DHS Publishes TWIC Assessment 30-day ICR Notice

The Department of Homeland Security published a 30-day information collection request (ICR) notice in Monday’s Federal Register (available yesterday; 85 FR 2020-02529) for conducting a an assessment of the risk-mitigation value of the Coast Guard’s Transportation Workers Identification Credential (TWIC). This assessment was required the by Transportation Worker Identification Credential Accountability Act of 2018 (PL 115-230) and it must be completed and reported to Congress before the Coast Guard can require implementation of the TWIC Reader Rule.

There is no mention of the required 60-day ICR notice provided in this Notice. I can find no record of such a notice being posted to the Federal eRulemaking Portal (www.regulations.gov) under docket DHS-2019-0023.

There are few details about the information that will be collected as part of this assessment by the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center (HSOAC), a federally funded research and development center operated by the RAND Corporation. The target of the ICR is broadly described as:

“Port security subject matter experts such as Port Authority Security Managers, Facility Security Managers, Industry Security Managers, and local law enforcement; Labor, Other Industry Operation and Technology Managers.”

The Notice explains that HSOAC expects to receive responses from 400 individuals/organizations during this assessment with each response taking 60 minutes. DHS does not include a copy of the questions that will be asked. That will only become available once the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) approves the ICR.

DHS is soliciting input on this ICR notice. Comments should be submitted directly to OIRA via electronic mail to dhsdeskofficer@omb.eop.gov. Comments should be submitted by March 11^th, 2020.

HR 5729 Introduced – TWIC Reader Rule Delay

Earlier this month Rep. Katko (R,NY) introduced HR 5729, the Transportation Worker Identification Credential Accountability Act of 2018. The bill would delay implementation of the TWIC Reader Rule, which is due to become effective on August 23^rd, 2018. The delay would extend until after report to Congress was made that is required by the Transportation Security Card Program Assessment Act (PL 114-278).

Reports to Congress

The earlier act required DHS to commission a study by a “research organization with

significant experience in port or maritime security” {§1(b)(2)} that would include an assessment of the efficacy of the TWIC program. That assessment was to have included a review of {§1(b)(3)}:

• The credentialing process;

• The process for renewing applications; and

• The security value of the program.

The original version of HR 710 included language {§2(f)} that would have delayed implementation of the TWIC Reader Rule until the reports required by the bill had been submitted to Congress. That language was removed in a last minute amendment to the bill when it was passed by the Senate in the closing hour of the 114^th Congress.

Moving Forward

Katko is the Chair of the Transportation and Protective Security Subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee, one of the two committees to which this bill was assigned for consideration. He is also a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the other committee to which the bill was assigned. This means that he should have sufficient influence to have the bill considered in at the very least the Homeland Security Committee. And the bill does have bipartisan leadership sponsorship; Rep. McCaul (R,TX), Rep. Jackson-Lee (D,TX) and Rep. Richmond (D,LA).

The main issue here is the short time frame for the passage of this bill for it to be effective. It has been four weeks since this bill was introduced and there has been no committee (or even subcommittee) action on the bill. We have one month left before the currently scheduled summer recess. If action is not taken during that time (and the schedule is already busy with spending bills and nominations) the TWIC Reader Rule is scheduled to go into effect during that recess.

It seems unlikely that this bill would get the abbreviated treatment that HR 710 got in the Senate (no debate and no vote). There was obviously some objection in the Senate to the language requiring the stay of the implementation of the rule that held up consideration of HR 710 until the last minute in that body. That objection is unlikely to have changed.

There is, however, some possibility that the effective deadline for the passage of this bill could slip. DHS has submitted a rulemaking to OMB to delay the implementation of the TWIC Reader Rule. The details of that rule, including the reasons for change and the revised implementation date, are not publicly available. It is unclear whether such a rulemaking could be completed in time to avoid the August implementation date, though it is unlikely that affected industries would object to the delay.

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.