IIB 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6229 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 11, 2024 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

AN ACT 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to authorize 

a program to assess the threat, vulnerability, and consequences of terrorism or other security threats, as appropriate, to certain events, 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 ‘‘DHS Special Events 

3 Program and Support Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DHS SPECIAL EVENTS PROGRAM. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle H of title VIII of the 

6 Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 451 et seq.) 

7 is amended by adding at the end the following new section: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 890E. SPECIAL EVENTS PROGRAM. 

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized within the 

10 Department a program to assess the threat, vulnerability, 

11 and consequences of terrorism or other security threats, 

12 as appropriate, at certain special events in accordance 

13 with subsection (b). 

14 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—The program authorized 

15 under subsection (a) shall— 

16 ‘‘(1) apply to special events that are pre17 planned and not designated as National Special Se18 curity Events by the Secretary; 

19 ‘‘(2) include a standard process for Federal, 

20 State, local, Tribal, and territorial officials to volun21 tarily submit to the Secretary requests for a special 

22 event rating that could result in direct support for 

23 security and situational awareness for such special 

24 event; 

25 ‘‘(3) maintain a risk-based methodology to as26 sess ratings requests, including requests submitted 


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1 pursuant to paragraph (2), that considers the antici2 pated attendance by United States officials or for3 eign dignitaries, the size and venue of the special 

4 event, credible threats of terrorism or other security 

5 threats, and other homeland security information, as 

6 appropriate; and 

7 ‘‘(4) include a process for expedited consider8 ation and, where appropriate, a process for the reas9 sessment, of a special event rating. 

10 ‘‘(c) SUPPORT TO SPECIAL EVENTS.—For purposes 

11 of protecting a special event described in subsection (b), 

12 the Secretary may provide security and situational aware13 ness support to a Federal, State, local, Tribal, or terri14 torial official at the request of an appropriate Federal, 

15 State, local, Tribal, or territorial official. 

16 ‘‘(d) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Not later than one year 

17 after the date of the enactment of this section and annu18 ally thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the Com19 mittee on Homeland Security of the House of Representa20 tives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov21 ernmental Affairs of the Senate a report on the program 

22 authorized under subsection (a). Each such report shall 

23 include information relating to the following: 

24 ‘‘(1) The total number of special events sub25 mitted to the program authorized under subsection 


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1 (a) in the prior year, including the number of special 

2 events at each rating level. 

3 ‘‘(2) The total number of events in the prior 

4 year for which the Secretary designated a Federal 

5 coordinator or coordinated security and situational 

6 awareness support, including a summary of Federal 

7 support provided. 

8 ‘‘(3) The total number of requests for special 

9 event rating reassessment under subsection (b)(4), 

10 including the following: 

11 ‘‘(A) The identification of the requesting 

12 entity. 

13 ‘‘(B) The special event name, date, and lo14 cation. 

15 ‘‘(C) The initial and final rating deter16 mination. 

17 ‘‘(D) The justification for such final rating 

18 determination. 

19 ‘‘(e) PERIODIC ASSESSMENTS.—Not later than one 

20 year after the date of the enactment of this section and 

21 every five years thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to 

22 the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of 

23 Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security 

24 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate an assessment of 

25 the program authorized under subsection (a). 


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1 ‘‘(f) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘home2 land security information’ has the meaning given such 

3 term in section 892.’’. 

4 (b) MASS GATHERING RESEARCH.—Not later than 

5 one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

6 Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the 

7 Undersecretary for Science and Technology of the Depart8 ment of Homeland Security and the official responsible for 

9 carrying out section 890E of the Homeland Security Act 

10 of 2002, as added by subsection (a), shall, to the extent 

11 practicable, carry out research and development, including 

12 operational testing, of technologies and techniques for en13 hancing the Department’s security and situational aware14 ness support to Federal, State, local, Tribal, and terri15 torial officials relating to mass gatherings consistent with 

16 applicable constitutional, privacy, civil rights, and civil lib17 erties protections. 

18 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

19 in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is 


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1 amended by inserting after the item relating to section 

2 890D the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 890E. Special events program.’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives December 10, 

2024. 

Attest: KEVIN F. MCCUMBER, 

Clerk. 


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