I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2688 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to establish a deadline for the 

screening of all individuals, goods, property, vehicles, and other equipment entering a secure area of an airport, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 26, 2005 

Mrs. LOWEY (for herself, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. LORETTA

SANCHEZ of California, Mr. ANDREWS, and Mr. MCNULTY) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 

A BILL 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to establish a deadline for the screening of all individuals, goods, property, 

vehicles, and other equipment entering a secure area 

of an airport, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Guaranteeing Airport 

5 Physical Screening Standards Act of 2005’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. SCREENING OF ALL INDIVIDUALS AND PROPERTY 

2 ENTERING SECURE AREAS OF AN AIRPORT. 

3 (a) DEADLINE.—Section 44903(h)(4)(A) of title 49, 

4 United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘as soon as 

5 practicable after the date of enactment of this subsection’’ 

6 and inserting ‘‘not later than 120 days after the date of 

7 enactment of the Guaranteeing Airport Physical Screening 

8 Standards Act of 2005’’. 

9 (b) SCREENING AND INSPECTION REQUIREMENTS.— 

10 Section 44903(h)(4)(B) of such title is amended by insert11 ing before the semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘and 

12 will include at a minimum physical screening for metal 

13 objects’’. 

14 (c) INTERIM MEASURES.—The Secretary of Home15 land Security shall require random screenings and inspec16 tions of individuals, goods, property, vehicles, and other 

17 equipment at the entrances of, and within, secure areas 

18 of an airport until such date as the Secretary has fully 

19 complied with the requirements of section 44903(h)(4)(A) 

20 of such title. The random screenings and inspections shall 

21 be conducted in a manner that assures the level of protec22 tion described in section 44903(h)(4)(B) of such title, as 

23 amended by this section. The random screenings and in24 spections shall be unannounced and shall be conducted 24 

25 hours a day. 
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1 SEC. 3. HIRING OF SCREENERS. 

2 (a) NUMBER OF SCREENERS.—Notwithstanding any 

3 other provision of law, the Secretary of Homeland Security 

4 may hire the number of passenger and baggage screeners 

5 that the Secretary determines necessary to ensure aviation 

6 security. 

7 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

8 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 

9 necessary to carry out this section. 

10 SEC. 4. AIRPORT SITE ACCESS AND PERIMETER SECURITY. 

11 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con12 gress that the security directives issued by the Acting Ad13 ministrator of the Transportation Security Administration 

14 on July 6, 2004, regarding security measures concerning 

15 access to sensitive airport areas constitute an improve16 ment over current practice but are not sufficient to pro17 vide adequate airport access controls. 

18 (b) ACCESS TO STERILE AREAS.—Not later than 6 

19 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec20 retary of Homeland Security shall require airport per21 sonnel accessing airport sterile areas from unrestricted 

22 areas to undergo security screening equivalent to screen23 ing of passengers and carry-on baggage. The Secretary 

24 may issue a waiver of this provision on an airport-by-air25 port basis, subject to the following requirements: 
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1 (1) The Secretary shall promptly notify Con2 gress of any waivers granted under this section, the 

3 purpose for which such waivers were granted, and 

4 the duration of the waiver. 

5 (2) Under no circumstances shall a waiver be 

6 granted for more than 7 days, although the Sec7 retary may issue as many waivers to an airport as 

8 is deemed appropriate by the Secretary. In the event 

9 of multiple waivers, the Secretary shall provide to 

10 Congress an estimate of when the airport will be in 

11 compliance with this subsection. 

12 (c) BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR WORKERS.—The 

13 Secretary shall ensure that all unescorted airport per14 sonnel accessing airport sterile and secured areas have 

15 successfully undergone a background check. The back16 ground checks required under this section shall include, 

17 at a minimum: 

18 (1) A fingerprint-based criminal history records 

19 check, or, if such a check is not possible, a check of 

20 the National Criminal Information Center. 

21 (2) A local criminal history check. 

22 (3) Verification of previous employment. 

23 (4) Verification of identity, to include, but not 

24 be limited to, social security number. 
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1 (5) A check of all terrorist watch lists operated 

2 by the Federal Government, or upon certification by 

3 the Secretary that it is suitably comprehensive, the 

4 terrorist watch list operated by the Terrorist Screen5 ing Center. 

6 This subsection shall apply to all airport personnel hired 

7 more than 3 months after the date of enactment of this 

8 Act and for all airport personnel, regardless of the date 

9 on which they were hired, no more than one year after 

10 such date of enactment. 

11 (d) REPORT.—The Assistant Secretary of Homeland 

12 Security (Transportation Security Administration) shall 

13 submit to Congress, no later than January 31, 2006, a 

14 report that contains a description of ongoing efforts and 

15 projected timelines forl 

16 (1) developing and implementing uniform 

17 screening standards for airport personnel with ac18 cess to sterile areas; 

19 (2) completing an assessment of available tech20 nologies that are applicable to securing airport pe21 rimeters and making this information available to 

22 airport operators; and 

23 (3) developing and implementing a standardized 

24 approach to conducting airport vulnerability assess25 ments and compliance inspections. 
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1 (e) LIMITATION ON STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.— 

2 Nothing in this section shall be construed to provide pas3 sengers, airport workers, or other personnel not granted 

4 regular access to secure areas before the date of enact5 ment of this Act authority to do so, regardless of whether 

6 such person has undergone security screening. 

7 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi8 nitions apply: 

9 (1) STERILE AREA.—The term ‘‘sterile area’’ 

10 means any part of an airport that is regularly acces11 sible to passengers after having cleared a passenger 

12 security screening checkpoint. 

13 (2) SECURE AREA.—The term ‘‘secure area’’ 

14 means parts of an airport complex not typically ac15 cessible to passengers, including areas outside of ter16 minal buildings, baggage handling and loading 

17 areas, parked aircraft, runways, air control towers, 

18 and similar areas. 

19 (3) AIRPORT PERSONNEL.—The term ‘‘airport 

20 personnel’’ means persons, whether employed by the 

21 airport, air carriers, or by companies, that conduct 

22 business in airports. 

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