recent budget increases have only covered mandated salary increases for the existing work force.
These mission-critical investments will help NTSB hire additional investigators and prepare for current and future transportation safety challenges, such as emerging technologies on our highways, drones, air taxis and increased commercial space launches.
What the budget increase would pay for:
- Hiring of 21 additional investigators and staff
- Enhancing training for investigators and researchers on emerging technologies
- Improving the timeliness of NTSB reports and other products
- Developing and modernizing information technology
- Strengthening our cybersecurity efforts and data analysis capabilities.
Congress tasks the NTSB to investigate and determine the probable cause of every aviation accident and significant events in other modes of transportation: railroad, highway and transit, marine, pipeline and commercial space. The NTSB determines the probable cause of these accidents and events and issues safety recommendations aimed at preventing reoccurrence. In addition, the NTSB carries out special studies concerning transportation safety and coordinates the resources of the federal government and other organizations to assist victims and their family members impacted by major transportation disasters.
