Senate Passes HR 26 – TRIA Reauthorization

Today the Senate passed HR 26 by a strongly bipartisan vote of 94 to 4. Earlier in the day they rejected an amendment introduced by Sen. Warren (D,MA) 31 to 66 (with a 3/5ths majority required for passage). This means that the version introduced in the House is now on its way to the President for signature. That is expected next week some time.

House Passes HR 26 – TRIA Extension

The House passed their first non-organizational bill of the 114^th Congress today with a solidly bipartisan vote on HR 26, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2015. The final vote was 416 to 5 with all five nays coming from Republicans. The bill would extend the current TRIA until 2020 with some changes in the details of the program.

This is similar to the bill that was passed in December in the House but was ignored by the Senate because of objections to the ‘added provisions’ of the bill. This bill also included two the same unrelated titles:

• The National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers Reform Act of 2015; and

• The Business Risk Mitigation and Price Stabilization Act of 2015

It is quite possible that either or both of these additional titles will be removed when this bill is considered by the Senate.

BTW: There were no changes made to the language to specifically include cyber-attacks like those against Sony in the definition of ‘terrorist attack’.

Bills Introduced – 1-6-15

Yesterday marked the opening day of the 114^th Congress. Along with the mandatory organizational business a large number of bills were introduced; 26 in the Senate and 160 in the House. Those that may be of specific interest to readers of this blog include:

HR 26 - To extend the termination date of the Terrorism Insurance Program established under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002, and for other purposes. Rep. Neugebauer, Randy [R-TX-19]

HR 48 - To require a review of the completeness of the Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB) maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the derivative terrorist watchlist utilized by the.. Rep. Jackson Lee, Sheila [D-TX-18]

HR 53 - To codify an office within the Department of Homeland Security with the mission of strengthening the capacity of the agency to attract and retain highly trained computer and information security... Rep. Jackson Lee, Sheila [D-TX-18]

HR 54 - To enhance the security of chemical facilities and for other purposes. Rep. Jackson Lee, Sheila [D-TX-18]

HR 60 - To require the Director of National Intelligence to conduct a study on the feasibility of establishing a Cyber Defense National Guard. Rep. Jackson Lee, Sheila [D-TX-18]

HR 85 - To codify the objective of Presidential Policy Directive 21 to improve critical infrastructure security and resilience, and for other purposes. Rep. Jackson Lee, Sheila [D-TX-18]

HR 104 - To protect cyber privacy, and for other purposes. Rep. Conyers, John, Jr. [D-MI-13]

As is the case with many introduced bills many of these will never be mentioned again. HR 26 will not be one of those as that has already been debated today on the floor of the House and will probably be voted upon (and passed) this evening.