115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 876 

AN ACT 

To reform programs of the Transportation Security 

Administration, 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 ‘‘Aviation Employee 

3 Screening and Security Enhancement Act of 2017’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) ADMINISTRATION.—The term ‘‘Administra7 tion’’ means the Transportation Security Adminis8 tration. 

9 (2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis10 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Transpor11 tation Security Administration. 

12 (3) AIR CARRIER.—The term ‘‘air carrier’’ has 

13 the meaning given such term in section 40102 of 

14 title 49, United States Code. 

15 (4) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT16 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com17 mittees’’ means the Committee on Homeland Secu18 rity of the House of Representatives and the Com19 mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Af20 fairs and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

21 Transportation of the Senate. 

22 (5) FOREIGN AIR CARRIER.—The term ‘‘foreign 

23 air carrier’’ has the meaning given such term in sec24 tion 40102 of title 49, United States Code. 

25 (6) INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY.—The term 

26 ‘‘intelligence community’’ has the meaning given 
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1 such term in section 3(4) of the National Security 

2 Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003(4)). 

3 (7) SECURED AREA.—The term ‘‘secured area’’ 

4 has the meaning given such term in section 1540.5 

5 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations. 

6 (8) SECURITY IDENTIFICATION DISPLAY

7 AREA.—The term ‘‘Security Identification Display 

8 Area’’ has the meaning given such term in section 

9 1540.5 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations. 

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

11 has the meaning given such term in section 1540.5 

12 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations. 

13 SEC. 3. COST AND FEASIBILITY STUDY. 

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

15 date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in 

16 consultation with the Aviation Security Advisory Com17 mittee (established under section 44946 of title 49, United 

18 States Code), shall submit to the appropriate congres19 sional committees and the Comptroller General of the 

20 United States a cost and feasibility study of a statistically 

21 significant number of Category I, II, III, IV, and X air22 ports assessing the impact if all employee access points 

23 from non-secured areas to secured areas of such airports 

24 are comprised of the following: 
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1 (1) A secure door utilizing card and pin entry 

2 or biometric technology. 

3 (2) Surveillance video recording, capable of 

4 storing video data for at least 30 days. 

5 (3) Advanced screening technologies, including 

6 at least one of the following: 

7 (A) Magnetometer (walk-through or hand8 held). 

9 (B) Explosives detection canines. 

10 (C) Explosives trace detection swabbing. 

11 (D) Advanced imaging technology. 

12 (E) X-ray bag screening technology. 

13 (b) CONTENTS.—The study required under sub14 section (a) shall include information related to the em15 ployee screening costs of those category I, II, III, IV, and 

16 X airports which have already implemented practices of 

17 screening 100 percent of employees accessing secured 

18 areas of airports, including the following: 

19 (1) Costs associated with establishing an oper20 ational minimum number of employee entry and exit 

21 points. 

22 (2) A comparison of estimated costs and effec23 tiveness associated with implementing the security 

24 features specified in subsection (a) to— 

25 (A) the Federal Government; and 
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1 (B) airports and the aviation community. 

2 (c) COMPTROLLER GENERAL ASSESSMENT.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Upon completion of the 

4 study required under subsection (a), the Comptroller 

5 General of the United States shall review such study 

6 to assess the quality and reliability of such study. 

7 (2) ASSESSMENT.—Not later than 60 days 

8 after the receipt of the study required under sub9 section (a), the Comptroller General of the United 

10 States shall report to the Committee on Homeland 

11 Security of the House of Representatives and the 

12 Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 

13 Affairs and the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

14 and Transportation of the Senate on the results of 

15 the review required under paragraph (1). 

16 SEC. 4. AIRPORT WORKER EDUCATION AND SECURITY 

17 AWARENESS. 

18 (a) COOPERATIVE EFFORTS TO ENHANCE AIRPORT

19 SECURITY AWARENESS.—Not later than 180 days after 

20 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator 

21 shall work with air carriers, foreign air carriers, airport 

22 operators, labor unions representing credentialed employ23 ees, and the Aviation Security Advisory Committee to en24 hance security awareness of credentialed airport popu-
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1 lations regarding insider threats to aviation security and 

2 best practices related to airport access controls. 

3 (b) CREDENTIALING STANDARDS.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

5 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad6 ministrator shall, in consultation with air carriers, 

7 foreign air carriers, airport operators, labor unions 

8 representing credentialed employees, and the Avia9 tion Security Advisory Committee, assess 

10 credentialing standards, policies, and practices to en11 sure that insider threats to aviation security are ade12 quately addressed. 

13 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 30 days after 

14 completion of the assessment required under para15 graph (1), the Administrator shall report to the ap16 propriate congressional committees on the results of 

17 such assessment. 

