II 

Calendar No. 559 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 359 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 30 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 29), 2020 

Received; read twice and placed on the calendar 

AN ACT 

To provide for certain programs and developments in the 

Department of Energy concerning the cybersecurity and 

vulnerabilities of, and physical threats to, the electric 

grid, 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 ‘‘Enhancing Grid Secu5 rity through Public-Private Partnerships Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROGRAM TO PROMOTE AND ADVANCE PHYSICAL 

7 SECURITY AND CYBERSECURITY OF ELEC8 TRIC UTILITIES. 

9 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Energy, in 

10 coordination with relevant Federal agencies and in conVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:43 Oct 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H359.PCS H359

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1 sultation with State regulatory authorities, industry stake2 holders, and the Electric Reliability Organization, as the 

3 Secretary determines appropriate, shall carry out a pro4 gram to— 

5 (1) develop, and provide for voluntary imple6 mentation of, maturity models, self-assessments, and 

7 auditing methods for assessing the physical security 

8 and cybersecurity of electric utilities; 

9 (2) provide training to electric utilities to ad10 dress and mitigate cybersecurity supply chain man11 agement risks; 

12 (3) increase opportunities for sharing best prac13 tices and data collection within the electric sector; 

14 (4) assist with cybersecurity training for electric 

15 utilities; 

16 (5) advance the cybersecurity of third-party 

17 vendors that work in partnerships with electric utili18 ties; and 

19 (6) provide technical assistance for electric utili20 ties subject to the program. 

21 (b) SCOPE.—In carrying out the program under sub22 section (a), the Secretary of Energy shall— 

23 (1) take into consideration different sizes of 

24 electric utilities and the regions that such electric 

25 utilities serve; 


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1 (2) prioritize electric utilities with fewer avail2 able resources due to size or region; and 

3 (3) to the extent practicable, utilize and lever4 age existing Department of Energy programs. 

5 (c) PROTECTION OF INFORMATION.—Information 

6 provided to, or collected by, the Federal Government pur7 suant to this section— 

8 (1) shall be exempt from disclosure under sec9 tion 552(b)(3) of title 5, United States Code; and 

10 (2) shall not be made available by any Federal, 

11 State, political subdivision or tribal authority pursu12 ant to any Federal, State, political subdivision, or 

13 tribal law requiring public disclosure of information 

14 or records. 

15 SEC. 3. REPORT ON CYBERSECURITY AND DISTRIBUTION 

16 SYSTEMS. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Energy, in co18 ordination with relevant Federal agencies and in consulta19 tion with State regulatory authorities, industry stake20 holders, and the Electric Reliability Organization, as the 

21 Secretary determines appropriate, shall submit to Con22 gress a report that assesses— 

23 (1) priorities, policies, procedures, and actions 

24 for enhancing the physical security and cybersecurity 

25 of electricity distribution systems to address threats 


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1 to, and vulnerabilities of, such electricity distribution 

2 systems; and 

3 (2) implementation of such priorities, policies, 

4 procedures, and actions, including an estimate of po5 tential costs and benefits of such implementation, in6 cluding any public-private cost-sharing opportunities. 

7 (b) PROTECTION OF INFORMATION.—Information 

8 provided to, or collected by, the Federal Government pur9 suant to this section— 

10 (1) shall be exempt from disclosure under sec11 tion 552(b)(3) of title 5, United States Code; and 

12 (2) shall not be made available by any Federal, 

13 State, political subdivision or tribal authority pursu14 ant to any Federal, State, political subdivision, or 

15 tribal law requiring public disclosure of information 

16 or records. 

17 SEC. 4. ELECTRICITY INTERRUPTION INFORMATION. 

18 (a) INTERRUPTION COST ESTIMATE CALCULATOR.— 

19 The Secretary of Energy, in coordination with relevant 

20 Federal agencies and in consultation with State regulatory 

21 authorities, industry stakeholders, and the Electric Reli22 ability Organization, as the Secretary determines appro23 priate, shall update the Interruption Cost Estimate Calcu24 lator, as often as appropriate and feasible, but not less 

25 than once every 2 years. 


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1 (b) INDICES.—The Secretary of Energy, in coordina2 tion with relevant Federal agencies and in consultation 

3 with State regulatory authorities, industry stakeholders, 

4 and the Electric Reliability Organization, as the Secretary 

5 determines appropriate, shall, as often as appropriate and 

6 feasible, update the following: 

7 (1) The System Average Interruption Duration 

8 Index. 

9 (2) The System Average Interruption Fre10 quency Index. 

11 (3) The Customer Average Interruption Dura12 tion Index. 

13 (c) SURVEY.—The Administrator of the Energy In14 formation Administration shall collect information on elec15 tricity interruption costs, if available, from a representa16 tive sample of owners of electric grid assets through a bi17 ennial survey. 

18 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

19 In the Act, the following definitions apply: 

20 (1) ELECTRIC RELIABILITY ORGANIZATION.— 

21 The term ‘‘Electric Reliability Organization’’ has the 

22 meaning given such term in section 215(a)(2) of the 

23 Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824o(a)(2)). 


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1 (2) ELECTRIC UTILITY.—The term ‘‘electric 

2 utility’’ has the meaning given such term in section 

3 3 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796). 

4 (3) STATE REGULATORY AUTHORITY.—The 

5 term ‘‘State regulatory authority’’ has the meaning 

6 given such term in section 3 of the Federal Power 

7 Act (16 U.S.C. 796). 

Passed the House of Representatives September 29, 

2020. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
Calendar No. 559 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 359 

AN ACT 

To provide for certain programs and developments 

poses. threats to, the electric grid, and for other purbersecurity and vulnerabilities of, and physical in the Department of Energy concerning the cySEPTEMBER 30 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 29), 2020 

Received; read twice and placed on the calendar 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS