House Accepts Senate Amendment to HR 7077 – USFA Fire Investigations

Today, the House completed their action on the Senate amendment to HR 7077, accepting that amendment by a recorded vote of 349 to 80. The House took up the HR 7077 on Monday under the House suspension of the rules process. After about seven minutes debate on Monday a recorded vote was demanded and that vote (along with a number of other bills considered under the same rule) was delayed until a future time. This afternoon, under provisions of H Res 1518, a rule for the consideration of three other bills, the House took up HR 7077 and twelve other bills pending votes under suspension of the rules. All twelve bills were passed by the single vote.

HR 7077, as amended, would allow the US Fire Administration to conduct non-criminal investigations of major fires to find ways to prevent similar fires and more efficiently fight those fires. These investigations would be similar to those conducted by the Chemical Safety Board for chemical incidents and the National Transportation Safety Board for transportation incidents.

The bill now goes to President Biden for signature.

Committee Hearings – Week of 12-12-22

With both the House and Senate in what may be the last week of their lame duck session (and maybe not), there is a relatively light hearing schedule. Oversight and information gathering hearings predominate. There are two oversight hearings in the House that may be of interest.

DHS Intel and Analysis Oversight

On Tuesday, the Intelligence and Counterterrorism Subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee will conduct an oversight hearing of the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis. The witness list includes:

• Kenneth L. Wainstein, DHS

It is odd that there is no witness from GAO. Committees usually use the GAO to do the heavy lifting on background research for such hearings.

FITARA

On Thursday, the Government Operations Subcommittee of the House Oversight and Reform Committee will hold their biannual hearing on progress being made under the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA). The Subcommittee will also be releasing their fifteenth FITARA Scorecard. The witness list will include:

• Chris DeRusha, OMB,

• Jason Gray, USAID,

• Carol C. Harris, GAO, and

• Jennifer Franks, GAO

On the Floor

The House agenda for the week currently includes four bills to be considered under rules, nothing of major import here. The big issue for the week is the 2023 spending bill, the current CR expires Friday night, with nothing officially available yet. There are 39 bills that will be considered under the suspension of the rules process with lots of postal naming bills.

One of those 39 bills will be followed here; HR 7077, the Empowering the U.S. Fire Administration Act. The Senate amended the bill last week and the House will likely accept the Senate amendment today.

The Senate does not publish a weekly agenda in the same way as the House, but beyond some more judicial nominations, the Senate is likely to take up HR 7776, the 2023 NDAA. This is a must pass bill there could be some issues delaying the consideration. And, of course, the Senate will have to deal with whatever the House does with the spending bill.

Review - HR 7077 Passed in Senate – USFA Fire Investigations

Yesterday, the Senate took up HR 7077, the Empowering the U.S. Fire Administration Act which had been passed in the House on May 10^th, 2022 by a vote of 380 to 87. The Senate considered the bill under their unanimous consent process, taking up substitute language from SA 6505 that makes relatively minor changes to the bill. The Senate adopted the substitute language, sending the bill back to the House for further consideration. There was no debate and no vote.

Moving Forward

The bill must now go back to the House for consideration of the changes made by the Senate. I suspect that the House will take up and accept the Senate changes under their suspension of the rules process. There is a slight chance that that may occur this week, but more likely next week.

 

For more information on the changes made in the substitute language, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-7077-passed-in-senate - subscription required.

Committee Hearings – Week of 7-31-22

 With the House already on Summer Recess, just the Senate will be in Washington this week, eager to be gone. Light committee schedule with one markup hearing of note.

Markup Hearing

On Wednesday, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a business meeting. They will take up 3 DC court nominations, 30 pieces of legislation, and 9 postal naming bills. Bills that I will be watching for include:

S ____, Safeguarding the Homeland from the Threats Posed by Unmanned Aircraft Systems Act of 2022,

HR 6825, Nonprofit Security Grant Program Improvement Act of 2022, and

HR 7077, Empowering the U.S. Fire Administration Act;

It will be interesting to see how far reaching the UAS bill is in allowing actual action against UAS at non-federal facilities. The bill may be introduced today, but I doubt the text will be available for review before Wednesday’s hearing.

