Review - Senate Substitute Language for HR 3684 – Invest in America Act

Last night the Senate leadership finally came to an agreement on the substitute language that will be considered in the Senate for HR 3684. This was offered as amendment SA 2137 (pg S 5255) with an easier to read Committee Print available. The consideration process on the floor starts in earnest today and we will be seeing a number of amendments offered and considered.

As was expected, there are many cybersecurity provisions included in this bill. They include the incorporation of five bills that have been introduced in the House or Senate. The bill also includes five sections that provide detailed cyber security requirements and 27 instances of cybersecurity mentions in passing.

The amendment process for this bill was actually started on Friday with four amendments submitted, none of which are of interest here. There were no amendments proposed on Saturday, but there seven other amendments submitted yesterday. There will certainly be other amendments submitted in the coming days. The Democrats hope to finish the consideration of this bill by Friday so that the Senate can proceed with their scheduled Summer Recess, but there are reports that Sen Schumer is prepared to hold the Senate in session until the bill is passed.

For more details on the cybersecurity provisions in the substitute language, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/senate-substitute-language-for-hr - subscription required.

HR 636 Amendments – 04-12-16

Yesterday there were 44 amendments proposed to HR 636. Only one of those will be of specific interest to readers of this blog; SA 3679. This amendment is now the substitute language that will turn HR 636 into the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2016. The previous substitute language amendment was dropped (tabled) yesterday by Sen. McConnell.

New Language

The new substitute language is pretty much the same language as the previous version. The amendments that had been adopted in the Senate have been added into this newer version. In addition, there has been a new title added to the bill, Title VII, that deals with the Airport and Airway Trust Fund.

I have not gone back and checked to see if all of the language in all of the sections of the bill, but I have done so for the four sections that I have been specifically covering in the bill:

• Sec. 2154. Applications for designation. [same]

• Sec. 4109. Cybersecurity. [same]

• Sec. 4110. Securing aircraft avionics systems. [same as added]

• Sec. 5029. Aviation cybersecurity. [same as modified]

Moving Forward

Cloture on the new amendment was filed yesterday, so there will be a vote on that tomorrow. It looks like McConnell intends to have a final vote on this bill this week. The cloture vote tomorrow will tell the tale on the chances of him getting his way.

Meanwhile today a number of Senators will have to make a decision if they are going to re-submit amendments to the new language that had been proposed to the old substitute. That plus the normal string of new amendments will ensure that I have a goodly number of amendments to peruse tomorrow.

Substitute Language for HR 4007

Yesterday the House Homeland Security Committee posted a link to the substitute language for HR 4007 that the Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies Subcommittee will consider at their HR 4007 markup hearing tomorrow. A number of relatively minor changes are made but amendment in the form of a substitute does increase the length of the authorization period and includes authorization of spending for the CFATS program.

Authorization

The substitute language revises §7 extending the termination date from 2 years to 3 years after the bill becomes law. This provides a little more time for Congress to prepare a permanent comprehensive

CFATS bill. Section 9 has been added to the bill providing spending authorization for the CFATS program. The spending level is set at $87,436,000. This is up from the $81,000,000  included in the FY 2014 spending bill passed in January. The additional money may be intended to fund the Ammonium Nitrate Security Program.

Ammonium Nitrate Security Program

Section 10 would be added to the bill by this substitute language, addressing the long overdue ammonium nitrate security program. It amends 6 USC 488a adding language to subsection (a) that clarifies the activities covered by the ANSP.

Substitute language is also provided for §488a(f) that adds transportation activities to the exempted from coverage of the ANSP. It adds a specific exemption for transportation activities regulated under 49 USC Chapter 51, Transportation of Hazardous Materials, or 49 USC 114(d) which provides for TSA responsibility for all transportation related security issues.

Personnel Surety

The substitute re-writes §2(d)(3) to make it clear that DHS may not require facilities to submit any information to ISCD that have been vetted for terrorist ties under “any Federal screening program that periodically vets individuals against the terrorist screening database” {§2(d)(3)(A)},

Information Sharing

Section 3 adds a paragraph related to information sharing with first responders, at least that is the title of the paragraph. It actually requires the Secretary to provide, via the Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN), “such information as is necessary to help ensure that first responders are properly prepared and provided with the situational awareness needed to respond to incidents at covered chemical facilities” {§3(c)}. It does not actually require sharing this information with local first responders. It requires that the information be provided to State, local and regional fusion centers. There are no requirements to push that information actual first responders.

Not Covered

This revised language does not address the two issues that have been responsible for the failure of Congress to be able to pass and CFATS related legislation since the §550 language was included in the FY 2007 DHS spending bill. Those two topics are the use of inherently safer technology and worker participation. Those topics do not need to be addressed to pass in the Republican controlled House, but will have to be included to be considered by the Democratic controlled Senate.