18 (c) SIDA APPLICATIONS.— 

19 (1) SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS REQUIRED.— 

20 Not later than 60 days after the date of the enact21 ment of this Act, the Administrator shall require air22 port operators to submit the social security number 

23 of an individual applying for a credential granting 

24 access to the Security Identification Display Area to 

25 strengthen security vetting effectiveness. An appli-
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1 cant who does not provide such applicant’s social se2 curity number may be denied such a credential. 

3 (2) SCREENING NOTICE.—The Administrator 

4 shall issue requirements for airport operators to in5 clude in applications for access to a Security Identi6 fication Display Area a notice informing applicants 

7 that an employee holding a credential granting ac8 cess to a Security Identification Display Area may 

9 be screened at any time while gaining access to, 

10 working in, or leaving a Security Identification Dis11 play Area. 

12 SEC. 5. SECURING AIRPORT WORKER ACCESS. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall work 

14 with airport operators and the Aviation Security Advisory 

15 Committee to identify advanced technologies, including bi16 ometric identification technologies, for securing employee 

17 access to the secured areas and sterile areas of airports. 

18 (b) RAP BACK VETTING.—Not later than 180 days 

19 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Adminis20 trator shall ensure that all credentialed aviation worker 

21 populations currently requiring a fingerprint-based crimi22 nal record history check are continuously vetted through 

23 the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Rap Back Service, 

24 in order to more rapidly detect and mitigate insider 

25 threats to aviation security. 
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1 (c) INSIDER THREAT EDUCATION AND MITIGA2 TION.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the en3 actment of this Act, the Administrator shall identify 

4 means of enhancing the Administration’s ability to lever5 age the resources of the Department of Homeland Secu6 rity and the intelligence community to educate Adminis7 tration personnel on insider threats to aviation security 

8 and how the Administration can better mitigate such in9 sider threats. 

10 (d) PLAYBOOK OPERATIONS.—The Administrator 

11 shall ensure that Administration-led employee physical in12 spection efforts of aviation workers, known as Playbook 

13 operations, are targeted, strategic, and focused on pro14 viding the greatest level of security effectiveness. 

15 (e) COVERT TESTING.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall con17 duct covert testing of Administration-led employee 

18 inspection operations at airports and measure exist19 ing levels of security effectiveness. The Adminis20 trator shall provide— 

21 (A) the results of such testing to the air22 port operator for the airport that is the subject 

23 of any such testing, and, as appropriate, to air 

24 carriers and foreign air carriers that operate at 
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1 the airport that is the subject of such testing; 

2 and 

3 (B) recommendations and technical assist4 ance for air carriers, foreign air carriers, and 

5 airport operators to conduct their own employee 

6 inspections, as needed. 

7 (2) ANNUAL REPORTING.—The Administrator 

8 shall annually, for each of fiscal years 2018 through 

9 2022, submit to the appropriate congressional com10 mittees a report on the frequency, methodology, 

11 strategy, and effectiveness of employee inspection 

12 operations at airports. 

13 (f) CENTRALIZED DATABASE.—Not later than 180 

14 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad15 ministrator, in consultation with the Aviation Security Ad16 visory Committee, shall— 

17 (1) establish a national database of individuals 

18 who have had either their airport or airport oper19 ator-issued badge revoked for failure to comply with 

20 aviation security requirements; 

21 (2) determine the appropriate reporting mecha22 nisms for air carriers, foreign air carriers, and air23 port operators to— 
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1 (A) submit to the Administration data re2 garding individuals described in paragraph (1); 

3 and 

4 (B) access the database established pursu5 ant to such paragraph; and 

6 (3) establish a process to allow individuals 

7 whose names were mistakenly entered into such 

8 database to correct the record and have their names 

9 removed from such database. 

10 SEC. 6. INSIDER THREAT COORDINATION EFFORTS. 

11 The Department of Homeland Security is the lead 

12 interagency coordinator pertaining to insider threat inves13 tigations and mitigation efforts at airports. The Depart14 ment shall make every practicable effort to coordinate with 

15 other relevant Government entities, as well as the security 

16 representatives of air carriers, foreign air carriers, and 

17 airport operators, as appropriate, when undertaking such 

18 investigations and efforts. 

19 SEC. 7. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SECURITY. 

20 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact21 ment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to the 

22 appropriate congressional committees a plan to conduct 

23 recurring reviews of the operational, technical, and man24 agement security controls for Administration information 

25 technology systems at airports. 
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1 SEC. 8. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS AUTHORIZED. 

2 No additional funds are authorized to carry out the 

3 requirements of this Act. Such requirements shall be car4 ried out using amounts otherwise authorized. 

Passed the House of Representatives April 25, 2017. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 
115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 876 

AN ACT 

To reform programs of the Transportation Security 

Administration, and for other purposes.