Review – Bills Introduced – 3-26-26

Yesterday, with both the House and Senate in session and the Senate preparing to leave for their two week Easter holiday, there were 121 bills introduced. One of those bills may receive additional coverage in this blog:

HR 8110 To establish a grant program within the Department of Labor to support the creation, implementation, and expansion of registered apprenticeship programs in cybersecurity. Lee, Susie [Rep.-D-NV-3]

Space Geek Legislation

I would like to mention one bill under my limited Space Geek coverage in this blog:

S 4264 A bill to provide NASA the authority to detect, identify, monitor, and track unmanned aircraft systems, and for other purposes. Peters, Gary C. [Sen.-D-MI]

 

For more information on these bills, including legislative history for similar bills in the 118^th Congress, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/bills-introduced-3-26-26 - subscription required.

Chemical Transportation Incidents – Week of 2-21-26

Reporting Background

See this post for explanation, with the most recent update here (removed from paywall).

Data from PHMSA’s online database of transportation related chemical incidents that have been reported to the agency.

Incidents Summary

• Number of incidents – 447 (408 highway, 31 air, 7 rail, 1 water)

• Serious incidents – 4 (3 Bulk release, 1 evacuation, 1 injury, 0 death, 0 major artery closed, 6 fire/explosion, 36 no release)

• Largest container involved – 203,900-gal (?) DOT 117R100W Railcar {Diesel Fuel} Bottom outlet valve leaking.

• Largest amount spilled – 500-gal Tank truck {Gasoline Includes Gasoline Mixed With Ethyl Alcohol, With Not More Than 10% Alcohol} Vent pipe malfunction.

• Total amount reported spilled in all incidents – 2117.9-gal

NOTE: Links above are to Form 5800.1 for the described incidents. Link not available for tank truck incident.

Most Interesting Chemical: Tributylamine: A pale yellow liquid with an ammonia-like odor. Less dense than water. Very irritating to skin, mucous membranes, and eyes. May be toxic by skin absorption. Low toxicity. Used as an inhibitor in hydraulic fluids. (Source: CameoChemicals.NOAA.gov).

OMB Approves NTIA Space Launch Portal ICR

Yesterday the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that that it had approved the initial information collection request from DOC’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) respectfully for “NTIA Space Launch Frequency Coordination Portal” and assigned the OMB Control Number 0660-0057 to that collection. The 60-day ICR notice was published on October 1^st, 2025 and the 30-day ICR notice was published on January 27^th, 2026.

The table below provides the approved initial burden estimate.

The supporting document provided to OIRA explains that:

“The proposed portal will collect the information [currently] submitted via e-mail through an online portal.  This information will be routed through the portal and reviewed by NTIA and other federal agencies.  A dashboard will provide transparency on where the request is in the portal.  This system will replace an outdated e-mail process and expedite processing time.”

OMB Approves EPA Chemical Manufacturing NESHAP Final Rule

Yesterday the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had approved a final rule from the EPA on “National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Chemical Manufacturing Area Source Technology Review”. The final rule was sent to OIRA on February 23^rd, 2026. The notice of proposed rulemaking was published on January 22^nd, 2025. There was a judicial deadline for the publication of this final rule of January 15^th, 2026.

According to the Spring 2025 Unified Agenda entry for this rulemaking:

“This action will address the agency's technology review of the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for Chemical Manufacturing Area Sources (CMAS). The CMAS NESHAP, subpart VVVVVV, was promulgated on October 29, 2009, pursuant to section 112(d) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and established emission limitations and work practice requirements for controlling emissions of hazardous air pollutants (HAP). The NESHAP controls HAP emissions from process vents, storage tanks, equipment leaks, wastewater streams, transfer operations and heat exchange systems. This action addresses the technology review requirements of CAA section 112(d)(6) which require the EPA to review and revise the standards as necessary (taking into account developments in practices, processes and control technologies) no less often than every 8 years.”

This appears to be outside of the normal scope of this blog, but I would expect to announce the publication of the final rule in the appropriate Short Takes post. I would expect publication within the next week of two.

HR 8029 Passed in House – FY 2026 DHS Spending

This afternoon the House considered HR 8029, the Pay Our Homeland Defenders Act, under a closed rule. After an hour and 20 minutes of debate, the House passed the bill by a near party line vote of 218 to 206. Four Democrats and one Independent vote Aye. The bill now goes to the Senate where it will suffer the same problems as HR 7147, the nearly identical bill that was passed in the House on January 22^nd, 2026, but has not been able to gain the 60 votes needed for passage in the Senate.

Review – 3 Advisories and 1 Update Published – 3-26-26

Today CISA’s NCCIC-ICS published three control system security advisories for products from PTC, OpenCode Systems, and WAGO. They also updated an advisory for products from Honeywell.

Advisories

PTC Advisory - This advisory describes a code injection vulnerability (with available indicators of compromise) in the PTC Windchill and FlexPLM product lifecycle management products.

OpenCode Advisory - This advisory describes an improper access control vulnerability in the OpenCode Systems OC Messaging and USSD Gateway.

WAGO Advisory - This advisory describes the a hidden functionality vulnerability in the WAGO Industrial Managed Switches.

Updates

Honeywell Update - This update provides additional information on the IQ4x BMS Controller advisory that was originally published on March 10^th, 2026.

 

For more information on these advisories, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/3-advisories-and-1-update-published-4be - subscription required.

Short Takes – 3-26-26 – Federal Register Edition

2026 Report on the Effectiveness of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program. Federal Register Treasury Department. Request for comments. Summary: “The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002, as amended (TRIA), established the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program (TRIP or Program). TRIA requires the Secretary of the Treasury (Secretary) to submit a report to Congress by June 30, 2026 concerning, in general, the overall effectiveness of TRIP. To assist the Secretary in formulating the report, the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) within the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) is seeking comments from the insurance sector and other stakeholders on the statutory factors to be analyzed in the report, as well as any other feedback on other issues relating to the effectiveness of TRIP.”

EO 14396 - Preserving America's Game – Federal Register.

ICR Notices

• Access to TSCA Confidential Business Information (Renewal). EPA 30-day notice,

• Miscellaneous Licensing and Reporting Responsibilities and Enforcement (Renewal). BIS 30-day notice,

• NOAA Space-Based Data Collection System (DCS) Agreement (Revision). NASA 30-day notice,

• User Needs Survey by the Space Weather Advisory Group (Renewal). NOAA 30-day notice.