HR 9469 Introduced – TSA Pipeline Security

Earlier this month, Rep Garcia (D,CA) introduced HR 9469, the Pipeline Security Act. The bill would amend 49 USC 114 to specifically add pipeline security to the list of responsibilities of the Transportation Security Administration. No new funding is authorized by this legislation.

Moving Forward

Garcia is a member of the House Homeland Security Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there could be sufficient influence to see the bill considered in Committee. There will be some Republican opposition to the call for security directives or regulations for pipeline security, but I suspect that there will be at least some level of bipartisan support for the bill. Unfortunately, this late in the session, the bill is not likely to be considered.

Commentary

The reality is that this bill is going to codify responsibility for actions that TSA is already taking. Even the security directive and regulation section would not require TSA to take any actions beyond that which it has already taken. Bills such as this, however, are important in that they provide a legal backstop for charges that the agency has exceeded its authority. The current authority under §114 is broadly written and could be argued to support the agencies security directives and current rulemaking process. This would make that argument unnecessary.

For more information on the provisions of the legislation, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-9469-introduced - subscription required.