Committee Hearings – Week of 11-3-19

This week just the Senate will be in session; the House is working (campaigning? Or just explaining impeachment?) in their districts. There are two cybersecurity related hearings scheduled; one a markup and one a DOE look at legislation.

Markup Hearing

On Wednesday the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will be holding a business meeting that includes marking up 16 bills (plus 11 postal naming bills and four nominations). Only one of those bills is of interest here:

• HR 1589, the CBRN Intelligence and Information Sharing Act of 2019

The House passed this bill by a voice vote back in April. I would not normally expect the Committee to make any substantive changes to this bill in this type of crowded hearing.

Legislative Hearing

On Wednesday the Energy Subcommittee of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a legislative hearing looking at 11 Department of Energy related bills. There is only one witness scheduled; Daniel Simmons from DOE. Two of those bills are of interest here:

• S 2556 – Protecting Resources On The Electric grid with Cybersecurity Technology Act of 2019

• S 2714 – ARPA-E Reauthorization Act

The language for S 2714 has just become available. I hope to be able to review it in detail before tomorrow’s hearing.