II

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1473

To amend title 49, United States Code, to provide for the enhancement

of security at airports in the United States.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 26, 2001

Mr. JOHNSON 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 provide for the

enhancement of security at airports in the United States.

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

3 SECTION 1. AIRPORT SECURITY PERSONNEL.

4 (a) SCREENING PERSONNEL.—Section 44901(a) of

5 title 49, United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘em6 ployee or agent of an air carrier, intrastate air carrier,

7 or foreign air carrier’’ in the second sentence of subsection

8 (a) and inserting ‘‘employee of the Federal Aviation Ad9 ministration or an employee of any other department or

10 agency of the United States’’.
2

•S 1473 IS

1 (b) TRANSITION.—The Administrator of the Federal

2 Aviation Administration shall achieve full compliance with

3 the requirement to use employees of the Federal Aviation

4 Administration or other Federal Government employees to

5 perform screening of passengers and property under sec6 tion 44901(a) of title 49, United States Code (as amended

7 by subsection (a)), as soon as is practicable. The Adminis8 trator may make or continue arrangements for using em9 ployees or agents of air carriers, intrastate air carriers,

10 and foreign air carriers to perform such function under

11 that section (as in effect before the date of the enactment

12 of this Act) to the extent that the Administrator deter13 mines necessary for enforcing security in air transpor14 tation pending the achievement of full compliance with

15 such requirement.

16 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM FOR SECURITY ENHANCEMENTS

17 AT SMALL AIRPORTS.

18 (a) GRANT PROGRAM.—Subchapter I of chapter 449

19 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at

20 the end the following new section:

21 ‘‘§ 44917. Grants for security enhancements: small

22 airports

23 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of Transportation

24 may make grants to operators of small airports (including

25 hub airports and other airports) in the United States for
3

•S 1473 IS

1 the purpose of defraying part or all of the costs of enhanc2 ing the security of airports under the airport security pro3 grams, including the costs of procuring metal detectors,

4 anti-explosive equipment, x-ray scanning equipment, other

5 security devices, and any other items needed to provide

6 security for the airport.

7 ‘‘(b) SELECTION PROCEDURES.—The Secretary shall

8 use a competitive process prescribed by the Secretary for

9 awarding grants under this section.

10 ‘‘(c) SELECTION CRITERIA.—(1) The Secretary shall

11 prescribe in regulations the eligibility and selection criteria

12 to apply in the administration of the grant authority under

13 this section.

14 ‘‘(2) The eligibility criteria shall include standards for

15 an airport to qualify as a small airport.

16 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the term ‘airport

17 security program’ means a program carried out under the

18 regulations prescribed pursuant to section 44903 of this

19 title.’’.

20 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections

21 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by adding

22 at the end the following new item:

‘‘44917. Grants for security enhancements: small airports.’’.

23 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

24 Funds are hereby authorized to be appropriated to

25 the Department of Transportation for fiscal year 2002 for
4

•S 1473 IS

1 purposes, and in such amounts as may be necessary to

2 carry out those purposes, as follows:

3 (1) For the Federal Aviation Administration, or

4 for transfer to any other department or agency of

5 the United States, for employing and training—

6 (A) additional personnel for carrying out

7 section 44901 of title 49, United States Code;

8 and

9 (B) additional law enforcement personnel

10 to perform law enforcement and other security

11 functions at airports under section 44903 of

12 title 49, United States Code.

13 (2) For the grant program under section 44917

14 of title 49, United States Code (as added by section

15 2).

Æ