Wednesday, March 13, 2013

OMB Announces Approval of TWIC Reader NPRM


Yesterday the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced that it had approved the Coast Guard’s notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on the TWIC Reader Rule. The approval was ‘consistent with change’. This NPRM was submitted to OMB back on November 16th, 2012. This long overdue rule was supposed to have been completed by August 20th, 2010.

An abstract of the rulemaking submission to the OMB describes the rule this way:

The Coast Guard is establishing electronic card reader requirements for maritime facilities and vessels to be used in combination with TSA's Transportation Worker Identification Credential. Congress enacted several statutory requirements within the Security and Accountability For Every (SAFE) Port Act of 2006 to guide regulations pertaining to TWIC readers, including the need to evaluate TSA's final pilot program report as part of the TWIC reader rulemaking. During the rulemaking process, we will take into account the final pilot data and the various conditions in which TWIC readers may be employed. For example, we will consider the types of vessels and facilities that will use TWIC readers, locations of secure and restricted areas, operational constraints, and need for accessibility. Recordkeeping requirements, amendments to security plans, and the requirement for data exchanges (i.e., Canceled Card List) between TSA and vessel or facility owners/operators will also be addressed in this rulemaking. 

With the OMB requiring some sort of relatively minor change (details not specified on the OMB site) It may be a couple of weeks before we see the TWIC Reader NPRM in the Federal Register.

1 comment:

Laurie Thomas said...

PJ, thanks so much for tracking this for the MTSA community, I reblogged the information with an attribution to you. I wonder if "several weeks" is optimistic. Unfortunately, the program has a long history of missed deadlines. I am/was a supporter of the card but the present trend of funneling renewals over to the 3-year option circumvents the basic card function - making sure that we have some sort of sensibly current look into the backgrounds of those persons granted unescorted access to secure areas in the nation's ports.

 
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