IB 

Union Calendar No. 317 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5273 

[Report No. 116–394] 

To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop a plan to increase 

to 100 percent the rates of scanning of commercial and passenger vehicles entering the United States at land ports of entry along the border 

using large-scale non-intrusive inspection systems to enhance border security, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 26, 2019 

Ms. TORRES SMALL of New Mexico (for herself and Mr. CRENSHAW) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 

FEBRUARY 6, 2020 

Additional sponsors: Ms. SLOTKIN, Mr. HARDER of California, Mr. AMODEI, 

Mr. GONZALEZ of Texas, Miss RICE of New York, Mr. CORREA, Ms. 

SPANBERGER, and Mrs. LESKO

FEBRUARY 6, 2020 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on November 26, 2019] 


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A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop 

a plan to increase to 100 percent the rates of scanning 

of commercial and passenger vehicles entering the United 

States at land ports of entry along the border using 

large-scale non-intrusive inspection systems to enhance 

border security, and for other purposes. 


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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Securing America’s 

5 Ports Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. LARGE-SCALE NON-INTRUSIVE INSPECTION SCAN7 NING PLAN. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

9 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland 

10 Security shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Secu11 rity of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

12 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate 

13 a plan to increase to 100 percent the rates of expeditious 

14 scanning of commercial and passenger vehicles entering the 

15 United States at land ports of entry along the border using 

16 large-scale non-intrusive inspection systems or similar tech17 nology to enhance border security. 

18 (b) BASELINE INFORMATION.—At a minimum, the 

19 plan required under subsection (a) shall include the fol20 lowing information regarding large-scale non-intrusive in21 spection systems or similar technology operated by U.S. 

22 Customs and Border Protection at land ports of entry as 

23 of the date of the enactment of this Act: 


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1 (1) An inventory of large-scale non-intrusive in2 spection systems or similar technology in use at each 

3 land port of entry. 

4 (2) For each system or technology identified in 

5 the inventory required under paragraph (1), the fol6 lowing information: 

7 (A) The scanning method of such system or 

8 technology. 

9 (B) The location of such system or tech10 nology at each land port of entry that specifies 

11 whether in use in pre-primary, primary, or sec12 ondary inspection area, or some combination 

13 thereof. 

14 (C) The percentage of commercial and pas15 senger vehicles scanned by such system or tech16 nology. 

17 (D) Seizure data directly attributed to 

18 scanned commercial and passenger vehicles. 

19 (c) ELEMENTS.—The plan required under subsection 

20 (a) shall include the following information: 

21 (1) Benchmarks for achieving incremental 

22 progress towards 100 percent expeditious scanning of 

23 commercial and passenger vehicles entering the 

24 United States at land ports of entry along the border 

25 with corresponding projected incremental improveVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Feb 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5273.RH H5273

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1 ments in scanning rates by fiscal year and rationales 

2 for the specified timeframes for each land port of 

3 entry. 

4 (2) Estimated costs, together with an acquisition 

5 plan, for achieving the 100 expeditious percent scan6 ning rate within the timeframes specified in para7 graph (1), including acquisition, operations, and 

8 maintenance costs for large-scale non-intrusive in9 spection systems or similar technology, as well as as10 sociated costs for any necessary infrastructure en11 hancements or configuration changes at each port of 

12 entry. To the extent practicable, such acquisition plan 

13 shall promote opportunities for entities that qualify 

14 as small business concerns (as such term is described 

15 under section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

16 632). 

17 (3) Any projected impacts, as identified by the 

18 Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protec19 tion, on the total number of commercial and pas20 senger vehicles entering at land ports of entry where 

21 such systems are in use, and average wait times at 

22 peak and non-peak travel times, by lane type if ap23 plicable, as scanning rates are increased. 