HR 7077 Passed in House – Fire Investigations

Yesterday, the House began consideration of HR 7077, the Empowering the U.S. Fire Administration Act, under the House suspension of the rules process. After limited debate, a vote was demanded and subsequently postponed until today. This afternoon, the vote on the bill was held and the bill was approved by a significantly bipartisan vote of 379 to 37.

During yesterday’s debate, there was no one that spoke in opposition to the bill. In addition to the typical praise for the leadership of the House Homeland Security Committee for their bipartisan work on the bill, there were four letters in support of the bill read into the record. Those letters were from:

• Fire Department of New York City,

• International Association of Fire Chiefs,

• National Association of State Fire Marshals, and

• The International Association of Fire Fighters.

The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration. This bill will not be considered under regular order. There is a chance that it could proceed under the unanimous consent process, but it is more likely to be added to another bill as an amendment. Then again, it could suffer the same fate that so many bills fall to when they are presented to the ‘other’ house of Congress. Without an influential sponsor to move them forward they simply gather legislative dust on the desk of the Clerk.

Committee Hearings – Week of 5-8-22

This week, with both the House and Senate back in Washington, there is a heavy committee hearing schedule with a major focus on the FY 2023 budget. We also have one cybersecurity hearing and a hearing on the reauthorization of the Surface Transportation Board.

FY 2023 Budget Hearings

Tuesday – DOT – THUD Subcommittee, House Appropriations Committee,

Wednesday – DOD – DOD Subcommittee, House Appropriations Committee,

Wednesday – NSF – CSJ Subcommittee, House Appropriations Committee,

Wednesday – DOC – CSJ Subcommittee, Senate Appropriations Committee,

Thursday – DOC – CSJ Subcommittee, House Appropriations Committee,

Thursday – Coast Guard – Homeland Security Subcommittee, House Appropriations Committee,

Thursday – DOE Science & Energy – EWD Subcommittee, House Appropriations Committee,

Cybersecurity Hearing

On Wednesday two subcommittees of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee will be holding a hearing on “Securing The Digital Commons: Open-Source Software Cybersecurity”. The witness list includes:

• Brian Behlendorf, Open Source Security Foundation, and

• Andrew Lohn, Georgetown University

I do not expect much specific focus on operational technology issues.

STB Reauthorization

On Thursday, the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hold a hearing on “Board Member Views on Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization”. The witness list will include:

• Martin Oberrman, Chair, STB,

• Patrick Fuchs, Member STB,

• Robert Primus, Member STB,

• Michelle Schultz, Member STB, and

• Karen Hedlund, Member STB

I suspect that there will be a number of questions about the Board’s views on the current railroad service issues and potential future actions by the Board.

On the Floor

The House plans to consider the following bills of interest here this week under the suspension of the rules process:

HR 7077 – Empowering the U.S. Fire Administration Act, as amended,

S 2201 – Supply Chain Security Training Act of 2021,

HR 7077 Amended and Adopted in Science Committee – Fire Investigations

Yesterday, the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee held a markup hearing that considered five bills, including HR 7077, the Empowering the U.S. Fire Administration Act. An amendment was offered by Rep Lofgren (D,CA). The amendment, and then the amended bill, were adopted by voice vote.

The amendment ads the words “and cooperation” to the new §38(b)(1), requiring the USFA to coordinate and cooperate with Federal, State, and local authorities in the conduct of the investigations authorized by the new section.

As soon as the Committee publishes their report on the bill, the House will be cleared to consider the bill. The bill will almost certainly be considered under the suspension of the rules process. If considered, it will pass with substantial bipartisan support.

Committee Hearings – Week of 4-3-22

This week, with both the House and Senate eying their upcoming two-week Easter break, there is a full slate of hearings. We are starting to see hearings in support of the development of the National Defense Authorization Act and Budget hearings continue. Finally, we have one markup hearing of interest and two informational hearings on cybersecurity.

NDAA Hearings

Tuesday OPEN/CLOSED: Special Operations Command and United States Cyber Command

Tuesday CLOSED: Training the next generation of cyber operators

FY 2023 Budget  

Wednesday – Senate Environment and Public Works - EPA

Markup Hearing

On Tuesday (and Wednesday) the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee will be holding a full committee markup hearing looking at five bills, including HR 7077, the Empowering the U.S. Fire Administration Act. With two days scheduled, it looks like the leadership expects lots of amendments.

