IIB 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2127 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 28, 2015 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

and Transportation 

AN ACT 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Securing Expedited 

3 Screening Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) The Aviation and Transportation Security 

7 Act (Public Law 107–71) authorized the Transpor8 tation Security Administration to ‘‘establish require9 ments to implement trusted passenger programs and 

10 use available technologies to expedite the security 

11 screening of passengers who participate in such pro12 grams, thereby allowing security screening personnel 

13 to focus on those passengers who should be subject 

14 to more extensive screening.’’. 

15 (2) In October 2011, the Transportation Secu16 rity Administration began piloting the PreCheck 

17 program in which a limited number of passengers 

18 who were participants in the frequent flyer programs 

19 of domestic air carriers were directed to special 

20 screening lanes for expedited security screening. 

21 (3) In December 2013, the Transportation Se22 curity Administration opened the PreCheck program 

23 to eligible passengers who submit biographic and bi24 ometric information for a security risk assessment. 

25 (4) Today, expedited security screening is pro26 vided to passengers who, in general, are members of 


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1 populations identified by the Administrator of the 

2 Transportation Security Administration as pre3 senting a low risk to aviation security, including 

4 members of populations known and vetted by the 

5 Administrator or through another Department of 

6 Homeland Security trusted traveler program, and to 

7 passengers who are selected by expedited screening 

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

9 Security Administration’s Managed Inclusion process 

10 and other procedures. 

11 (5) According to the Transportation Security 

12 Administration, the Managed Inclusion process 

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

14 indirectly conduct a real-time assessment of pas15 sengers’’ through the use of Passenger Screening 

16 Canine teams, Behavior Detection Officers, Explo17 sives Trace Detection (ETD) machines, and other 

18 activities. 

19 (6) In December 2014, the Comptroller General 

20 of the United States concluded in a report entitled 

21 ‘‘Rapid Growth in Expedited Passenger Screening 

22 Highlights Need to Plan Effective Security Assess23 ments’’ that ‘‘it will be important for TSA to evalu24 ate the security effectiveness of the Managed Inclu25 sion process as a whole, to ensure that it is funcVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:45 Jul 28, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2127.RFS H2127

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1 tioning as intended and that passengers are being 

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

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

4 of the Department of Homeland Security released a 

5 report entitled ‘‘Allegation of Granting Expedited 

6 Screening through TSA PreCheck Improperly’’, in 

7 which the Inspector General determined that the 

8 Transportation Security Administration granted ex9 pedited security screening at a PreCheck security 

10 lane to a passenger who had served time in prison 

11 for felonies committed as a member of a domestic 

12 terrorist group and who was not a participant in the 

13 PreCheck program. 

14 SEC. 3. LIMITATION; PRECHECK OPERATIONS MAINTAINED; 

15 ALTERNATE METHODS. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

17 (d), not later than 180 days after the date of the enact18 ment of this Act, the Administrator of the Transportation 

19 Security Administration shall direct that access to expe20 dited airport security screening at an airport security 

21 checkpoint be limited to only the following: 

22 (1) A passenger who voluntarily submits bio23 graphic and biometric information for a security risk 

24 assessment and whose application for the PreCheck 

25 program has been approved, or a passenger who is 


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1 a participant in another trusted or registered trav2 eler program of the Department of Homeland Secu3 rity. 

4 (2) A passenger traveling pursuant to section 

5 44903 of title 49, United States Code (as estab6 lished under the Risk-Based Security for Members 

7 of the Armed Forces Act (Public Law 112–86)), sec8 tion 44927 of such title (as established under the 

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

10 section 44928 of such title (as established under the 

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

12 (3) A passenger who did not voluntarily submit 

13 biographic and biometric information for a security 

14 risk assessment but is a member of a population 

15 designated by the Administrator of the Transpor16 tation Security Administration as known and low17 risk and who may be issued a unique, known trav18 eler number by the Administrator determining that 

19 such passenger is a member of a category of trav20 elers designated by the Administrator as known and 

21 low-risk. 

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 23:45 Jul 28, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2127.RFS 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) MINORS AND SENIORS.—The Administrator of 

4 the Transportation Security Administration may provide 

5 access to expedited airport security screening at an airport 

6 security checkpoint to a passenger who is— 

7 (1) 75 years old or older; or 

8 (2) 12 years old or under and who is traveling 

9 with a parent or guardian who is a participant in 

10 the PreCheck program. 

11 (d) FREQUENT FLIERS.—If the Administrator of the 

12 Transportation Security Administration determines that 

13 such is appropriate, the date specified in subsection (a) 

14 may be extended by up to 1 year to implement such sub15 section with respect to the population of passengers who 

16 did not voluntarily submit biographic and biometric infor17 mation for security risk assessments but who nevertheless 

18 receive expedited airport security screening because such 

19 passengers are designated as frequent fliers by air car20 riers. If the Administrator uses the authority provided by 

21 this subsection, the Administrator shall notify the Com22 mittee on Homeland Security of the House of Representa23 tives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov24 ernmental Affairs and the Committee on Commerce, 


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1 Science, and Transportation of the Senate of such phased2 in implementation. 

3 (e) 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 (f) 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 3 months after the date of the enact7 ment 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 23:45 Jul 28, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2127.RFS 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. 

Passed the House of Representatives July 27, 2015. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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