I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8630 

To improve the passenger experience during aviation checkpoint security 

screening, without reducing security effectiveness, by encouraging the 

deployment of technological and other solutions, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 5, 2024 

Mr. ROBERT GARCIA of California (for himself, Mr. LALOTA, and Mr. 

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

A BILL 

To improve the passenger experience during aviation checkpoint security screening, without reducing security effectiveness, by encouraging the deployment of technological 

and other solutions, 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 ‘‘Supporting Passengers 

5 with Efficient and Effective Detection through Screening 

6 Act’’ or the ‘‘SPEED through Screening Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. STRATEGIES TO REDUCE PATDOWNS AND THE 

2 NEED TO DIVEST ITEMS DURING SCREENING 

3 WITHOUT REDUCING SECURITY EFFECTIVE4 NESS. 

5 (a) STRATEGY TO REDUCE PATDOWNS WITHOUT

6 REDUCING SECURITY EFFECTIVENESS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

8 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad9 ministrator shall submit to the appropriate congres10 sional committees a strategy for the following five 

11 years to reduce the rate at which Administration 

12 personnel are required to conduct patdowns during 

13 passenger screening carried out pursuant to section 

14 44901 of title 49, United States Code, to the extent 

15 practicable, without reducing overall security effec16 tiveness. 

17 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In producing the strat18 egy required under paragraph (1), the Administrator 

19 shall consider the following: 

20 (A) The effects of improvements made to 

21 screening activities within the immediately pre22 ceding five years, including refinements to ad23 vanced imaging technology detection algorithms, 

24 and an estimation of the extent to which such 

25 improvements have already reduced the rate of 

26 patdowns and enhanced security. 


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1 (B) The potential to make further im2 provements to existing security technologies, in3 cluding through enhanced detection algorithms, 

4 to further reduce the rate of patdowns during 

5 passenger screening without reducing overall se6 curity effectiveness. 

7 (C) The availability of next-generation or 

8 new screening technologies, such as detection at 

9 range technology or handheld screening equip10 ment, that could help reduce the rate of 

11 patdowns during passenger screening without 

12 reducing overall security effectiveness. 

13 (D) The extent to which certain passenger 

14 populations, including the categories of individ15 uals protected from discrimination under para16 graph (a)(1) of section 60307 of the Infrastruc17 ture Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 

18 117–58; 47 U.S.C. 1726), may undergo 

19 patdowns at a higher rate than the general pas20 senger population during passenger screening, 

21 and methods for reducing the rate of patdowns 

22 among such passenger populations during pas23 senger screening without reducing overall secu24 rity effectiveness. 


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1 (E) The factors contributing to any higher 

2 rate of patdowns for particular passenger popu3 lations during passenger screening, as described 

4 in subparagraph (D). 

5 (F) Methods for developing screening tech6 nologies and processes to address any higher 

7 rate of patdowns among particular passenger 

8 populations during passenger screening, as de9 scribed in subparagraph (D), without reducing 

10 overall security effectiveness. 

11 (G) Projected costs and timelines for im12 plementation of the strategy. 

13 (H) Any other considerations determined 

14 appropriate by the Administrator. 

15 (b) STRATEGY TO REDUCE THE NEED TO DIVEST

16 ITEMS DURING SCREENING WITHOUT REDUCING SECU17 RITY EFFECTIVENESS.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

19 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad20 ministrator shall submit to the appropriate congres21 sional committees a strategy for the following five 

22 years to reduce the need for passengers to divest 

23 items from their person or property during pas24 senger screening carried out pursuant to section 

25 44901 of title 49, United States Code, to the extent 


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1 practicable, without reducing overall security effec2 tiveness. 

3 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In producing the strat4 egy required under paragraph (1), the Administrator 

5 shall consider the following: 

6 (A) The feasibility of reducing the need for 

7 passengers to divest each of the following items: 

8 (i) Shoes. 

9 (ii) Belts. 

10 (iii) Loose fitting or bulky clothing. 

11 (iv) Hats, wigs, head coverings, and 

12 other headwear, including religious 

13 headwear. 

14 (v) Articles of faith. 

15 (vi) Prosthetics, assistive devices, and 

16 other medical or special needs items. 

17 (vii) Liquids, aerosols, gels, creams, 

18 pastes, and powders. 

19 (viii) Laptops and other large elec20 tronic devices. 

21 (ix) Any other items determined ap22 propriate by the Administrator; 

23 (B) The effects of improvements made to 

24 screening activities within the immediately pre25 ceding five years, including deployments of comVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:11 Jul 22, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8630.IH H8630

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1 puted tomography machines for screening 

2 carry-on baggage, and a description of the ex3 tent to which such improvements have already 

4 reduced the need for passengers to divest items 

5 specified in subparagraph (A). 

6 (C) The potential to make further improve7 ments to existing security technologies, includ8 ing through enhanced detection algorithms, to 

9 further reduce the need for passengers to divest 

10 such items without reducing overall security ef11 fectiveness. 

