Review - HR 5786 Introduced – NNSA Cybersecurity

Last month, Rep Carbajal (D,CA) introduced HR 5758, a bill to establish in the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) a Cybersecurity Risk Inventory, Assessment, and Mitigation Working Group. The bill would amend Subtitle A of title XXXII of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 (PL 106–65) adding a new §3222, Cybersecurity Risk Inventory, Assessment, and Mitigation Working Group. It would require the establishment of a Working Group to “prepare a comprehensive strategy for inventorying the range of National Nuclear Security Administration systems that are potentially at risk in the operational technology and nuclear weapons information technology environments, assessing the systems at risk, and implementing risk mitigation actions.” No new funding is authorized by the legislation.

Moving Forward

Carabajal and his two cosponsors {Rep Bacon (R,NE) and Rep Gallagher (R,WI)} are all members of the House Armed Services Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there may be sufficient influence to see this bill considered in Committee. I see nothing in this bill that would engender any organized opposition. I suspect that it would receive substantial bipartisan support in Committee, enough bipartisan support for the bill to move to the floor of the House under the suspension of the rules process. That would allow for limited debate and no floor amendments, but it would require a supermajority for passage.

Substantially the same language as is found in this bill was included as §3113 of HR 2670, the NDAA for 2024, as passed in the House, but it was not included in the version of the bill passed in the Senate. Carabajal apparently has concerns about the provisions being included in the version of the bill that will eventually be reported by the conference committee. In any case, I do not expect any action to be taken on this bill until HR 2670 comes back to the House.

 

For more details about the provisions of this legislation, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-5786-introduced - subscription required.

Bills Introduced – 9-28-23

Yesterday, with both the House and Senate in session, there were 96 bills introduced. Two of those bills will receive additional coverage in this blog:

HR 5786 To establish in the National Nuclear Security Administration a Cybersecurity Risk Inventory, Assessment, and Mitigation Working Group. Carbajal, Salud O. [Rep.-D-CA-24]

S 2980 A bill to amend title 49, United States Code, to eliminate the requirement for cost-benefit analyses in the establishment of minimum safety standards for pipeline transportation and pipeline facilities, and for other purposes. Markey, Edward J. [Sen.-D-MA] 

 

Rules Committee to Meet on HR 5895 – FY 2019 EWR Spending

The House Rules Committee will meet twice this coming week (Tuesday and Wednesday) to formulate the rule for consideration of HR 5895, the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2019. The version of the bill that will be affected by the two rules (general debate and amendment consideration) will include language from HR 5894 (Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2019) as Division B and HR 5786 (Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2019) as Division C.

The date for the submission of amendments to be considered by the Rules Committee has passed. A total of 173 amendments were submitted for all three divisions of the bill. Only one of the amendments may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

Division A, #59, Soto (D,FL) – Increases funding to the Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) program by $1,000,000 to further facilitate the Department of Energy’s effort to secure the nation’s energy infrastructure against all hazards, reduce the risks of and impacts from cyber events, and assist with restoration activities.

The amendment would take the $1 million from the DOE salary and administration account; decreasing that account to $279.5 million. It would increase the CESER account to $147 million.

The bill is currently scheduled to come to the floor of the House on Thursday.

HR 5786 Introduced – Rail Spill Fund

Back in July Rep. DeFazio (D,OR) introduced HR 5786, the Community Protection and Preparedness Act of 2016. The bill would establish a Rail Account within the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund as well require actions by the DOT’s Federal Railroad Administration to improve the track inspection process.

Rail Account

Section 2 of the bill would add a new §5111 to 49 USC establishing a new Rail Account within the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund established under  26 USC 9509. The account would be funded by a $1500 fee charged to each shipper who offers flammable liquids for transportation in DOT 111 or CPC-1232 rail cars that have not been upgraded to the DOT 117R standard. The fee would be charged for each rail car used in such service during the previous fiscal year.

The bill would authorize expenditures from the Rail Account for response activities related to a flammable liquid accident incident to rail transportation. It would also provide authority for the Secretary of Transportation to use the Rail Account funds to provide grants to State and local governments for planning for, and training for, emergency response activities related to such incidents.

Rail Track Inspection

Section 3 of the bill would require DOT to issue regulations requiring Class I railroads “to inspect all track where an accident or incident involving the transportation of flammable liquids or material poisonous or toxic by inhalation by rail could affect a high consequence area” {§3(a)}. The inspections would be required to be completed by foot and “periodically, by a gage restraint measurement system” {§3(b)(2)}. The Secretary would determine the frequency with which such inspections would be required.

Section 4 of the bill would authorize the expenditure of ‘such funds as may be necessary’ by the FRA to hire two additional track inspection specialists per region.

Moving Forward

Neither DeFazio nor his two co-sponsors are members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, so it is extremely unlikely that this bill would be considered by the Committee. Flammable liquid shippers would be expected to vigorously oppose this bill as would Class 1 railroads, so the bill would be unlikely to pass in committee even if considered.

Commentary

There have been a series of bills out of the Oregon congressional delegation recently concerning a Rail Account in the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (S 1175, HR 5762, and now this one). The only one that has even a remote chance of being considered in committee is the Senate bill and that has little chance of being considered on the floor of the Senate, especially this late in the session.

Both the Senate bill and the earlier House bill used an amendment to 26 USC 9509 (establishing the Trust Fund) to establish the Rail Account. This bill took a different approach and added the requirement to 49 USC instead of 26 USC. In the House this is important because it drastically reduced (from four for HR 5762 to one for this bill) the number of committees that would have to acquiesce to the bill being considered on the floor of the House. That is not much of an issue this year as the bill is not going to even be considered in committee. If the leadership of the House were to change next year (an admittedly outside chance) then such a change could make a difference in allowing the bill to come to the floor for a vote.

Bills Introduced – 07-14-16

On their last day in Washington for the next seven weeks the House and Senate introduced 236 bills. Of those five may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

HR 5786 To amend title 49, United States Code, to provide for a rail spill preparedness fund, and for other purposes. Rep. DeFazio, Peter A. [D-OR-4]

HR 5843 To establish a grant program at the Department of Homeland Security to promote cooperative research and development between the United States and Israel on cybersecurity. Rep. Langevin, James R. [D-RI-2]

HR 5859 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish the major metropolitan area counterterrorism training and exercise grant program, and for other purposes. Rep. McCaul, Michael T. [R-TX-10]

HR 5877 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and the United States-Israel Strategic Partnership Act of 2014 to promote cooperative homeland security research and antiterrorism programs relating to cybersecurity, and for other purposes. Rep. Ratcliffe, John [R-TX-4]

HR 5900 To require compliant flame mitigation devices to be used on portable fuel containers for flammable liquids, and for other purposes. Rep. Thompson, Mike [D-CA-5]

Generally speaking these bills have little chance of being considered before this Congress disbands at the end of the year. For the most part these bills were introduced to provide the various congresscritters with bragging points in their campaigns. Still, I’ll be looking at each of these bills when they become available for review; there may be some interesting provisions.