Review - HR 7655 Introduced – Pipeline Safety

Back in March, Rep Duncan (R,SC) introduced HR 7655, the Pipeline Safety, Modernization, and Expansion Act of 2024. This bill provides for the reauthorization of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) Pipeline Safety Regulations (PSR). This bill is similar to HR 6494, the PIPES Act, which was introduced by Rep Graves (R,MO) and reported favorably by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Topics of potential interest here include:

§10. Strengthening penalties for pipeline safety violations.

§12. Maximum allowable operating pressure.

§14. Pipeline safety voluntary information-sharing system.

§18. Regulatory updates.

§19. Class location changes

Committee Action

On March 20^th, 2024, the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a markup hearing that included consideration of this bill. The bill was amended (the current record does not show which amendments were approved) and then approved by a vote of 27 to 18 (which sounds like a party-line vote, but again no data is available).

Moving Forward

Typically, once a committee orders a bill reported, the publication of that report enables the bill to be considered by the full House. With split committee support like the 27 to 18 vote indicates, the bill would not be considered for consideration under the suspension of the rules process because such bills require a supermajority for passage. So, this bill would have to be considered under regular order. While ‘regular order’ in the House is less complicated than in the Senate, it still requires a level of political importance, that probably cannot be ascribed to this bill.

But this is not a typical situation. The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is the committee to which this bill was assigned for primary consideration. Until that Committee takes action on this bill, it will not proceed to the floor (okay, the Chair of the TI Committee could give permission for it to proceed without that Committee’s action, but that ain’t gonna happen, Chair prerogatives are too important).

Commentary

This bill was crafted by the Energy and Commerce Committee staff because the committee leadership was not satisfied with one or more provisions of the HR 6494, the PIPES Act, which was offered by the Chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. That bill was ordered reported back in December of 2023. Energy and Commerce was assigned secondary consideration on the PIPES Act bill, so that bill is also tied up waiting for EC’s consent to move that bill to the floor.

Committee Hearings – Week of 3-17-24

This week, with the House and Senate both in session, there is a relatively heavy hearing schedule. Budget hearings are starting the FY 2025 spending cycle. And there are a lot of markup hearings with three of particular interest here. There will also be an oversight hearing on the DHS cWMD office.

Budget Hearings:

The FY 2025 spending process starts this week with budget hearings. I do not cover these much anymore since Presidential Budgets have been ‘dead on arrival’ for almost a decade now, but they do deserve, at least, mention in passing.

Budget Hearings	House	Senate
DOE	3-20-24 E&C
SBA		3-20-24 SBC

Markup Hearings

Energy and Commerce Committee markup hearing – 3-20-24 – 28 bills:

HR 7655, Pipeline Safety, Modernization, and Expansion Act of 2024, and

HR 7589, Removing Our Unsecure Technologies to Ensure Reliability and Security (ROUTERS) Act

Transportation and Infrastructure Committee markup hearing – 3-20-24 – 2 bills:

HR 7659, the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2024

Science, Space, and Technology Committee markup hearing – 3-20-24  - 8 bills:

HR 7073, Next Generation Pipelines Research and Development Act

WMD Hearing

On Wednesday, the Subcommittee on Emergency Management and Technology of the House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing on “Securing our Nation from WMDs: A Review of the Department of Homeland Security's Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office”. The witness list includes:

• Mary Ellen Callahan, DHS,

• Tina Won Sherman, GAO, and

• Herbert Wolfe, DHS

On the Floor

With an overall agreement reportedly reached on the 2^nd Minibus spending bill (including DHS and DOD), there is a good chance that the bill will come to the floor of the House this week, but it seems unlikely that it will be able to clear both houses before the midnight Friday deadline to keep the government funded. Politicians may risk a technical shutdown over some of the weekend if they think that the House and Senate can finish the bill by Sunday, but it is more likely that there will be yet again a short-term continuing resolution to allow the political posturing in both the House and Senate to run its course.

Bills Introduced – 3-13-24

Yesterday, with just the House in session there were 44 bills introduced. Of those bills, there were two that may receive additional coverage in this blog:

HR 7655 To amend title 49, United States Code, to improve the safety of pipeline transportation, and for other purposes. Duncan, Jeff [Rep.-R-SC-3]

HR 7659 To authorize and amend authorities, programs, and statutes administered by the Coast Guard. Graves, Sam [Rep.-R-MO-6] 

I will be covering HR 7655.

I will be watching HR 7659 for language and definitions that would include cybersecurity and facility security issues within the scope of coverage of the legislation.