II

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1461

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 smallto medium-size airports with security enhancements.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 25, 2001

Mr. DURBIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

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 smallto medium-size airports with security enhancements.

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 ‘‘Airline Passenger Safe5 ty Enhancement Act of 2001’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) The screening of passengers and property at

2 United States airports is, by law, the responsibility

3 of airlines.

4 (2) There are more than 18,000 airport secu5 rity personnel in the United States who do the

6 screening.

7 (3) The security personnel are employed by pri8 vate companies that perform the screening under

9 contract with the airlines. The personnel are gen10 erally paid at rates that are at or only slightly above

11 minimum wage. They receive minimal benefits.

12 (4) The General Accounting Office has found

13 that the average employment turnover rate for air14 port screening personnel at 19 major United States

15 airports was 125 percent. The turnover rate in some

16 cases was as high as 416 percent.

17 (5) Other countries have registered employment

18 turnover rates for airport screening personnel that

19 are less than 50 percent, including Belgium, which

20 has a turnover rate of four percent.

21 (6) In addition to identifying the instability in

22 the workforce of airport screening personnel, the

23 General Accounting Office has found that insuffi24 cient security precautions are being taken at airport

25 entrances and checkpoints where airport employees
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1 are screened, including entrances and checkpoints

2 for ramp areas.

3 (7) Investigators of the Office of the Inspector

4 General of the Department of Transportation, in un5 announced tests, have successfully gained access to

6 supposedly secure areas of United States airports

7 without proper credentials in 68 percent of those

8 tests, and have then been able to board aircraft un9 challenged 117 times.

10 (8) The General Accounting Office has deter11 mined that undercover agents have been able to pen12 etrate restricted areas of United States commercial

13 airports with counterfeit or otherwise invalid badges

14 or other credentials, giving those agents the oppor15 tunity (if they so intended) to carry weapons, explo16 sives, chemical or biological agents, or other dan17 gerous materials into those areas.

18 SEC. 3. AIRPORT SECURITY STUDY.

19 (a) REQUIREMENT FOR STUDY.—The Administrator

20 of the Federal Aviation Administration shall carry out a

21 comprehensive study to determine how the performance of

22 security functions at airports in the United States should

23 be organized and carried out, in cooperation with air car24 riers and airport administrators, to secure the safety of
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1 passengers and workers in all areas of airports and into

2 the aircraft boarded at the airports.

3 (b) PLAN.—The Administrator shall develop a com4 prehensive plan for ensuring security at airports in the

5 United States. The Administrator shall consider the re6 sults of the study under subsection (a) in developing the

7 plan.

8 (c) REPORT.—The Administrator shall submit a re9 port on the results of the study, together with the plan,

10 to Congress. The report shall include any recommenda11 tions for legislation that the Administrator considers nec12 essary to achieve the objective stated in subsection (a).

13 (d) TIME FOR COMPLETION.—The Administrator

14 shall complete the study under subsection (a) and the de15 velopment of the plan under subsection (b), and shall sub16 mit the report under subsection (c), not later than 30 days

17 after the date of the enactment of this Act.

18 SEC. 4. SCREENING OF AIR PASSENGERS AND PROPERTY

19 BY FAA.

20 (a) REQUIREMENT.—Section 44901 of title 49,

21 United States Code, is amended—

22 (1) in the second sentence of subsection (a)—

23 (A) by inserting after ‘‘used or operated

24 by’’ the following: ‘‘an employee of the United

25 States pursuant to subsection (d) (or by’’; and
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1 (B) by inserting before the period at the

2 end the following: ‘‘before subsection (d) is fully

3 implemented)’’; and

4 (2) by adding at the end the following:

5 ‘‘(d) SCREENING TO BE CONDUCTED BY FEDERAL

6 EMPLOYEES.—The screening of passengers and property

7 under subsection (a) shall be carried out by employees of

8 the Federal Aviation Administration or other employees

9 of the United States. The Administrator may expand and

10 prioritize the undertaking of screening responsibilities

11 with respect to an airport based on the Administrator’s

12 assessment of the security threat to the airport.’’.

13 (b) TRANSITION.—(1) The Administrator of the Fed14 eral Aviation Administration shall complete the full imple15 mentation of subsection (d) of section 44901 of title 49,

16 United States Code (as added by subsection (a)), as soon

17 as is practicable. The Administrator may make or con18 tinue such arrangements for the screening of passengers

19 and property under that section as the Administrator de20 termines necessary pending full implementation of sub21 section (d) of such section.

22 (2) The Administrator shall promptly direct the oper23 ators of airports in the United States to make immediate

24 arrangements for armed, uniformed law enforcement per25 sonnel to be stationed at passenger and property screening
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1 points in the airports to monitor the performance of

2 screening at those points and to be stationed at airport

3 employee security checkpoints in the airports. The Admin4 istrator shall require that the arrangements be maintained

5 until full implementation of the plan developed under sec6 tion 3(b).

7 (c) OTHER SECURITY PERSONNEL.—(1) Subchapter

8 II of chapter 449 of title 49, United States Code, is

9 amended by adding at the end the following:

10 ‘‘§ 44939. Airport security personnel

11 ‘‘(a) RESPONSIBILITIES OF FEDERAL PERSONNEL.—

12 At airports in the United States, employees of the United

13 States shall perform all functions that relate to the secu14 rity of passengers and airport personnel under the direc15 tion of the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Adminis16 tration.

17 ‘‘(b) SOURCE OF PERSONNEL.—In carrying out the

18 responsibilities under subsection (a), the Administrator

19 may—

20 ‘‘(1) employ security personnel within the Fed21 eral Aviation Administration;

22 ‘‘(2) use security personnel detailed by other

23 agencies of the United States; and

24 ‘‘(3) in cooperation with the Secretary of

25 Transportation, establish any organization, including
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1 any Government corporation or Government con2 trolled corporation (as defined in section 103 of title

3 5), that the Administrator determines appropriate

4 and effective for employing and providing the secu5 rity personnel for airports in the United States.’’.

6 (2) The analysis for subchapter II of chapter 449 of

7 title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the

8 end the following new item:

‘‘44939. Airport security personnel.’’.

9 (d) FUNDING.—Section 45301 of title 49, United

10 States Code, is amended—

11 (1) by adding at the end of subsection (a) the

12 following new paragraphs:

13 ‘‘(3) Passenger and property screening under

14 section 44901 of this title and other airport security

15 services.’’; and

16 (2) by adding at the end of subsection (b) the

17 following new paragraph:

18 ‘‘(3) FEE FOR SECURITY OPERATIONS.—The

19 fee imposed under subsection (a)(3) may not exceed

20 $1.00 per domestic flight segment. Amounts col21 lected under subsection (a)(3) are hereby made

22 available for obligation and expenditure to carry out

23 sections 44901 and 44939 of this title.’’.
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1 SEC. 5. SMALL- AND MEDIUM-SIZE AIRPORTS.

2 The Administrator of the Federal Aviation Adminis3 tration shall develop a plan to provide small- to medium4 size airports with technical support to enhance security

5 operations, including screening operations, and to provide

6 such airports with financial assistance to defray the costs

7 of security enhancements.

Æ