24 (4) Any projected impacts, as identified by the 

25 Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border ProtecVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Feb 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5273.RH H5273

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1 tion, on land ports of entry border security operations 

2 as a result of implementation actions, including any 

3 changes to the number of U.S. Customs and Border 

4 Protection officers or their duties and assignments. 

5 (d) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.—In furtherance of 

6 the plan required under subsection (a), the Secretary of 

7 Homeland Security, acting through the Under Secretary for 

8 Science and Technology, shall conduct research and develop9 ment, in coordination with the Commissioner of U.S. Cus10 toms and Border Protection, to enhance large-scale non-in11 trusive inspections systems or similar technology and refine 

12 the operational use or configuration of such systems or tech13 nology in pre-primary, primary, and secondary inspection 

14 areas of land ports of entry. Such research and development 

15 shall include consideration of emerging large-scale non-in16 trusive inspection systems or similar technology and mod17 eling the use of such systems or technology that takes into 

18 account the variations in infrastructure, configurations, 

19 and sizes of land ports of entry. 

20 (e) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than one year after 

21 the submission of the plan required under subsection (a) 

22 and annually thereafter until such time as U.S. Customs 

23 and Border Protection has achieved 100 percent expeditious 

24 scanning of commercial and passenger vehicles entering the 

25 United States at land ports of entry along the border using 


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1 large-scale non-intrusive inspection systems or similar tech2 nology in accordance with such plan, the Secretary of 

3 Homeland Security shall report to the Committee on Home4 land Security of the House of Representatives and the Com5 mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of 

6 the Senate on progress implementing the plan. Each such 

7 report at a minimum shall include the following informa8 tion: 

9 (1) An inventory of large-scale non-intrusive in10 spection systems or similar technology operated by 

11 U.S. Customs and Border Protection at each land 

12 port of entry. 

13 (2) For each system or technology identified in 

14 the inventory required under paragraph (1), the fol15 lowing information: 

16 (A) The scanning method of such system or 

17 technology. 

18 (B) The location of such system or tech19 nology at each land port of entry that specifies 

20 whether in use in pre-primary, primary, or sec21 ondary inspection area, or some combination 

22 thereof. 

23 (C) The percentage of commercial and pas24 senger vehicles scanned by such system or tech25 nology. 


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1 (D) Seizure data directly attributed to 

2 scanned commercial and passenger vehicles. 

3 (3) The total number of commercial and pas4 senger vehicles entering at each land port of entry 

5 where each system or technology is in use, and infor6 mation on average wait times at peak and non-peak 

7 travel times, by lane type if applicable. 

8 (4) Progress with respect to the benchmarks spec9 ified in subsection (c)(1), and an explanation if any 

10 of such benchmarks are not achieved as planned. 

11 (5) A comparison of actual costs (including in12 formation on any awards of associated contracts) to 

13 estimated costs set forth in subsection (c)(2). 

14 (6) Any realized impacts, as identified by the 

15 Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protec16 tion, on land ports of entry operations as a result of 

17 implementation actions, including any changes to the 

18 number of U.S. Customs and Border Protection offi19 cers or their duties and assignments. 

20 (7) Any proposed changes to the plan and an ex21 planation for such changes, including changes made 

22 in response to any Department of Homeland Security 

23 research and development findings, including findings 

24 resulting from the research and development con25 ducted pursuant to subsection (d), or changes in terVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Feb 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5273.RH H5273

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1 rorist or transnational criminal organizations tactics, 

2 techniques, or procedures. 

3 (8) Any challenges to implementing the plan or 

4 meeting the benchmarks, and plans to mitigate any 

5 such challenges. 

6 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

7 (1) LARGE-SCALE NON-INTRUSIVE INSPECTION

8 SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘large-scale non-intrusive inspec9 tion system’’ means a technology, including x-ray and 

10 gamma-ray imaging systems, capable of producing an 

11 image of the contents of a commercial or passenger 

12 vehicle in one pass of such vehicle. 

13 (2) SCANNING.—The term ‘‘scanning’’ means uti14 lizing technology to produce an image of the contents 

15 of a commercial or passenger vehicle without engag16 ing in a physical inspection of such vehicle. 


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Union Calendar No. 317 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5273 

[Report No. 116–394] 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to 

security, and for other purposes. intrusive inspection systems to enhance border of entry along the border using large-scale nonvehicles entering the United States at land ports rates of scanning of commercial and passenger develop a plan to increase to 100 percent the 

FEBRUARY 6, 2020 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS