IIB 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 710 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 11, 2015 

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

Governmental Affairs 

AN ACT 

To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to prepare 

a comprehensive security assessment of the transportation security card program, 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 ‘‘Essential Transpor3 tation Worker Identification Credential Assessment Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. COMPREHENSIVE SECURITY ASSESSMENT OF THE 

5 TRANSPORTATION SECURITY CARD PRO6 GRAM. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

8 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland 

9 Security shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Se10 curity and the Committee on Transportation and Infra11 structure of the House of Representatives, the Committee 

12 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, 

13 and the Comptroller General of the United States a com14 prehensive assessment of the effectiveness of the transpor15 tation security card program under section 70105 of title 

16 46, United States Code, at enhancing security and reduc17 ing security risks for facilities and vessels regulated pursu18 ant to section 102 of Public Law 107–295. Such assess19 ment shall be conducted by a national laboratory that, to 

20 the extent practicable, is within the Department of Home21 land Security laboratory network with expertise in mari22 time security or by a maritime security university-based 

23 center within the Department of Homeland Security cen24 ters of excellence network. 

25 (b) CONTENTS.—The comprehensive assessment 

26 shall include— 


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1 (1) an evaluation of the extent to which the 

2 program, as implemented, addresses known or likely 

3 security risks in the maritime environment; 

4 (2) an evaluation of the extent to which defi5 ciencies identified by the Comptroller General have 

6 been addressed; and 

7 (3) a cost-benefit analysis of the program, as 

8 implemented. 

9 (c) CORRECTIVE ACTION PLAN; PROGRAM RE10 FORMS.—Not later than 60 days after the Secretary sub11 mits the assessment under subsection (a), the Secretary 

12 shall submit a corrective action plan to the Committee on 

13 Homeland Security and the Committee on Transportation 

14 and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and 

15 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

16 of the Senate that responds to the assessment under sub17 section (b). The corrective action plan shall include an im18 plementation plan with benchmarks, may include pro19 grammatic reforms, revisions to regulations, or proposals 

20 for legislation, and shall be considered in any rule making 

21 by the Department relating to the transportation security 

22 card program. 

23 (d) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REVIEW.—Not later 

24 than 120 days after the Secretary issues the corrective acVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:18 Feb 11, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H710.RFS H710

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1 tion plan under subsection (c), the Comptroller General 

2 shall— 

3 (1) review the extent to which such plan imple4 ments— 

5 (A) recommendations issued by the na6 tional laboratory or maritime security univer7 sity-based center, as applicable, in the assess8 ment submitted under subsection (a); and 

9 (B) recommendations issued by the Comp10 troller General before the enactment of this Act; 

11 and 

12 (2) inform the Committee on Homeland Secu13 rity and the Committee on Transportation and In14 frastructure of the House of Representatives and the 

15 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor16 tation of the Senate as to the responsiveness of such 

17 plan to such recommendations. 

18 (e) TRANSPORTATION SECURITY CARD READER

19 RULE.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland 

21 Security may not issue a final rule requiring the use 

22 of transportation security card readers until— 

23 (A) the Comptroller General informs the 

24 Committees on Homeland Security and the 

25 Committee on Transportation and InfrastrucVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:18 Feb 11, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H710.RFS H710

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1 ture of the House of Representatives and Com2 merce, Science and Transportation of the Sen3 ate that the submission under subsection (a) is 

4 responsive to the recommendations of the 

5 Comptroller General; and 

6 (B) the Secretary issues an updated list of 

7 transportation security card readers that are 

8 compatible with active transportation security 

9 cards. 

10 (2) LIMITATION ON APPLICATION.—Paragraph 

11 (1) shall not apply with respect to any final rule 

12 issued pursuant to the notice of proposed rule13 making on Transportation Worker Identification 

14 Credential (TWIC)-Reader Requirements published 

15 by the Coast Guard on March 22, 2013 (78 Fed. 

16 Reg. 17781) 

17 (f) COMPTROLLER GENERAL OVERSIGHT.—Not less 

18 than 18 months after the date of the issuance of the cor19 rective action plan under subsection (c), and every 6 

20 months thereafter during the 3-year period following the 

21 date of the issuance of the first report under this sub22 section, the Comptroller General shall report to the Com23 mittee on Homeland Security and the Committee on 

24 Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Rep25 resentatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, 


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1 and Transportation of the Senate regarding implementa2 tion of the corrective action plan. 

3 SEC. 3. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS AUTHORIZED. 

4 No additional funds are authorized to be appro5 priated to carry out this Act and the amendments made 

6 by this Act, and this Act and such amendments shall be 

7 carried out using amounts otherwise available for such 

8 purpose. 

Passed the House of Representatives February 10, 

2015. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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