I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1165 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to establish an Ombudsman Office 

within the Transportation Security Administration for the purpose of 

enhancing transportation security by providing confidential, informal, 

and neutral assistance to address work-place related problems of Transportation Security Administration employees, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 17, 2011 

Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas (for herself, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, and Mr. DAVIS of Illinois) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 

A BILL 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to establish an 

Ombudsman Office within the Transportation Security 

Administration for the purpose of enhancing transportation security by providing confidential, informal, and 

neutral assistance to address work-place related problems 

of Transportation Security Administration employees, 

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 ‘‘Transportation Secu3 rity Administration Ombudsman Act of 2011’’. 

4 SEC. 2. TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION OM5 BUDSMAN OFFICE. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 449 of 

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

8 end the following new section: 

9 ‘‘§ 44946. Ombudsman 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

11 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established an 

12 Office of the Ombudsman in the Transportation Se13 curity Administration. 

14 ‘‘(2) OMBUDSMAN.— 

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Office shall be 

16 under the direction of the Ombudsman of the 

17 Transportation Security Administration, who 

18 shall be appointed by the Chief Human Capital 

19 Officer of the Department of Homeland Secu20 rity on behalf of the Secretary of Homeland Se21 curity. 

22 ‘‘(B) QUALIFICATIONS.—An individual 

23 may not be appointed as the Ombudsman un24 less the individual has demonstrated expertise 

25 in— 


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1 ‘‘(i) labor and employment relations; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(ii) dispute resolution. 

4 ‘‘(C) VACANCIES.—If a vacancy occurs in 

5 the position of Ombudsman, the Chief Human 

6 Capital Officer of the Department of Homeland 

7 Security shall appoint an individual as Ombuds8 man by not later than 120 days after the date 

9 the vacancy first occurs. 

10 ‘‘(D) NOTIFICATION OF APPOINTMENT

11 AND REMOVAL.—The Chief Human Capital Of12 ficer of the Department of Homeland Security 

13 shall notify the appropriate congressional com14 mittees within 30 days after the effective date 

15 of any of the following actions: 

16 ‘‘(i) The appointment of an individual 

17 as Ombudsman. 

18 ‘‘(ii) The reappointment as Ombuds19 man of an individual who is serving as 

20 Ombudsman. 

21 ‘‘(iii) The removal of an individual 

22 from the position of Ombudsman. 

23 ‘‘(3) ENSURING INDEPENDENCE OF OMBUDS24 MAN.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Ombudsman shall 

2 report— 

3 ‘‘(i) to the Administrator of the 

4 Transportation Security Administration; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(ii) to the Chief Human Capital Offi7 cer of the Department of Homeland Secu8 rity with respect to any dispute between 

9 the Ombudsman and the Administrator of 

10 Transportation Security Administration 

11 over matters involving the execution of the 

12 Ombudsman’s duties as set forth in sub13 section (b). 

14 ‘‘(B) INSPECTOR GENERAL’S AUTHORITY

15 TO CONDUCT INVESTIGATIONS NOT AF16 FECTED.—Nothing in this section shall prohibit 

17 the Inspector General of the Department of 

18 Homeland Security from initiating, carrying 

19 out, or completing any investigation. 

20 ‘‘(4) REGIONAL OMBUDSMEN.— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Ombudsman shall 

22 ensure that each of the Transportation Security 

23 Administration regions has a regional ombuds24 man and that no regional ombudsman is re25 sponsible for more than three regions. 


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1 ‘‘(B) APPOINTMENT.—The regional om2 budsmen shall be appointed by and serve at the 

3 discretion of the Ombudsman. 

