S 2297 Introduced – CG Authorization

Just before the summer recess Sen. Sullivan (R,AK) introduced S 2297, the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2019. This annual bill provides continued authority for the operation of the Coast Guard and makes changes to that operation. The House version of this bill (HR 3409) passed in the House by a voice vote.

Port Security

Section 231 of the bill amends 46 USC 70116 which was completely re-written in the last session’s CG Authorization Act (PL 115-282 or S 140 as the PL has yet to be published). This new language expands the authority of DHS (presumably through the Coast Guard) to prevent or respond to security incidents beyond just ‘an act of terrorism’. The Department would have additional authority to prevent or respond to “cyber incidents, transnational organized crime, and foreign state threats” in both subsections (a) and (b).

The DHS actions in support of this authority are exempted from the Administrative Procedures and the Analysis of Regulatory Functions chapters of 5 USC.

No changes were made to the identical language to the existing §70116 found in §70102a.

Security Plan Review

Section 308 of this bill would provide the same requirement for DHS to review MTSA security plans updates as found in §317 of the House bill.

Moving Forward

Sullivan is the Chair of the Security Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. As such he is at least partially responsible for Coast Guard related legislation (the security related provisions anyway) in that Committee. Sen. Markey (D,MA) is the Ranking Member of that Subcommittee and is a cosponsor of this bill. This bill will almost certainly be taken up in Committee in the coming months and it would appear that it would have substantial bipartisan support.

Commentary

It is interesting that none of the cybersecurity provisions found in the House bill (none of them really important or significant) were included in this bill. Markey has tried to make himself known as the cybersecurity senator, but that interest was not apparently extended to Coast Guard operations.

The expansion of the security interests of the Coast Guard is another oddity of this bill. It is not clear to me why Congress created identically worded Sections 70102a and 70116 last session, but it boggles the mind even more why only one of those sections would be changed to provide additional reaction authority to the Coast Guard. There is some sort of legislative logic to this oddity, I just cannot figure it out.

Committee Hearings – Week of 07-28-19

With just the Senate in session (the House already having started their summer recess) the committee hearing list is pretty short this week. We do have two hearings of interest to look at. The first is a markup hearing looking at two authorization bills that were introduced last week and the second is re-look at positive train control implementation.

Authorization Markups

On Wednesday the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will markup two bills:

• S 2297, Coast Guard Reauthorization Act of 2019; and

• S 2299, Protecting Our Infrastructure of Pipelines Enhancing Safety (PIPES) Act of 2019

Neither bill has yet been officially published; the links above are to committee prints. A quick review of S 2297 shows that it includes a similar change to the MTSA rules found in the House version of the bill (HR 3409) requiring DHS to approve updates to security plans. HR 3409 was passed in the House last week.

PTC Hearing

On Wednesday the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will hold a hearing on “Next Steps for Positive Train Control Implementation”. The witness list includes:

• Ronald Batory, Federal Railroad Administration;

• Robert Bourg, Wabtec Corporation;

• Jim Derwinski, Metra;

• Susan Fleming, Government Accountability Office; and

• Chris Matthews, BNSF Railway

Bills Introduced – 07-26-19

Yesterday with both the House and Senate in session, and the House preparing to leave for their summer recess, 176 bills were introduced. As is typical with bill introductions before a long recess, the vast majority of these bills were introduced to show that the congresscritters were concerned about a controversial topic, but with no intention of further working the legislative process. There were two bills introduced yesterday that will receive additional coverage on this blog:

S 2297 A bill to authorize appropriations for the Coast Guard, and for other purposes. Sen. Sullivan, Dan [R-AK] 

S 2299 A bill to amend title 49, United States Code, to enhance the safety and reliability of pipeline transportation, and for other purposes. Sen. Fischer, Deb [R-NE] 

The House version of the Coast Guard authorization bill, HR 3409, passed earlier this week by a voice vote in the House.

S 2299 is probably the Senate version of the PHMSA pipeline safety program reauthorization.