A bill to amend title 49, United States Code, to require that the screening of passengers and property on flights in air transportation be carried out by employees of the Federal Aviation Administration, and to assist small- to medium-size airports with security enhancements.

Summary: Airline Passenger Safety Enhancement Act of 2001 - Directs the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to: (1) study how the performance of security functions at U.S. airports should be organized and carried out, in cooperation with air carriers and airport administrators, to secure the safety of passengers and workers in all areas of airports and in the aircraft boarded at such airports; and (2) develop a plan for ensuring security at U.S. airports.Amends Federal aviation law to require the screening of passengers and property that will be carried in an aircraft cabin to be performed by FAA employees or other U.S. employees. (Currently, screening is carried out by employees or agents of an air carrier, interstate air carrier, or foreign air carrier). Requires the Administrator to direct U.S. airport operators to make immediate arrangements for armed, uniformed law enforcement personnel to be stationed at passenger and property screening points at airports to monitor the performance of such screening and to be stationed at airport employee security checkpoints there.Requires U.S. employees under the direction of the FAA to perform all functions relating to security of passengers and airport personnel at U.S. airports. Imposes a fee of not more than $1 per domestic flight segment for such security operations.Directs the Administrator to develop a plan to provide small- to medium-size airports with technical support to enhance security operations, including financial assistance to defray their costs.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Airline Passenger Safety Enhancement 
Act of 2001''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The screening of passengers and property at United 
        States airports is, by law, the responsibility of airlines.
            (2) There are more than 18,000 airport security personnel 
        in the United States who do the screening.
            (3) The security personnel are employed by private 
        companies that perform the screening under contract with the 
        airlines. The personnel are generally paid at rates that are at 
        or only slightly above minimum wage. They receive minimal 
        benefits.
            (4) The General Accounting Office has found that the 
        average employment turnover rate for airport screening 
        personnel at 19 major United States airports was 125 percent. 
        The turnover rate in some cases was as high as 416 percent.
            (5) Other countries have registered employment turnover 
        rates for airport screening personnel that are less than 50 
        percent, including Belgium, which has a turnover rate of four 
        percent.
            (6) In addition to identifying the instability in the 
        workforce of airport screening personnel, the General 
        Accounting Office has found that insufficient security 
        precautions are being taken at airport entrances and 
        checkpoints where airport employees are screened, including 
        entrances and checkpoints for ramp areas.
            (7) Investigators of the Office of the Inspector General of 
        the Department of Transportation, in unannounced tests, have 
        successfully gained access to supposedly secure areas of United 
        States airports without proper credentials in 68 percent of 
        those tests, and have then been able to board aircraft 
        unchallenged 117 times.
            (8) The General Accounting Office has determined that 
        undercover agents have been able to penetrate restricted areas 
        of United States commercial airports with counterfeit or 
        otherwise invalid badges or other credentials, giving those 
        agents the opportunity (if they so intended) to carry weapons, 
        explosives, chemical or biological agents, or other dangerous 
        materials into those areas.

SEC. 3. AIRPORT SECURITY STUDY.

    (a) Requirement for Study.--The Administrator of the Federal 
Aviation Administration shall carry out a comprehensive study to 
determine how the performance of security functions at airports in the 
United States should be organized and carried out, in cooperation with 
air carriers and airport administrators, to secure the safety of 
passengers and workers in all areas of airports and into the aircraft 
boarded at the airports.
    (b) Plan.--The Administrator shall develop a comprehensive plan for 
ensuring security at airports in the United States. The Administrator 
shall consider the results of the study under subsection (a) in 
developing the plan.
    (c) Report.--The Administrator shall submit a report on the results 
of the study, together with the plan, to Congress. The report shall 
include any recommendations for legislation that the Administrator 
considers necessary to achieve the objective stated in subsection (a).
    (d) Time for Completion.--The Administrator shall complete the 
study under subsection (a) and the development of the plan under 
subsection (b), and shall submit the report under subsection (c), not 
later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 4. SCREENING OF AIR PASSENGERS AND PROPERTY BY FAA.

    (a) Requirement.--Section 44901 of title 49, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in the second sentence of subsection (a)--
                    (A) by inserting after ``used or operated by'' the 
                following: ``an employee of the United States pursuant 
                to subsection (d) (or by''; and
                    (B) by inserting before the period at the end the 
                following: ``before subsection (d) is fully 
                implemented)''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(d) Screening To Be Conducted by Federal Employees.--The 
screening of passengers and property under subsection (a) shall be 
carried out by employees of the Federal Aviation Administration or 
other employees of the United States. The Administrator may expand and 
prioritize the undertaking of screening responsibilities with respect 
to an airport based on the Administrator's assessment of the security 
threat to the airport.''.
    (b) Transition.--(1) The Administrator of the Federal Aviation 
Administration shall complete the full implementation of subsection (d) 
of section 44901 of title 49, United States Code (as added by 
subsection (a)), as soon as is practicable. The Administrator may make 
or continue such arrangements for the screening of passengers and 
property under that section as the Administrator determines necessary 
pending full implementation of subsection (d) of such section.
    (2) The Administrator shall promptly direct the operators of 
airports in the United States to make immediate arrangements for armed, 
uniformed law enforcement personnel to be stationed at passenger and 
property screening points in the airports to monitor the performance of 
screening at those points and to be stationed at airport employee 
security checkpoints in the airports. The Administrator shall require 
that the arrangements be maintained until full implementation of the 
plan developed under section 3(b).
    (c) Other Security Personnel.--(1) Subchapter II of chapter 449 of 
title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
``Sec. 44939. Airport security personnel
    ``(a) Responsibilities of Federal Personnel.--At airports in the 
United States, employees of the United States shall perform all 
functions that relate to the security of passengers and airport 
personnel under the direction of the Administrator of the Federal 
Aviation Administration.
    ``(b) Source of Personnel.--In carrying out the responsibilities 
under subsection (a), the Administrator may--
            ``(1) employ security personnel within the Federal Aviation 
        Administration;
            ``(2) use security personnel detailed by other agencies of 
        the United States; and
            ``(3) in cooperation with the Secretary of Transportation, 
        establish any organization, including any Government 
        corporation or Government controlled corporation (as defined in 
        section 103 of title 5), that the Administrator determines 
        appropriate and effective for employing and providing the 
        security personnel for airports in the United States.''.
    (2) The analysis for subchapter II of chapter 449 of title 49, 
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 
item:

``44939. Airport security personnel.''.
    (d) Funding.--Section 45301 of title 49, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) by adding at the end of subsection (a) the following 
        new paragraphs:
            ``(3) Passenger and property screening under section 44901 
        of this title and other airport security services.''; and
            (2) by adding at the end of subsection (b) the following 
        new paragraph:
            ``(3) Fee for security operations.--The fee imposed under 
        subsection (a)(3) may not exceed $1.00 per domestic flight 
        segment. Amounts collected under subsection (a)(3) are hereby 
        made available for obligation and expenditure to carry out 
        sections 44901 and 44939 of this title.''.

SEC. 5. SMALL- AND MEDIUM-SIZE AIRPORTS.

    The Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall 
develop a plan to provide small- to medium-size airports with technical 
support to enhance security operations, including screening operations, 
and to provide such airports with financial assistance to defray the 
costs of security enhancements.