Many of you are aware that the hasty action by Congress to pass the Basic Med law left a couple of holes in the regulatory system, most notably, the part limiting Basic Med use to the pilot in command. The result was that one could not act as a safety pilot for someone under the hood unless they were also acting as PIC. This created a lot of issues involving insurance and PIC qualification requirements for those flying under Basic Med to act as a safety pilot. This was recognized by the FAA four years ago, but it's taken them that long to fix it.
Good news is they issued a Final Rule this week removing that restriction, so that anyone with no more than the appropriate category and class ratings on a Private or better can with Basic Med be a 91.109(c) safety pilot without being PIC. The Final Rule has been published, but is not yet effective -- that's about 30 days in the future. But it's good news not only for those on Basic Med, but also their friends looking for a safety pilot. I'll post an update when the final effective date is published.
@Ronald Levy
The Final Rule has been published and the safety pilot rule change is effective 12/22.