12 (D) The availability of next-generation or 

13 new screening technologies that could help re14 duce the need for passengers to divest such 

15 items without reducing overall security effec16 tiveness. 

17 (E) The extent to which efforts to reduce 

18 the need for passengers to divest such items 

19 complicates any efforts to reduce the rate of 

20 patdowns during security screening, and options 

21 to ameliorate any such complications. 

22 (F) Projected costs and timelines for im23 plementation of the strategy. 

24 (G) Any other considerations determined 

25 appropriate by the Administrator. 


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1 (c) FEASIBILITY STUDY ON ALLOWANCE OF LIQ2 UIDS, AEROSOLS, GELS, AND POWDERS.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

4 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad5 ministrator shall submit to the appropriate congres6 sional committees a report on the findings of a feasi7 bility study regarding allowing passengers to board 

8 commercial aircraft carrying increased volumes of 

9 liquids, aerosols, gels, creams, pastes, powders, or 

10 any other substance currently subject to volume11 based carriage limitations, to the extent practicable, 

12 without reducing overall security effectiveness. 

13 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In carrying out the fea14 sibility study required under paragraph (1), the Ad15 ministrator shall consider the following: 

16 (A) The effects of improvements made to 

17 screening activities within the immediately pre18 ceding five years, including deployments of com19 puted tomography machines and bottle liquid 

20 scanners for screening carry-on baggage. 

21 (B) The potential to make further im22 provements to existing security technologies, in23 cluding through enhanced detection algorithms, 

24 to reduce the need for volume-based carriage 

25 limitations. 


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1 (C) The availability of next-generation or 

2 new screening technologies that could help re3 duce the need for volume-based carriage limita4 tions. 

5 (D) The effectiveness of security screening 

6 practices used by counterparts in foreign coun7 tries that allow carriage of increased volumes of 

8 substances referred to in such paragraph. 

9 (E) Current intelligence regarding threats 

10 posed by the carriage of substances referred to 

11 in such paragraph, and other risk consider12 ations determined appropriate by the Adminis13 trator. 

14 (F) Any actions directed by the Adminis15 trator as a result of such feasibility study and 

16 projected costs and timelines for implementa17 tion of such actions. 

18 (G) Any other considerations determined 

19 appropriate by the Administrator. 

20 (d) CLASSIFICATION AND PUBLICATION.—The Ad21 ministrator shall post on a publicly available webpage of 

22 the Administration unclassified versions of the strategies 

23 required under subsections (a) and (b) and the report re24 quired under subsection (c). If the Administrator deter25 mines such is appropriate, such strategies and report may 


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1 contain classified or sensitive annexes, and the Adminis2 trator shall submit to the appropriate congressional com3 mittees any such annex at the time of submission of the 

4 strategy or report, as the case may be, to which such 

5 annex relates. 

6 (e) DEPLOYMENT OF DETECTION AT RANGE TECH7 NOLOGY.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may de9 ploy detection at range technology for the screening 

10 of passengers carried out pursuant to section 44901 

11 of title 49, United States Code, subject to standards 

12 for testing and evaluation of such technology as de13 termined appropriate by the Administrator. 

14 (2) ALLOWING FOR USE OF DETECTION AT

15 RANGE TECHNOLOGY.—Subparagraph (C) of section 

16 44901(l)(1) of title 49, United States Code, is 

17 amended by inserting ‘‘or a live image of the indi18 vidual being screened that does not look meaning19 fully different from the individual’s public presen20 tation’’ before the period. 

21 (3) FEASIBILITY ASSESSMENT.—Not later than 

22 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

23 the Administrator shall assess the feasibility of using 

24 detection at range technology for the following: 


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1 (A) Resolving alarms from other screening 

2 technologies, including advanced imaging tech3 nology machines, without the need for a 

4 patdown. 

5 (B) Augmenting screening of nontrusted 

6 traveler populations that may not otherwise be 

7 screened for nonmetallic prohibited items. 

8 (C) Improving the screening experience 

9 for— 

10 (i) passengers with disabilities, per11 sonal medical devices, or medical condi12 tions; and 

13 (ii) other passengers who may require 

14 additional assistance. 

15 (D) Primary screening of passengers, in16 cluding to allow passengers who opt out of 

17 being screened by an advanced imaging tech18 nology to be screened without the need for a 

19 patdown except to resolve alarms. 

20 (4) BRIEFING.—Not later than 30 days after 

21 completing the feasibility assessment required under 

22 paragraph (3), the Administrator shall brief the ap23 propriate congressional committees regarding the re24 sults of such assessment. 


