II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4521 

To require the President to develop a strategy to ensure the health, safety, 

and general welfare of the civilian population of the United States in 

case of catastrophic incidents disabling 1 or more critical infrastructure 

sectors or significantly disrupting the critical functions of modern society, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 13, 2022 

Mr. CORNYN (for himself and Mr. PADILLA) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the President to develop a strategy to ensure 

the health, safety, and general welfare of the civilian 

population of the United States in case of catastrophic 

incidents disabling 1 or more critical infrastructure sectors or significantly disrupting the critical functions of 

modern society, and for other purposes. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Keeping Everyone Safe 

3 and Securing Lives by Emergency Readiness Act’’ or the 

4 ‘‘KESSLER Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

6 Congress finds that— 

7 (1) the integration of connected technologies 

8 has become essential to the operation of modern crit9 ical infrastructure; 

10 (2) reliance on connected technologies and 

11 interoperability across critical infrastructure sectors 

12 create new vulnerabilities that may be used against 

13 the United States; 

14 (3) adversaries of the United States have tar15 geted critical infrastructure and are likely to in16 crease attacks on essential services in the United 

17 States should global conflicts escalate; 

18 (4) while strong defenses and mitigation meas19 ures are essential to the safety of the United States, 

20 no strategy can stop all catastrophic events; 

21 (5) the Federal Government must prepare Fed22 eral, State, and local governments, along with the 

23 people of the United States, to promote the general 

24 welfare of the civilian population of the United 

25 States even if most or all critical infrastructure sec26 tors are impacted by catastrophic events; and 


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1 (6) such preparations must include coordination 

2 with State, local, and Tribal governments, private 

3 sector entities, and individual citizens. 

4 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) BASIC NEED.—The term ‘‘basic need’’— 

7 (A) means any good, service, or activity 

8 necessary to protect the health, safety, and gen9 eral welfare of the civilian population of the 

10 United States; and 

11 (B) includes— 

12 (i) food; 

13 (ii) water; 

14 (iii) shelter; 

15 (iv) reliable energy; 

16 (v) basic communication services; and 

17 (vi) public safety. 

18 (2) CATASTROPHIC INCIDENT.—The term ‘‘cat19 astrophic incident’’ means an incident, whether 

20 caused by human or natural events, in which mul21 tiple levels of United States critical infrastructure 

22 are destroyed, damaged, or interrupted in sufficient 

23 magnitude to threaten the health, safety, or general 

24 welfare of the civilian population of the United 

25 States. 


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1 (3) CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE.—The term 

2 ‘‘critical infrastructure’’ has the meaning given the 

3 term in section 1016(e) of the Critical Infrastruc4 ture Protection Act of 2001 (42 U.S.C. 5195c(e)). 

5 (4) NATIONAL EXERCISE.—The term ‘‘national 

6 exercise’’ means a national exercise described in sec7 tion 648(b) of the Post-Katrina Emergency Manage8 ment Reform Act of 2006 (6 U.S.C. 748(b)). 

9 (5) TRIBAL GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘‘Tribal 

10 government’’ means the recognized governing body 

11 of any Indian or Alaska Native Tribe, band, nation, 

12 pueblo, village, community, component band, or com13 ponent reservation, that is individually identified (in14 cluding parenthetically) in the most recent list pub15 lished pursuant to section 104 of the Federally Rec16 ognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 

17 5131). 

18 SEC. 4. STRATEGY TO ENSURE THE HEALTH, SAFETY, AND 

19 GENERAL WELFARE OF THE CIVILIAN POPU20 LATION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

22 date of enactment of this Act, the President shall develop 

23 and submit to Congress a strategy to— 


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1 (1) provide for the basic needs of the civilian 

2 population of the United States that is impacted by 

3 catastrophic incidents in the United States; 

4 (2) coordinate response efforts with State and 

5 local governments, the private sector, and nonprofit 

6 relief organizations; 

7 (3) promote personal and local readiness and 

8 non-reliance on government relief during periods of 

9 heightened tension or after catastrophic incidents; 

10 and 

11 (4) develop international partnerships with al12 lied nations for the provision of relief services and 

13 goods. 

14 (b) ELEMENTS OF THE STRATEGY.—The strategy 

15 developed under subsection (a) shall include a description 

16 of— 

17 (1) actions the President will take to ensure the 

18 basic needs of the civilian population of the United 

19 States in a catastrophic incident are met; 

20 (2) how the President will coordinate and facili21 tate agreements with non-Federal entities to mul22 tiply resources and enhance relief capabilities, in23 cluding— 

24 (A) State and local governments; 

25 (B) Tribal governments; 


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1 (C) State disaster relief agencies; 

2 (D) State and local disaster relief man3 agers; 

4 (E) State National Guards; 

5 (F) law enforcement and first response en6 tities; and 

7 (G) nonprofit relief services; 

8 (3) actions the President will take to enhance 

9 individual resiliency to the effects of a catastrophic 

10 incident, which actions shall include— 

11 (A) readiness alerts to the public during 

12 periods of elevated threat; 

13 (B) efforts to enhance domestic supply and 

14 availability of critical goods and basic neces15 sities; and 

16 (C) information campaigns to ensure the 

17 public is aware of response plans and services 

18 that will be activated when necessary; 

19 (4) efforts the President will undertake and 

20 agreements the President will seek with inter21 national allies to enhance the readiness of the 

22 United States to provide for the general welfare; 

23 (5) how the strategic plan will be implemented 

24 should multiple levels of critical infrastructure be deVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Jul 15, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4521.IS S4521

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1 stroyed or taken offline entirely for an extended pe2 riod of time; 

3 (6) how the strategic plan will be made oper4 ational within the larger response strategy of the 

5 United States; and 

6 (7) the authorities the President would impli7 cate in responding to a catastrophic incident. 

