Obama Signs HR 2892

Yesterday President Obama signed HR 2892, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2010. Arguably the most important item in the bill for the chemical security community was the extension of the congressional authority for the CFATS program until October 4, 2010 (§550). The bill provides $103.4 million for the CFATS program, increasing the staffing for the program to 246 full time employees. Another ‘General Provision’ of the bill addresses the abuse of the ‘Sensitive Security Information’ protections of 46 USC 70103(d), 49 USC 114(r), or 49 USC 40119(b). Sensitive Security Information Section 561, the American Communities’ Right to Public Information Act, prohibits anyone from using the ‘sensitive security information’ designation as a means to:

“Conceal a violation of law, inefficiency, or administrative error; “Prevent embarrassment to a person, organization, or agency; “Restrain competition; or “Prevent or delay the release of information that does not require protection in the interest of transportation security, including basic scientific research information not clearly related to transportation security.”

This provision should be known as the ‘Bayer CropScience Slap-in-the-Face’ Act. It was written by Sen. Rockefeller (D, WV) in direct response to the efforts made by Bayer CropScience to prevent the Chemical Safety Board from disclosing safety mistakes made by Bayer during last year’s fatal incident at the Institute, WV facility.

HR 2892 Rule

The House Rules Committee held their hearing today to develop the rule for the early consideration of the Conference Committee Report on HR 2892. The Committee prepared the resolution (H Res 829) that provides for one hour of debate on the HR 2892 Conference Report. One motion to recommit may be allowed, but no other intervening motions will be allowed. This will allow for a quick, final vote on HR 2892 after the debate is concluded. The Committee filed their report (H Rept 111-300), but it is not yet available on the Library of Congress or the GPO web site. It is likely that H Res 829 will be debated on Thursday or Friday. The Senate is not likely to take up the HR 2892 Conference until Friday at the earliest; more likely it will come next week.

HR 2892 Update – 10-06-09

The Senate Appropriations Committee announced today that the long awaited conference committee meeting for HR 2892, the DHS budget, would take place on Wednesday, October 7th, at 1:00 p.m. EDT. This committee will work out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the DHS appropriations bill. There are no differences in the two bills that directly affect the chemical security community.

HRes 573 for Consideration of HR 2892

Yesterday evening the House Rules Committee submitted their report on HRes 573 which provides the rule for the consideration of HR 2892, the DHS Appropriations Act of 2010. The rule describes how the House will consider HR 2892 including what amendments can/will be submitted during consideration on the floor. I reported yesterday that the Rules Committee would consider only one amendment that would be of interest to the chemical security community; the Dent amendment to deny funds for the enforcement of IST provisions under CFATS. That amendment did not make it to the list of amendments that will be considered on the floor. Now, the only thing of consequence to the chemical security community is the funding for CFATS enforcement which is apparently unchanged from earlier discussions about this appropriations bill. No word specifically when this bill will be called up for consideration. It could certainly come to a floor vote this week. NOTE: The following was added at 09:11 a.m EDT: The Congressional Record Daily Digest for June 23rd notes that (pg D752) that the House will consider HR 2892 (subject to a rule) today.

House Rules Committee Hearing on HR 2892

As I noted in yesterday’s blog, the House Rules Committee will hold a hearing this afternoon at 5:00 pm (well, I may have forgotten to include the date/time) to prepare the rule for the consideration of HR 2892, Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2010. They have on their Committee Web site a list of all of the amendments that have been filed for consideration with this bill. It is a lengthy list, filled with all manner of political objectives. Surprisingly, there is only one amendment that concerns the CFATS regulations; it is amendment #65 submitted by Congressman Dent (R, PA). The summary of that amendment reads:

“Would ensure that no funds appropriated for the expansion of the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards would be used to mandate the implementation of inherently safer technology (IST) at chemical facilities covered under the program.”

The fact that Mr. Dent would try to limit the application of mandatory IST rules should come as no surprise to anyone that has followed the recent hearings on HR 2868 (Hearing and Markup). What would seem surprising is that an amendment like this to the FY2010 Appropriations Bill would probably not affect the operations of HR 2868 since the rules supporting that legislation are not required to be in place before January, 2011 at the earliest and could easily be expected to be in place no earlier than the beginning of FY 2012. Oh well; one must at least admire Mr. Dent for his consistency of purpose. One would certainly expect that if this amendment were to make it to the floor of the House, that it would be voted down on a nearly party-line vote.

HR 2892, DHS Appropriations, Status 06-17-09

The bill number is now available for the House version of the DHS Appropriations Bill, it is HR 2892. The Thomas web site does have a viewable version of the bill, but you cannot download a copy of the entire bill. Trying to get the GPO print of the bill comes up with an error message as does trying to get a copy of the House Appropriations Committee report (H. Rept. 111-157). Since this bill was filed after 5:00 pm EDT yesterday, I am happy to see what is available. The GPO problem should probably be fixed by late today or tomorrow. What I can tell at this point is that the §548 language extending the current CFATS authorization until 10-04-10 remains in the legislation.