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1 (5) PRIORITIZATION.—In deploying detection at 

2 range technology pursuant to paragraph (1), the Ad3 ministrator shall, to the extent determined feasible 

4 pursuant to paragraph (3), prioritize deployments of 

5 such technology that— 

6 (A) reduce the need for patdowns during 

7 passenger screening without reducing overall se8 curity effectiveness; 

9 (B) enhance security effectiveness, includ10 ing by augmenting screening of nontrusted 

11 traveler populations that may not otherwise be 

12 screened for nonmetallic prohibited items; 

13 (C) improve the screening experience for— 

14 (i) passengers with disabilities, per15 sonal medical devices, or medical condi16 tions; and 

17 (ii) other passengers who may require 

18 additional assistance. 

19 (D) provide primary screening of pas20 sengers, including to allow passengers who opt 

21 out of being screened by an advanced imaging 

22 technology to be screened without the need for 

23 a patdown except to resolve alarms. 

24 (f) SCREENING STATISTICS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall 

2 seek to collect anonymized statistics regarding the 

3 screening of passengers carried out by Administra4 tion personnel pursuant to section 44901 of title 49, 

5 United States Code. Such statistics shall, to the ex6 tent practicable, be disaggregated by airport and 

7 date and include the numbers of passengers who un8 dergo any of the following: 

9 (A) Screening in TSA PreCheck lanes. 

10 (B) Screening out of TSA PreCheck lanes. 

11 (C) Enhanced screening based on vetting 

12 status. 

13 (D) Patdowns, including patdowns of sen14 sitive body areas. 

15 (E) Screening by advanced imaging tech16 nology machines. 

17 (F) Screening by canines. 

18 (G) Screening by walk-through metal de19 tectors out of TSA PreCheck lanes without ad20 ditional screening for non-metallic prohibited 

21 items. 

22 (H) Any other category of screening deter23 mined appropriate by the Administrator. 


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1 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In seeking to collect 

2 statistics pursuant to paragraph (1), the Adminis3 trator shall consider the following: 

4 (A) The need to protect the civil rights, 

5 civil liberties, and privacy of passengers. 

6 (B) The potential for noninvasive tech7 nologies, such as cameras and artificial intel8 ligence, to provide information regarding pas9 senger screening. 

10 (C) Methods to collect statistics requiring 

11 minimal input by Administration personnel, in12 cluding new technologies or enhancements to 

13 existing technologies, such as by installing soft14 ware allowing personnel to easily specify how an 

15 alarm was cleared. 

16 (D) If collecting statistics regarding the 

17 screening of all passengers is not practicable, 

18 methods to collect statistics regarding the 

19 screening of a sample set of passengers suffi20 cient to extrapolate estimated statistics for all 

21 passengers. 

22 (E) Any other considerations determined 

23 appropriate by the Administrator. 

24 (3) ANNUAL BRIEFING.—Not later than one 

25 year after the date of the enactment of this Act and 


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1 annually thereafter, the Administrator shall brief the 

2 appropriate congressional committees regarding the 

3 statistics collected pursuant to paragraph (1). Each 

4 such briefing shall include monthly totals 

5 disaggregated by airport. 

6 (4) PUBLICATION.—The Administrator shall 

7 publish annually on a publicly available website of 

8 the Administration the statistics collected pursuant 

9 to paragraph (1), to the extent practicable, while 

10 protecting classified or sensitive information. 

11 (g) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec12 tion may be construed to prevent the Administration from 

13 conducting patdowns, requiring divestiture of items for 

14 screening, or carrying out other forms of permissible 

15 modes of screening to ensure overall security effectiveness. 

16 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

17 are authorized to be appropriated to the Administration 

18 $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2024 to research, test, evalu19 ate, procure, and deploy screening processes or tech20 nologies that may reduce the need for patdowns or item 

21 divestiture or assist in the collection of statistics in fur22 therance of the requirements of subsections (a) and (f). 

23 (i) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REVIEW.—Not later 

24 than two years after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

25 the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit 


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1 to the appropriate congressional committees a report on 

2 the implementation of this Act. 

3 (j) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 (1) ADMINISTRATION.—The term ‘‘Administra5 tion’’ means the Transportation Security Adminis6 tration. 

7 (2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis8 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Transpor9 tation Security Administration. 

10 (3) ADVANCED IMAGING TECHNOLOGY.—The 

11 term ‘‘advanced imaging technology’’ has the mean12 ing given such term in section 44901(l)(1)(A) of title 

13 49, United States Code. 

14 (4) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT15 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com16 mittees’’ means the Committee on Homeland Secu17 rity of the House of Representatives and Committee 

18 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

19 Senate. 

20 (5) DETECTION AT RANGE TECHNOLOGY.—The 

21 term ‘‘detection at range technology’’ means any 

22 technology using passive, noninvasive means, such as 

23 thermal imaging, to screen passengers for potential 

24 threat items without requiring physical contact with 

25 such passengers. 


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1 (6) PATDOWN.—The term ‘‘patdown’’ means a 

2 physical inspection that includes direct physical con3 tact with or without gloves of any part of a person’s 

4 body, including the head, hair, torso, breasts, groin, 

5 buttocks, limbs, extremities, or other body parts. 

Æ 


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