8 (c) ASSUMPTIONS.—In designing the strategy under 

9 subsection (a), the President shall account for certain fac10 tors to make the strategy operationally viable, including 

11 the assumption that— 

12 (1) multiple levels of critical infrastructure have 

13 been taken offline or destroyed by catastrophic inci14 dents or the effects of catastrophic incidents; 

15 (2) impacted sectors may include— 

16 (A) the transportation sector; 

17 (B) the communication sector; 

18 (C) the energy sector; 

19 (D) the healthcare and public health sec20 tor; 

21 (E) the water and wastewater sector; and 

22 (F) the financial sector; 

23 (3) State and local governments have been 

24 equally affected or made largely inoperable by cataVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Jul 15, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4521.IS S4521

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1 strophic incidents or the effects of catastrophic inci2 dents; 

3 (4) the emergency has exceeded the response 

4 capabilities of State and local governments under 

5 the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer6 gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) and 

7 other relevant disaster response laws; and 

8 (5) the United States military is sufficiently en9 gaged in armed or cyber conflict with State or non10 State adversaries, or is otherwise unable to augment 

11 domestic response capabilities in a significant man12 ner due to a catastrophic incident. 

13 (d) EXISTING PLANS.—The President may incor14 porate existing contingency plans in the strategy developed 

15 under subsection (a) so long as those contingency plans 

16 are amended to be operational in accordance with the re17 quirements under this section. 

18 (e) AVAILABILITY.—The strategy developed under 

19 subsection (a)— 

20 (1) shall be made available to Congress and ap21 propriate government entities; and 

22 (2) may include a classified, or other restricted, 

23 annex. 


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1 (f) DELEGATION.—The President may delegate all or 

2 some of the authority under this section to the Secretary 

3 of Homeland Security or a designee thereof. 

4 SEC. 5. IMPLEMENTATION PLAN. 

5 Not later than 90 days after the issuance of the strat6 egy required under section 4, the President shall issue a 

7 plan to implement and operationalize the strategy, which 

8 shall include— 

9 (1) steps the President will take to prepare im10 plicated entities for mobilization under the strategy; 

11 and 

12 (2) specific actions the President will take to— 

13 (A) ensure the continued readiness of the 

14 United States to implement the strategy; 

15 (B) educate the public and non-Federal en16 tities on the strategy and the role individual 

17 citizens should play to ensure the objectives of 

18 the strategy are met; 

19 (C) ensure the objectives of the strategy 

20 are met; and 

21 (D) ensure foreign adversaries are not able 

22 to undermine the operationalization of the 

23 strategy. 


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1 SEC. 6. NATIONAL RESPONSE EXERCISE. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

3 issuance of the implementation plan required under sec4 tion 5, the Department of Homeland Security shall lead 

5 a national exercise, in coordination with the appropriate 

6 government agencies, to test and enhance the 

7 operationalization of the implementation plan. 

8 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—A national exercise conducted 

9 under this section shall include participation from most 

10 or all entities implicated by the strategy required under 

11 section 4, including— 

12 (1) State, local, and Tribal governments; 

13 (2) information sharing and analysis centers; 

14 and 

15 (3) owners and operators of critical infrastruc16 ture. 

17 SEC. 7. RECOMMENDATIONS. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall provide rec19 ommendations to Congress for— 

20 (1) actions that should be taken to prepare the 

21 United States to implement the strategy required 

22 under section 4, increase readiness, and address pre23 paredness gaps for responding to the impacts and 

24 effects of catastrophic incidents on citizens of the 

25 United States; and 


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1 (2) additional authorities that should be consid2 ered for Federal agencies and the President to more 

3 effectively implement the strategy required under 

4 section 4. 

5 (b) INCLUSION IN REPORTS.—The President may in6 clude the recommendations required under subsection (a) 

7 in a report submitted under section 8. 

8 SEC. 8. REPORT ON STRATEGY, IMPLEMENTATION PLAN, 

9 AND NATIONAL EXERCISE. 

10 Not later than 1 year after the date on which Depart11 ment of Homeland Security leads the national exercise 

12 under section 6, the President shall submit to Congress 

13 a report that includes— 

14 (1) a description of the efforts of the President 

15 to develop and update the strategy required under 

16 section 4; 

17 (2) a description of the efforts of the President 

18 to develop and update the implementation plan re19 quired under section 5; and 

20 (3) an analysis of the effectiveness and benefit 

21 of the national exercise conducted under section 6. 

Æ 


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