Committee Hearings – Week of 5-15-22

This week, with both the House and Senate in session, there is a very active hearing schedule on both sides of the Hill. FY 2023 budget hearing continue, including Member Day hearings (where congresscritters not on the Appropriations Committee have a chance to plead for their favorite projects). We also have two cybersecurity markups, a health and education cybersecurity hearing, and an emergency response hearing.

Cybersecurity Markups

On Tuesday, the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee will hold a business meeting to consider four pieces of legislation. It will include:

• HR 7569, the Energy Cybersecurity University Leadership Act of 2022.

On Wednesday, the Senate Small Business Committee, will hold a business meeting to consider five bills. It will include:

• S 1687, the Small Business Cyber Training Act of 2021

NOTE: I have not followed this bill closely because it deals with cybersecurity training for employees of Small Business Development Center, not small businesses.

Cybersecurity Hearings

On Wednesday the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold a hearing on “Cybersecurity in the Health and Education Sectors”. The witness list includes:

• Denise Anderson, Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center,

• Joshua Corman, I Am the Cavalry,

• Amy McLaughlin, Consortium of School Networking, and

• Helen Norris, Chapman University

I do not think that there will be any in depth discussion about medical device cybersecurity issues, but I could be wrong with Corman as a witness.

Emergency Response

On Tuesday, the Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing on “Creating a More Resilient Nation: Stakeholder Perspectives”. The witness list will include:

• Chris Currie, GAO,

• Orlando Rolón, Chief of Police, City of Orlando, and

• George Dunlap, Mecklenburg County Commission

I do not think that there will be any specific discussion about response planning for chemical incidents.

On the Floor

There are five cybersecurity bills scheduled for consideration in the House this week under the suspension of the rules process. They include:

HR 5658 – DHS Roles and Responsibilities in Cyber Space Act, as amended,

HR 6824 – President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competition Act, as amended,

HR 6825 – Nonprofit Security Grant Program Improvement Act of 2022, as amended,

HR 6868 – Cybersecurity Grants for Schools Act of 2022, as amended, and

S 2520 – State and Local Government Cybersecurity Act of 2021,