New CFATS Reauthorization Proposal

Yesterday Chairman Thompson (D,MS) made the following comment in his opening remarks at a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee:

“Toward that end, I would be remiss if I did not note that the Chemical Facilities Anti-Terrorism Standards Program is set to expire in April. Although this House has begun work on reauthorizing this important anti-terrorism program, the Senate has not. At this point, it is unclear if the Senate intends to work with the House to reauthorize the program. I urge the Senate to begin work on this national security priority. It would be irresponsible to allow the program to lapse at this time.”

Current Reauthorization Bill

Thompson is correct in that there has been no bill introduced in the Senate regarding the reauthorization of the CFATS program. That is not necessarily an impediment to the reauthorization process since such a bill, HR 3256, has been introduced in the House and acted upon by the House Homeland Security Committee. As I noted in an earlier post that bill is currently awaiting action by the House Energy And Commerce Committee.

New Proposal

Since it appears that the current process is stalled beyond redemption and unlikely to result in action before April 18^th, 2019 (the current expiration of the current CFATS authorization) I make the somewhat odd proposal for a short-term extension of the program:

CFATS Reauthorization Roadblock Clearing Act

Section 1. This bill may be cited as the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) Program Reauthorization Act of 2020.

Section 2. Short-term extension of the CFATS Program –

(a) Section 2 of the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards Program Extension Act (PL 116-2) is amended by striking “5 years 3 months” and inserting “5 years 11 months”;

(b) Absent any other final congressional action on extending the CFATS program before the date set in (a), Section 5 of the Protecting and Securing Chemical Facilities from Terrorist Attacks Act of 2014 (Public Law 113–254; 6 U.S.C. 621 note) is amended by striking “5 years and 3 months: and inserting “10 year”.

Section 3. Plan for Long-Term Extension of the CFATS Program – Not withstanding the Rules of the House and Senate:

(a) Definition of ‘affected Committees’ – The term ‘affected Committees’ refers to:

(1) Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee;

(2) House Homeland Security Committee; and

(3) House Energy and Commerce Committee

(b) The Chair and Ranking Member of Each affected Committee, will, within 30-days of adoption of this bill, cosponsor legislation for the five-year extension of the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards;

(c) Each affected committee will:

(1) hold a markup hearing on the bill in (b) introduced by their Chair within 30 days of its introduction;

(2) within 30 days of the markup hearing, publish a report reflecting the results of the markup hearing in (1); and

(3) The two Chairs of the affected committees in the House will work with the House leadership to bring the bill passed in their respective Committees to the floor of the House for a vote on the same day, within 60-days of the adoption of this bill.

(d) The votes on the bills described in (c)(3) will:

(1) be held without amendments from the floor;

(2) be held with debate limited to 2 hours, with one hour each to be controlled by the Chair and Ranking Member who authored the respective bill;

(3) require a vote of 60% of the members voting for passage; and

(4) if both of the two bills submitted by the Chairs pass in accordance with (3):

(A) the bill with the largest number of affirmative votes will be enrolled in the House and reported to the Senate for consideration;

(B) if both bills have the same number of affirmative votes, the bill from the Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee will be enrolled in the House reported to the Senate for consideration.

(e) Once the House reports to the Senate one of the bills in (d)(4), the Chair of the affected committee in the Senate will work with the leadership to bring both the bill introduced in the Senate and the bill reported to the Senate by the House to the floor of the Senate on the same day within 90-days of this bill being adopted. If no bill has been reported to the Senate within 90-days of the passage of this bill, the Senate may proceed with a vote on the bill introduced by the Chair of the affected committee in the Senate, and the process in (f)(4) will not be required.

(f) The votes on the bills described in (e) will:

(1) be held without amendments from the floor;

(2) be held with debate limited to 2 hours, with one hour each to be controlled by the Chair affected committee in the Senate;

(3) require a vote of 60% of the members voting for passage; and

(4) if both of the pass in accordance with (3):

(A) the bill with the largest number of affirmative votes will be enrolled in the Senate

(B) if both bills have the same number of affirmative votes, the bill from the Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee will be enrolled in the Senate and sent to the President.

(5) if the bill that is enrolled in the Senate is the bill from the Chair of the affected committee in the Senate, that bill will be sent to the House for final action. If final action is necessary in the House, it will be accomplished under the same process in (d)(1) thru (d)(3) within 120 days of the adoption of this bill.

Okay, Section 3 of this proposed bill steps all over the prerogatives of the leadership of the House and Senate but the current process has historically worked poorly at best. To be honest, I would be more than happy to see just Sections 1 and 2 of my proposal enacted into law.