House Accepts Senate Amendment to HR 710 – TWIC Assessment Act

Yesterday during a proforma session, the House accepted the Senate’s amendment to HR 710, the Essential Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) Assessment Act. There was no debate and no vote (not that the number of folks present exceeded more than about 4), being adopted under the unanimous consent process. Five other bills (HR 1150, HR 4939, S 8, HR 3842, and HR 6302) were also passed in the same manner. None of those bill will be of specific interest to readers of this blog.

The new version of HR 710 includes provisions concerning:

• Credential improvements;

• Comprehensive security assessment of the transportation security card program;

• Corrective action plan development; and

• Inspector General review.

This bill remains a study and report bill with no new funding and no new specific requirements for the TWIC program. Earlier versions of this bill included a variety of requirements for restricting implementation of rulemakings pending reports to Congress, but there are no such provisions in this version being sent to the President.

Senate Completes Final Formal Session of 114th Congress

On Friday, the Senate conducted their final formal session of the 114^th Congress. There will be a number of proforma sessions conducted between today and January 3^rd, but no business will be conducted during those sessions. In Friday’s session the Senate passed a number of bills in addition to the continuing resolution that I briefly reported upon Saturday. Of those bills two may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

• HR 710, the Essential Transportation Worker Identification Credential Assessment Act; and

• S 546, the RESPONSE Act.

S 546 was sent to the President for signature as the Senate accepted the House amendment to the bill. As predicted the bill was considered under the Senate’s unanimous consent process with no debate or vote.

The future of HR 710 is less clear as the Senate amended HR 710 (also under the unanimous consent process). This was not the amendment that was included in the report from the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee that I described in May, but new substitute language (pg S7078) introduced on Friday. The general intent and process outlined in the House version of the bill was essentially included in the new language, but numerous details were changed.

The House is scheduled to meet in proforma session today. Unlike the Senate, the House rules do allow for the House to complete actual business in a proforma session, but it does require some serious coordination between the Republican and Democratic leadership. The House originally passed the bill under suspension of the rules by a voice vote, so there was no substantial objection to the bill. That makes this bill one that could potentially be considered in a proforma session, especially since the bill only requires a study and some reports to Congress and spends no new monies.

HR 710 Reported in Senate

Last year on May 20^th, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee held a markup hearing on HR 710, the Essential Transportation Worker Identification Credential Assessment Act, that passed in the House in February. The Committee adopted substitute language and ordered the bill reported. That report was published last week.

Substitute Language

The new language reported in the Senate is a substantial re-write of the details of the bill, though the general import of the bill remains the same. The main report required by the bill was changed from a GAO report to a two phased report conducted by a national laboratory or a university-based center that is part of a DHS center of excellence. And the time limit for the study will change from one-year to complete the study to 60-days to commission the study.

The scope of the study was expanded to include a new phase 1 study that includes {§2(c)(1)}:

• The appropriateness of vetting standards;

• Whether the fee structure adequately reflects the current costs of vetting; and

• Whether there is unnecessary overlap between other transportation security credentials.

The second phase of the new study fairly closely replicates the GAO study outlined in the original bill. One new requirement was added; “a cost-benefit analysis of the TWIC Program, as implemented” {§2(c)(4)}.

Where the original bill restricted moving forward on the TWIC Reader Rule, the new bill prevents any new TWIC rule until the DHS IG approves the Secretary’s corrective action plan based upon the 2-phase study. As with the original bill, the regulatory restriction does not apply the currently stalled rulemaking on the TWIC Reader implementation.

As with the original language, the substitute language specifically does not provide any funding for the required study and reports.

Moving Forward

That it has taken almost exactly a year to get this report printed indicates that there has been some behind the scene negotiations going on to allow this bill to move forward. I expect that those negotiations have been between the Committee and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the other committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration.

It is likely that this bill will be considered by the Senate before the summer recess. I would expect to see this considered under the unanimous consent provisions of the Senate rules with no debate and no vote. I would not be surprised to see the House accept the Senate amendment to this bill, obviating the need for a conference committee.

Committee Hearings – Week of 5-17-15

Both the House and Senate will be in town this week before taking off next week for their Memorial Day break. Not much in the way of hearings this week of specific interest to readers of this blog; a couple of markups, an energy security hearing and the highway bill rule.

Energy Security

The Energy and Power Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will be holding a hearing on a new bill addressing energy reliability and security on Tuesday. Among other things the bill includes EMP provisions, cybersecurity order provisions, and a new ‘Cyber Sense’ program.

The witness discussion will be wide ranging and probably superficial. It is still early in the game on this bill.

Legislation Markups

The House Homeland Security Committee will markup 11 bills on Wednesday. This will include HR 1646 and HR 2200. I covered the subcommittee markup of both of those bills last week. Both are apparently on the fast track to the House floor. The Homeland Security Committee version (HR 1738) of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Modernization bill will also be considered. The fate of this bill has yet to be determined by the House leadership.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee will also meet on Wednesday to consider 13 bills. The one of note for readers of this blog is HR 710. Chances are looking good that Rep. Jackson-Lee (D,TX) may finally see her TWIC bill making it to the floor of the Senate.

Highway Bill

As I noted on Saturday the short term extension of the highway bill, HR 2353, has been introduced and the House Rules Committee will be meeting today to formulate the rule for its consideration. This bill is obviously being fast tracked so it will be on the President’s desk by Friday.

Floor of the House

In addition to HR 2353 the House will take up the 2016 Coast Guard authorization bill (HR 1987) this week under suspension of the rules. With no amendments being allowed under that process, this bill will go to the Senate without any new hazmat security or safety measures.

Bills Introduced – 2-4-15

There were 82 bills introduced in the House and Senate yesterday. Five of the bills may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

HR 702 To adapt to changing crude oil market conditions. Rep. Barton, Joe [R-TX-6]

HR 705 To amend the authorization in title 49, United States Code, for capital grants for rail line relocation projects. Rep. Maloney, Sean Patrick [D-NY-18]

HR 710 To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to prepare a comprehensive security assessment of the transportation security card program, and for other purposes. Rep. Jackson Lee, Sheila [D-TX-18]

HR 726 To prohibit Federal agencies from mandating the deployment of vulnerabilities in data security technologies. Rep. Lofgren, Zoe [D-CA-19]

S 356 A bill to improve the provisions relating to the privacy of electronic communications. Sen. Lee, Mike [R-UT]

HR 702 was actually introduced the day before, but it was assigned the number ‘HR 666’. Apparently this was considered a bad sign by Congressman Barton so the bill was re-introduced today. To be fair, anything that makes it hard for any member to vote for a bill is probably something to be avoided.

The two cybersecurity bills will probably not receive future mention here as I suspect that they are principally IT related bills. Control system language could creep in though.