Review - S 1007 Introduced – 9-8-8 Lifeline Cybersecurity

Last month Sen Mullin (R,OK) introduced S 1007, the 9–8–8 Lifeline Cybersecurity Responsibility Act. This bill would establish broadly written cybersecurity requirements for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Program. No new funding is provided in the legislation. Mullin’s office has a press release about this legislation.

This bill is very similar to S 1493, the 9–8–8 Lifeline Cybersecurity Responsibility Act, that was introduced by Sen Sinema (I,AZ) in May 2023, Mullin was a cosponsor of that bill. No action was taken on S 1493 in the 118^th Congress. It is also similar to HR 912 that was introduced this session in the House by Rep Obernolte (R,CA) in February.

Moving Forward

Mullins is a Subcommittee Chair in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there may be sufficient influence to see the bill considered in Committee. I see nothing in the legislation that would engender any organized opposition to the bill. I suspect that the bill would receive significant bipartisan support {with an obvious no vote from Sen Paul (R,KY), who rarely supports any legislation}. The big problem moving this bill forward is that it is not politically important enough to bring to the floor of the Senate under regular order. This leaves the unanimous consent process or including the language in a spending or authorization bill.

For more information on the provisions of this bill, including a brief look at some press coverage of the bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/s-1007-introduced - subscription required.