Bills Introduced – 2-23-24

Yesterday, with the House and Senate meeting in pro forma session, there were 27 bills introduced. One of those bills will receive additional coverage in this blog:

HR 7447 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require the Election Assistance Commission to provide for the conduct of penetration testing as part of the testing and certification of voting systems and to provide for the establishment of an Independent Security Testing and Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure Pilot Program for Election Systems. Spanberger, Abigail Davis [Rep.-D-VA-7] 

Mention in Passing

Periodically, it looks like a legislative topic will strike the interest of multiple congressional staffs at the same time, resulting with multiple bills addressing the same topic. Normally, the legislative topic is a partisan issue with members wishing to make a political statement, but periodically an issue comes up that crosses party lines. Yesterday, one such bipartisan issue apparently struck a cord in the House; transnational repression. Three bills were introduced on the topic:

HR 7433 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish a transnational repression hotline and conduct a transnational repression public service announcement campaign, and for other purposes. D'Esposito, Anthony [Rep.-R-NY-4]

HR 7439 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require the Secretary of Homeland Security to prioritize strengthening of State and local law enforcement capabilities to combat transnational repression and related terrorism threats, and for other purposes. Magaziner, Seth [Rep.-D-RI-2] 

HR 7443 To authorize a dedicated transnational repression office within the Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Security Investigations to analyze and monitor transnational repression and related terrorism threats and require Homeland Security Investigations to take actions to prevent transnational repression. Pfluger, August [Rep.-R-TX-11]