I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1344 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to direct the Assistant Secretary 

of Homeland Security (Transportation Security Administration) to provide expedited air passenger screening to severely injured or disabled 

members of the Armed Forces and severely injured or disabled veterans, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 21, 2013 

Ms. GABBARD (for herself, Mr. JOYCE, and Mr. RICHMOND) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 

A BILL 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to direct the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security (Transportation Security Administration) to provide expedited air passenger 

screening to severely injured or disabled members of 

the Armed Forces and severely injured or disabled veterans, 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 cited as the ‘‘Helping Heroes Fly Act’’. 


pwalker on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 1344 IH

1 SEC. 2. OPERATIONS CENTER PROGRAM FOR SEVERELY IN2 JURED OR DISABLED MEMBERS OF THE 

3 ARMED FORCES AND SEVERELY INJURED OR 

4 DISABLED VETERANS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter 449 of 

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

7 end the following new section: 

8 ‘‘§ 44927. Expedited screening for severely injured or 

9 disabled members of the Armed Forces 

10 and severely injured or disabled veterans 

11 ‘‘(a) PASSENGER SCREENING.—The Assistant Sec12 retary, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, the 

13 Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and organizations that ad14 vocate on behalf of members of the Armed Forces and vet15 erans, including organizations that advocate on behalf of 

16 severely injured or disabled members of the Armed Forces 

17 and severely injured or disabled veterans, shall develop 

18 and implement a process to provide expedited passenger 

19 screening services for severely injured or disabled mem20 bers of the Armed Forces and severely injured or disabled 

21 veterans. Such process shall be designed to protect the pri22 vacy of the individual being screened to the maximum ex23 tent practicable. 

24 ‘‘(b) OPERATIONS CENTER.—As part of the process 

25 required under subsection (a), the Assistant Secretary 

26 shall maintain an operations center to provide support and 


pwalker on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 1344 IH

1 facilitate the movement of severely injured or disabled 

2 members of the Armed Forces and severely injured or dis3 abled veterans through screening prior to boarding a pas4 senger aircraft operated by an air carrier or foreign air 

5 carrier in air transportation or intrastate air transpor6 tation. Such operations center shall be operational at all 

7 times. 

8 ‘‘(c) PROTOCOLS.—The Assistant Secretary shall— 

9 ‘‘(1) establish and publish protocols, in con10 sultation with the Secretary of Defense, the Sec11 retary of Veterans Affairs, and organizations that 

12 advocate on behalf of members of the Armed Forces 

13 and veterans, including organizations that advocate 

14 on behalf of severely injured or disabled members of 

15 the Armed Forces and severely injured or disabled 

16 veterans, under which a severely injured or disabled 

17 member of the Armed Forces or severely injured or 

18 disabled veteran, or the family member or other rep19 resentative of such a member or veteran, may con20 tact the operations center maintained under sub21 section (b) and request expedited screening services 

22 described in subsection (a) for the member or vet23 eran; and 

24 ‘‘(2) upon receipt of such a request, require 

25 such operations center to notify the appropriate 


pwalker on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 1344 IH

1 Federal security director of the request to facilitate 

2 the expedited passenger screening services described 

3 in subsection (a) for the member or veteran. 

4 ‘‘(d) TRAINING.—The Assistant Secretary shall inte5 grate training on the protocols established under sub6 section (c) into the training provided to new employees 

7 and recurrent training for all employees who provide pas8 senger screening services. 

9 ‘‘(e) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the date 

10 of the enactment of this section, and annually thereafter, 

11 the Assistant Secretary shall submit to Congress a report 

12 on the implementation of this section. Each such report 

13 shall include each of the following: 

14 ‘‘(1) Information on the training provided 

15 under subsection (d). 

16 ‘‘(2) Information on the consultations between 

17 the Assistant Secretary and organizations that advo18 cate on behalf of members of the Armed Forces and 

19 veterans as described in subsection (a). 

20 ‘‘(3) The number of people who accessed the 

21 operations center during the period covered by the 

22 report. 

23 ‘‘(4) Such other information as the Assistant 

24 Secretary determines is appropriate.’’. 


pwalker on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 1344 IH

1 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

2 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 

3 after the item relating to section 44926 following new 

4 item: 

‘‘44927. Expedited screening for severely injured or disabled members of the 

Armed Forces and severely injured or disabled veterans.’’. 

Æ 


pwalker on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with BILLS