4 ‘‘(C) MEETINGS WITHIN REGIONS.—Each 

5 regional ombudsman shall travel not less than 

6 once each calendar quarter to each region for 

7 which he or she is appointed, to meet with 

8 Transportation Security Administration employ9 ees in that region. 

10 ‘‘(b) DUTIES.—The Ombudsman shall— 

11 ‘‘(1) conduct outreach to Transportation Secu12 rity Administration employees, including publicizing 

13 a toll-free telephone number to report complaints; 

14 ‘‘(2) evaluate each complainant’s claim objec15 tively; 

16 ‘‘(3) provide information, advice, and assistance 

17 to complainants and, as appropriate, initiate infor18 mal, impartial fact-finding and inquiries, on com19 plaints or on the Ombudsman’s own initiative; 

20 ‘‘(4) inform each complainant— 

21 ‘‘(A) when the Ombudsman decides against 

22 conducting a fact-finding inquiry into the com23 plaint; 

24 ‘‘(B) on the status of the Ombudsman’s 

25 fact-finding inquiry to the complainant, on a 


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1 regular basis if requested by the complainant; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(C) of the Ombudsman’s recommenda4 tions and information, as appropriate, for the 

5 complainant to formally complain to the appro6 priate authority; 

7 ‘‘(5) work with the Administrator of the Trans8 portation Security Administration to address issues 

9 identified through fact-finding and inquiries; 

10 ‘‘(6) maintain confidential any matter related to 

11 complaints and inquiries, including the identities of 

12 the complainants and witnesses; and 

13 ‘‘(7) submit an annual report to the appropriate 

14 congressional committees in accordance with sub15 section (c). 

16 ‘‘(c) ANNUAL REPORT.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Ombudsman shall re18 port no later than September 30 each year to the 

19 appropriate congressional committees on the actions 

20 taken by the Office of the Ombudsman over the pre21 ceding year and the objectives of those actions. 

22 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each such report shall, for 

23 the period covered by the report, include— 

24 ‘‘(A) statistical information, by region, on 

25 the volume of complaints received, general naVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:36 Mar 18, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1165.IH H1165

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1 ture of complaints, general information on com2 plainants, and the percentage of complaints 

3 that resulted in a fact-finding inquiry; 

4 ‘‘(B) a summary of problems encountered 

5 by complainants, including information on the 

6 most pervasive or serious types of problems en7 countered by complainants; 

8 ‘‘(C) policy recommendations that the Of9 fice of the Ombudsman made to the Adminis10 trator of the Transportation Security Adminis11 tration; 

12 ‘‘(D) an inventory of the items described in 

13 subparagraphs (B) and (C) for which action 

14 has been taken, and the result of such action; 

15 ‘‘(E) an inventory of the items described in 

16 subparagraphs (B) and (C) for which action re17 mains to be completed; and 

18 ‘‘(F) such other information as the Om19 budsman considers relevant. 

20 ‘‘(3) REPORT TO BE SUBMITTED DIRECTLY.— 

21 Each report under this subsection shall be provided 

22 directly to the committees described in paragraph 

23 (1) without any prior comment or amendment by the 

24 Administrator of the Transportation Security Ad25 ministration. However, the Ombudsman shall seek 


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1 comment from the Administrator to be submitted by 

2 the Ombudsman together with the annual report. 

3 ‘‘(4) OTHER REPORTS.—Nothing in this sub4 section shall be construed to preclude the Ombuds5 man from issuing other reports on the activities of 

6 the Office of the Ombudsman. 

7 ‘‘(d) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE

8 DEFINED.—In this section the term ‘appropriate congres9 sional committee’ means the Committee on Homeland Se10 curity of the House of Representatives and any committee 

11 of the House of Representatives or the Senate having leg12 islative jurisdiction under the rules of the House of Rep13 resentatives or Senate, respectively, over the matter con14 cerned.’’. 

15 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis at the be16 ginning of such chapter is amended by adding at the end 

17 the items relating to subchapter II the following new item: 

‘‘44946. Ombudsman.’’. 

18 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

19 are authorized to be appropriated for fiscal years 2012, 

20 2013, and 2014 such sums as are necessary for imple21 menting section 44946 of title 49, United States Code, 

22 as amended by this section. 

Æ 


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