I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2127 

To direct the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration 

to limit access to expedited airport security screening at an airport 

security checkpoint to participants of the PreCheck program and other 

known low-risk passengers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 30, 2015 

Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi (for himself, Mr. KATKO, and Miss RICE of 

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

A BILL 

To direct the Administrator of the Transportation Security 

Administration to limit access to expedited airport security screening at an airport security checkpoint to participants of the PreCheck program and other known lowrisk passengers, 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 ‘‘Securing Expedited 

5 Screening Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The Aviation and Transportation Security 

2 Act (Public Law 107–71) authorized the Transpor3 tation Security Administration to ‘‘establish require4 ments to implement trusted passenger programs and 

5 use available technologies to expedite the security 

6 screening of passengers who participate in such pro7 grams, thereby allowing security screening personnel 

8 to focus on those passengers who should be subject 

9 to more extensive screening.’’. 

10 (2) In October 2011, the Transportation Secu11 rity Administration began piloting the PreCheck 

12 program in which a limited number of passengers 

13 who were participants in the frequent flyer programs 

14 of domestic air carriers were directed to special 

15 screening lanes for expedited security screening. 

16 (3) In December 2013, the Transportation Se17 curity Administration opened the PreCheck program 

18 to eligible passengers who submit biographic and bi19 ometric information for a security risk assessment. 

20 (4) Today, expedited security screening is pro21 vided to passengers who, in general, are members of 

22 populations identified by the Administrator of the 

23 Transportation Security Administration as pre24 senting a low risk to aviation security, including 

25 members of populations known and vetted by the 


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1 Administrator or through another Department of 

2 Homeland Security trusted traveler program, and to 

3 passengers who are selected by expedited screening 

4 on a case-by-case basis through the Transportation 

5 Security Administration’s Managed Inclusion process 

6 and other procedures. 

7 (5) According to the Transportation Security 

8 Administration, the Managed Inclusion process 

9 ‘‘combines the use of multiple layers of security to 

10 indirectly conduct a real-time assessment of pas11 sengers’’ through the use of Passenger Screening 

12 Canine teams, Behavior Detection Officers, Explo13 sives Trace Detection (ETD) machines, and other 

14 activities. 

15 (6) In December 2014, the Comptroller General 

16 of the United States concluded in a report entitled 

17 ‘‘Rapid Growth in Expedited Passenger Screening 

18 Highlights Need to Plan Effective Security Assess19 ments’’ that ‘‘it will be important for TSA to evalu20 ate the security effectiveness of the Managed Inclu21 sion process as a whole, to ensure that it is func22 tioning as intended and that passengers are being 

23 screened at a level commensurate with their risk’’. 

24 (7) On March 16, 2015, the Inspector General 

25 of the Department of Homeland Security released a 


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1 report entitled ‘‘Allegation of Granting Expedited 

2 Screening through TSA PreCheck Improperly’’, in 

3 which the Inspector General determined that the 

4 Transportation Security Administration granted ex5 pedited security screening at a PreCheck security 

6 lane to a passenger who had served time in prison 

7 for felonies committed as a member of a domestic 

8 terrorist group and who was not a participant in the 

9 PreCheck program. 

10 SEC. 3. LIMITATION; PRECHECK OPERATIONS MAINTAINED; 

11 ALTERNATE METHODS. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

13 date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of 

14 the Transportation Security Administration shall direct 

15 that access to expedited airport security screening at an 

16 airport security checkpoint be limited to only the fol17 lowing: 

18 (1) A passenger who voluntarily submits bio19 graphic and biometric information for a security risk 

20 assessment and whose application for the PreCheck 

21 program has been approved, or a passenger who is 

22 a participant in another trusted traveler program of 

23 the Department of Homeland Security. 

24 (2) A passenger traveling pursuant to section 

25 44903 of title 49, United States Code (as estabVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 May 08, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2127.IH H2127

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1 lished under the Risk-Based Security for Members 

2 of the Armed Forces Act (Public Law 112–86)), sec3 tion 44927 of such title (as established under the 

4 Helping Heroes Fly Act (Public Law 113–27)), or 

5 section 44928 of such title (as established under the 

6 Honor Flight Act (Public Law 113–221)). 

7 (3) A passenger who did not voluntarily submit 

8 biographic and biometric information for a security 

9 risk assessment but is a member of a population 

10 designated by the Administrator of the Transpor11 tation Security Administration as known and low12 risk and who may be issued a unique, known trav13 eler number by the Administrator determining that 

14 such passenger is a member of a category of trav15 elers designated by the Administrator as known and 

16 low-risk. 

17 (4) A passenger who is— 

18 (A) 75 years old or older; or 

19 (B) 12 years old or under and is traveling 

20 with a parent or guardian who is a participant 

21 in the PreCheck program. 

22 (b) PRECHECK OPERATIONS MAINTAINED.—In car23 rying out subsection (a), the Administrator of the Trans24 portation Security Administration shall ensure that expe25 dited airport security screening remains available to pasVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 May 08, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2127.IH H2127

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1 sengers at or above the level that exists on the day before 

2 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

3 (c) ALTERNATE METHODS.—The Administrator of 

4 the Transportation Security Administration may provide 

5 access to expedited airport security screening to additional 

6 passengers pursuant to an alternate method upon the sub7 mission to the Committee on Homeland Security of the 

8 House of Representatives and the Committee on Com9 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate of an 

10 independent assessment of the security effectiveness of 

11 such alternate method that is conducted by an inde12 pendent entity that determines that such alternate method 

13 is designed to— 

14 (1) reliably and effectively identify passengers 

15 who likely pose a low risk to the United States avia16 tion system; 

17 (2) mitigate the likelihood that a passenger who 

18 may pose a security threat to the United States 

19 aviation system is selected for expedited security 

20 screening; and 

21 (3) address known and evolving security risks 

22 to the United States aviation system. 

23 (d) INFORMATION SHARING.—The Administrator of 

24 the Transportation Security Administration shall provide 

25 to the entity conducting the independent assessment under 


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1 subsection (c) effectiveness testing results that are con2 sistent with established evaluation design practices, as 

3 identified by the Comptroller General of the United 

4 States. 

5 SEC. 4. REPORTING. 

6 Not later than three months after the date of the en7 actment of this Act and annually thereafter, the Adminis8 trator of the Transportation Security Administration shall 

9 report to the Committee on Homeland Security of the 

10 House of Representatives and the Committee on Com11 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate on the 

12 percentage of all passengers who are provided expedited 

13 security screening, and of such passengers so provided, the 

14 percentage who are participants in the PreCheck program 

15 (who have voluntarily submitted biographic and biometric 

16 information for security risk assessments), the percentage 

17 who are participants in another trusted traveler program 

18 of the Department of Homeland Security, the percentage 

19 who are participants in the PreCheck program due to the 

20 Administrator’s issuance of known traveler numbers, and 

21 for the remaining percentage of passengers granted access 

22 to expedited security screening in PreCheck security lanes, 

23 information on the percentages attributable to each alter24 native method utilized by the Transportation Security AdVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 May 08, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2127.IH H2127

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1 ministration to direct passengers to expedited airport se2 curity screening at PreCheck security lanes. 

3 SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

4 Nothing in this Act may be construed to— 

5 (1) authorize or direct the Administrator of the 

6 Transportation Administration to reduce or limit the 

7 availability of expedited security screening at an air8 port; or 

9 (2) limit the authority of the Administrator to 

10 use technologies and systems, including passenger 

11 screening canines and explosives trace detection, as 

12 a part of security screening operations. 

Æ 


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