Cybersecurity Hearings

On Tuesday, the House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing on “Mobilizing our Cyber Defenses: Securing Critical Infrastructure Against Russian Cyber Threats”. This hearing was scheduled for last week and witness testimony is available on the hearing web site.

On Wednesday, the Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Innovation Subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing on “Mobilizing Our Cyber Defenses: Maturing Public-Private Partnerships to Secure U.S. Critical Infrastructure”. The witness list includes:

• Eric Goldstein, CISA,

• Rob Knake, Office of the National Cyber Director

S 3845 Introduced – Fire Investigations

Last week, Sen Gillibrand (D,NY) introduced S 3845, the Empowering the U.S. Fire Administration Act. The bill would amend the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 to authorize the United States Fire Administration to conduct investigations of major fires. No funding is authorized for this program. This is a companion (identical wording) bill to HR 7077 which was also introduced last week.

Moving Forward

Neither Gillibrand nor her sole cosponsor {Sen Schumer (D,NY)} are members of the House Homeland Security Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This typically means that there is no enough influence to see this bill considered in Committee (yes, Schumer is the Majority Leader, but he typically does not exert that influence to see bills considered in Committees in which he is not a member). If the bill were considered in Committee I suspect that it would receive significant bipartisan support.

There is a possibility that this bill could move to the floor of the Senate (particularly because of Schumer’s interest) under the unanimous consent process, but that could be blocked by a single Senator objecting to the bill. That objection would not need to be directly tied to concerns about the content of the bill, it is frequently used to pressure the Leadership to take action (or stop action) on other bills.

Review - HR 7077 Introduced – Fire Investigations

Earlier this week, Rep Torres (D,NY) introduced HR 7077, the Empowering the U.S. Fire Administration Act. The bill would amend the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 to authorize the United States Fire Administration to conduct investigations of major fires. No funding is authorized for this program.

Moving Forward

While Torres is not a member of the House Science, Space, and, Technology Committee to which this bill was assigned consideration, three of his nine cosponsors {Rep Stevens (D,MI), Rep Meijer (R,MI), Rep Gonzalez (R,OH),} are members. This means that there could be sufficient influence to see this bill considered in Committee. I see nothing in this bill that would engender any organized opposition to the bill. I suspect that the bill would receive significant bipartisan support in Committee and could move to the floor of the House under the suspension of the rules process.

Commentary

There is nothing in the language of the bill that would specifically require investigation of fires at chemical facilities, or in which stored chemicals at a facility were substantially involved in a fire. The way this bill is set up, that language would have to be included in the regulations established by the Fire Administration.

While one might think that the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) would be the primary investigative agency for fires at a chemical facility, their focus is on the process and chemical issues that lead to the incident, not necessarily the affects of fires caused by the incident or the process of fighting the fires subsequent to an incident. In fact, the crafters of this legislation seemed to specifically have the CSB and their safety agency relative, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), in mind when they included in the coordination language of both §35(b)(1) and §35(d), the phrase: “including Federal agencies that are authorized to investigate a major fire or an incident of which the major fire is a part.”

For more details about the provisions of this bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-7077-introduced – subscription required.

Bills Introduced – 3-15-22

Yesterday, with both the House and Senate in session, there were 42 bills introduced. Three of those bills may receive additional attention in this blog:

HR 7077 To require the United States Fire Administration to conduct on-site investigations of major fires, and for other purposes. Rep. Torres, Ritchie [D-NY-15]

HR 7084 To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require, for purposes of ensuring cybersecurity, the inclusion in any premarket submission for a cyber device of information to demonstrate a reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness throughout the lifecycle of the cyber device, and for other purposes. ep. Burgess, Michael C. [R-TX-26]

S 3845 A bill to require the United States Fire Administration to conduct on-site investigations of major fires, and for other purposes. Sen. Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [D-NY] 

I will be watching HR 7077 and S 3845 (which are probably companion bills) for language and definitions that would specifically include chemical facilities in the definition of ‘major fires’.