Bills Introduced – 03-17-15

Yesterday there were 54 bills introduced in the House and Senate. Four of these bills may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

· HR 1385 - To provide for a legal framework for the operation of public unmanned aircraft systems, and for other purposes. Rep. Poe, Ted [R-TX-2]

· HR 1405 - To amend title 49, United States Code, to ensure railroad safety. Rep. Lipinski, Daniel [D-IL-3]

· S 754 - An original bill to improve cybersecurity in the United States through enhanced sharing of information about cybersecurity threats, and for other purposes. Sen. Burr, Richard [R-NC]

· S 766 - A bill to limit the retrieval of data from vehicle event data recorders, and for other purposes. Sen. Hoeven, John [R-ND]

HR 1385 will probably address more than small unmanned aerial vehicles, but we will have to wait to see the details.

Lipinski's HR 1405 will almost certainly address crude oil train issues among other items.

S 754 is the much publicized bill from the Senate Intelligence Committee. The formal copy of the bill has not been published by the GPO yet, but earlier draft versions did specifically include industrial control systems in the definition of information systems covered by the bill. The bill was reported without a written report when it was introduced yesterday meaning that it can be brought to the floor at anytime the leadership desires. It will be interesting to see if and when this bill gets to the floor.

S 766 may have implications for cybersecurity of automobiles, but I won't be certain of that until we see the actual language.