I will not be covering HR 2885 – Grid Resilience Grants

A frequent feature of this blog is the Bills Introduced post. For each day that either the House or Senate is in session Congress.gov publishes, generally the next day, a listing of the bills that were introduced. I look at the brief descriptions of those bills and make a preliminary determination of whether the bills address a topic that I will be covering here in this blog. If it is, I make a brief announcement of the fact in a ‘Bills Introduced’ post for that day.

I did one of those posts for April 28^th, 2021. In that post I listed five bills that I might be covering, including HR 2885:

"HR 2885 To require the Secretary of Energy to establish an electric grid resilience grant program and an electric grid resilience research and development program. Rep. Johnson, Eddie Bernice [D-TX-30] ."

I listed that bill based upon the description provided above since cybersecurity is increasingly becoming a resiliency issue. For HR 2885 I noted:

“I will be watching HR 2885 for language and definitions that would include cybersecurity in the grid resilience programs; probably will not be any.”

Once the bill is actually printed, increasingly months later, I make a determination of whether or not I will be covering the bill, generally based upon the criteria that I list in the Bills Introduced post. If the bill does not meet those self-imposed criteria, I just generally never mention it again. Every once-in-a-while, however, I just have to mention a bill that I will not be covering in this blog. Yesterday, the text for HR 2885 was printed and it contained a provision that I just have to mention.

HR 2885 establishes both a grid-resilience grant program and a grid-resilience research and development program. As I expected, there is no language in the bill that includes cybersecurity in either program. What I did not expect to see, however, was specific language in the bill that prohibited the use of funds in the grant program from being used for cybersecurity purposes. But, there it is in §2(c)(2)(ii), under ‘prohibited uses’, cybersecurity.

Now, I understand that this bill is trying to address resiliency issues related to extreme weather events. That is clearly spelled out in §2(c)(1). And cybersecurity is clearly not specifically related to extreme weather events, again, I understand that. What I do not understand is why Rep Johnson (D,TX) felt it necessary to specifically spell out that cybersecurity expenditures were not covered by the grant program.

But, my understanding is not necessary. What I do understand is that this will be the last mention of HR 2885 in my blog. Weather resiliency of the grid is just not a topic that I intend on covering at this time. But Johnson had to specifically exclude cybersecurity issues so I had to specifically exclude her bill.

Bills Introduced – 4-28-21

Yesterday, with both the House and Senate in session, there were 101 bills introduced. Five of those bills may receive additional coverage in this blog:

HR 2885 To require the Secretary of Energy to establish an electric grid resilience grant program and an electric grid resilience research and development program. Rep. Johnson, Eddie Bernice [D-TX-30] 

HR 2894 To establish a Civilian Cyber Security Reserve as a pilot project to address the cyber security needs of the United States with respect to national security, and for other purposes. Rep. Panetta, Jimmy [D-CA-20]

S 1400 A bill to amend the Federal Power Act to provide energy cybersecurity investment incentives, to establish a grant and technical assistance program for cybersecurity investments, and for other purposes. Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK] 

S 1407 A bill to enhance the early warning reporting requirements for motor vehicle manufacturers, and for other purposes. Sen. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA]

S 1419 A bill to require the Secretary of Defense to support and provide incentives for domestic manufacturing of printed circuit boards, to identify national security risks in printed circuit boards imported from certain foreign countries, and for other purposes. Sen. Hawley, Josh [R-MO] 

I will be watching HR 2885 for language and definitions that would include cybersecurity in the grid resilience programs; probably will not be any.

I will be covering both HR 2894 and S 1400 for rather obvious reasons.

I will be watching S 1407 for language and definitions that would include cybersecurity issues as part of the enhanced early warning reporting requirements; probably will not be any.

I will be watching S 1409 since there are obvious cybersecurity implications here, but I do not expect this bill to go anywhere given Hawley’s reputation.