Bills Introduced – 02-25-16

With both the House and Senate in session yesterday there were 54 bills introduced. Of those two may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

HR 4624 To amend title 49, United States Code, to provide for the inspection of pipeline facilities that are transferred by sale and pipeline facilities that are abandoned, and for other purposes. Rep. Hahn, Janice [D-CA-44]

HR 4628 To require reporting of terrorist activities and the unlawful distribution of information relating to explosives, and for other purposes. Rep. Lowey, Nita M. [D-NY-17]

Hahn’s bill addresses concern about recent leaks from abandoned pipelines.

Lowey’s bill would appear to address concern about the availability of information on the manufacture of improvised explosives and explosive devices on the internet.

In both bills the inclusion of the phrase “and for other purposes” in the descriptive title of the bill opens up the possibility of coverage of only vaguely related matters. This is sometimes used to add controversial legislative proposals to a relatively innocuous bill.