IB 

Union Calendar No. 166 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2127 

[Report No. 114–220] 

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 

JULY 22, 2015 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April 30, 2015] 


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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. 


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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: 

8 (1) The Aviation and Transportation Security 

9 Act (Public Law 107–71) authorized the Transpor10 tation Security Administration to ‘‘establish require11 ments to implement trusted passenger programs and 

12 use available technologies to expedite the security 

13 screening of passengers who participate in such pro14 grams, thereby allowing security screening personnel 

15 to focus on those passengers who should be subject to 

16 more extensive screening.’’. 

17 (2) In October 2011, the Transportation Security 

18 Administration began piloting the PreCheck program 

19 in which a limited number of passengers who were 

20 participants in the frequent flyer programs of domes21 tic air carriers were directed to special screening 

22 lanes for expedited security screening. 

23 (3) In December 2013, the Transportation Secu24 rity Administration opened the PreCheck program to 


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1 eligible passengers who submit biographic and biomet2 ric information for a security risk assessment. 

3 (4) Today, expedited security screening is pro4 vided to passengers who, in general, are members of 

5 populations identified by the Administrator of the 

6 Transportation Security Administration as pre7 senting a low risk to aviation security, including 

8 members of populations known and vetted by the Ad9 ministrator or through another Department of Home10 land Security trusted traveler program, and to pas11 sengers who are selected by expedited screening on a 

12 case-by-case basis through the Transportation Secu13 rity Administration’s Managed Inclusion process and 

14 other procedures. 

15 (5) According to the Transportation Security 

16 Administration, the Managed Inclusion process ‘‘com17 bines the use of multiple layers of security to indi18 rectly conduct a real-time assessment of passengers’’ 

19 through the use of Passenger Screening Canine teams, 

20 Behavior Detection Officers, Explosives Trace Detec21 tion (ETD) machines, and other activities. 

22 (6) In December 2014, the Comptroller General 

23 of the United States concluded in a report entitled 

24 ‘‘Rapid Growth in Expedited Passenger Screening 

25 Highlights Need to Plan Effective Security AssessVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:54 Jul 22, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2127.RH H2127

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1 ments’’ that ‘‘it will be important for TSA to evaluate 

2 the security effectiveness of the Managed Inclusion 

3 process as a whole, to ensure that it is functioning as 

4 intended and that passengers are being screened at a 

5 level commensurate with their risk’’. 

6 (7) On March 16, 2015, the Inspector General of 

7 the Department of Homeland Security released a re8 port entitled ‘‘Allegation of Granting Expedited 

9 Screening through TSA PreCheck Improperly’’, in 

10 which the Inspector General determined that the 

11 Transportation Security Administration granted ex12 pedited security screening at a PreCheck security lane 

13 to a passenger who had served time in prison for felo14 nies committed as a member of a domestic terrorist 

15 group and who was not a participant in the 

16 PreCheck program. 

17 SEC. 3. LIMITATION; PRECHECK OPERATIONS MAINTAINED; 

18 ALTERNATE METHODS. 

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

20 (d), not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment 

21 of this Act, the Administrator of the Transportation Secu22 rity Administration shall direct that access to expedited 

23 airport security screening at an airport security checkpoint 

24 be limited to only the following: 


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1 (1) A passenger who voluntarily submits bio2 graphic and biometric information for a security risk 

3 assessment and whose application for the PreCheck 

4 program has been approved, or a passenger who is a 

5 participant in another trusted or registered traveler 

6 program of the Department of Homeland Security. 

7 (2) A passenger traveling pursuant to section 

8 44903 of title 49, United States Code (as established 

9 under the Risk-Based Security for Members of the 

10 Armed Forces Act (Public Law 112–86)), section 

11 44927 of such title (as established under the Helping 

12 Heroes Fly Act (Public Law 113–27)), or section 

13 44928 of such title (as established under the Honor 

14 Flight Act (Public Law 113–221)). 

15 (3) A passenger who did not voluntarily submit 

16 biographic and biometric information for a security 

17 risk assessment but is a member of a population des18 ignated by the Administrator of the Transportation 

19 Security Administration as known and low-risk and 

20 who may be issued a unique, known traveler number 

21 by the Administrator determining that such passenger 

22 is a member of a category of travelers designated by 

23 the Administrator as known and low-risk. 

24 (b) PRECHECK OPERATIONS MAINTAINED.—In car25 rying out subsection (a), the Administrator of the TransporVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:54 Jul 22, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2127.RH H2127

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1 tation Security Administration shall ensure that expedited 

2 airport security screening remains available to passengers 

3 at or above the level that exists on the day before the date 

4 of the enactment of this Act. 

5 (c) MINORS AND SENIORS.—The Administrator of the 

6 Transportation Security Administration may provide ac7 cess to expedited airport security screening at an airport 

8 security checkpoint to a passenger who is— 

9 (1) 75 years old or older; or 

10 (2) 12 years old or under and who is traveling 

11 with a parent or guardian who is a participant in 

12 the PreCheck program. 

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

14 Transportation Security Administration determines that 

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

16 be extended by up to one year to implement such subsection 

17 with respect to the population of passengers who did not 

18 voluntarily submit biographic and biometric information 

19 for security risk assessments but who nevertheless receive ex20 pedited airport security screening because such passengers 

21 are designated as frequent fliers by air carriers. If the Ad22 ministrator uses the authority provided by this subsection, 

23 the Administrator shall notify the Committee on Homeland 

24 Security of the House of Representatives and the Committee 

25 on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the 


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1 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 

2 the Senate of such phased-in implementation. 

3 (e) ALTERNATE METHODS.—The Administrator of the 

4 Transportation Security Administration may provide ac5 cess 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 Commerce, 

9 Science, and Transportation of the Senate of an inde10 pendent assessment of the security effectiveness of such alter11 nate method that is conducted by an independent entity 

12 that determines that such alternate method is designed to— 

13 (1) reliably and effectively identify passengers 

14 who likely pose a low risk to the United States avia15 tion system; 

16 (2) mitigate the likelihood that a passenger who 

17 may pose a security threat to the United States avia18 tion system is selected for expedited security screen19 ing; and 

20 (3) address known and evolving security risks to 

21 the United States aviation system. 

22 (f) INFORMATION SHARING.—The Administrator of the 

23 Transportation Security Administration shall provide to 

24 the entity conducting the independent assessment under 

25 subsection (c) effectiveness testing results that are consistent 


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1 with established evaluation design practices, as identified 

2 by the Comptroller General of the United States. 

3 SEC. 4. REPORTING. 

4 Not later than three months after the date of the enact5 ment of this Act and annually thereafter, the Administrator 

6 of the Transportation Security Administration shall report 

7 to the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of 

8 Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

9 and Transportation of the Senate on the percentage of all 

10 passengers who are provided expedited security screening, 

11 and of such passengers so provided, the percentage who are 

12 participants in the PreCheck program (who have volun13 tarily submitted biographic and biometric information for 

14 security risk assessments), the percentage who are partici15 pants in another trusted traveler program of the Depart16 ment of Homeland Security, the percentage who are partici17 pants in the PreCheck program due to the Administrator’s 

18 issuance of known traveler numbers, and for the remaining 

19 percentage of passengers granted access to expedited security 

20 screening in PreCheck security lanes, information on the 

21 percentages attributable to each alternative method utilized 

22 by the Transportation Security Administration to direct 

23 passengers to expedited airport security screening at 

24 PreCheck security lanes. 


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1 SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

2 Nothing in this Act may be construed to— 

3 (1) authorize or direct the Administrator of the 

4 Transportation Administration to reduce or limit the 

5 availability of expedited security screening at an air6 port; or 

7 (2) limit the authority of the Administrator to 

8 use technologies and systems, including passenger 

9 screening canines and explosives trace detection, as a 

10 part of security screening operations. 


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asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 166 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2127 

[Report No. 114–220] 

A BILL 

To direct the Administrator of the Transportation 

and for other purposes. program and other known low-risk passengers, curity checkpoint to participants of the PreCheck dited airport security screening at an airport seSecurity Administration to limit access to expeJULY 22, 2015 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS