IIB 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1344 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 22, 2013 

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

and Transportation 

AN ACT 

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. 


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HR 1344 RFS 

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 ‘‘Helping Heroes Fly 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. OPERATIONS CENTER PROGRAM FOR SEVERELY IN7 JURED OR DISABLED MEMBERS OF THE 

8 ARMED FORCES AND SEVERELY INJURED OR 

9 DISABLED VETERANS. 

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

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

12 end the following new section: 

13 ‘‘§ 44927. Expedited screening for severely injured or 

14 disabled members of the Armed Forces 

15 and severely injured or disabled veterans 

16 ‘‘(a) PASSENGER SCREENING.—The Assistant Sec17 retary, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, the 

18 Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and organizations that ad19 vocate on behalf of members of the Armed Forces and vet20 erans, including organizations that advocate on behalf of 

21 severely injured or disabled members of the Armed Forces 

22 and severely injured or disabled veterans, shall develop 

23 and implement a process to facilitate the ease of travel 

24 and to the extent possible provide expedited passenger 

25 screening services for severely injured or disabled memVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:48 May 22, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1344.RFS H1344

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HR 1344 RFS 

1 bers of the Armed Forces, severely injured or disabled vet2 erans, and their accompanying family members or non3 medical attendants. Such process shall be designed to pro4 tect the privacy of the individual being screened to the 

5 maximum extent practicable. 

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

7 required under subsection (a), the Assistant Secretary 

8 shall maintain an operations center to provide support and 

9 facilitate the movement of severely injured or disabled 

10 members of the Armed Forces and severely injured or dis11 abled veterans through screening prior to boarding a pas12 senger aircraft operated by an air carrier or foreign air 

13 carrier in air transportation or intrastate air transpor14 tation. Such operations center shall be operational at all 

15 times. 

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

17 ‘‘(1) establish and publish protocols, in con18 sultation with the Secretary of Defense, the Sec19 retary of Veterans Affairs, and organizations that 

20 advocate on behalf of members of the Armed Forces 

21 and veterans, including organizations that advocate 

22 on behalf of severely injured or disabled members of 

23 the Armed Forces and severely injured or disabled 

24 veterans, under which a severely injured or disabled 

25 member of the Armed Forces or severely injured or 


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HR 1344 RFS 

1 disabled veteran, or the family member or other rep2 resentative of such a member or veteran, may con3 tact the operations center maintained under sub4 section (b) and request expedited screening services 

5 described in subsection (a) for the member or vet6 eran; and 

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

8 such operations center to notify the appropriate 

9 Federal security director of the request to facilitate 

10 the expedited passenger screening services described 

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

12 ‘‘(d) TRAINING.—The Assistant Secretary shall inte13 grate training on the protocols established under sub14 section (c) into the training provided to all employees who 

15 will provide the screening services described in subsection 

16 (a). 

17 ‘‘(e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec18 tion affects the authority of the Assistant Secretary to re19 quire additional screening of a severely injured or disabled 

20 member of the Armed Forces, a severely injured or dis21 abled veteran, or their accompanying family members or 

22 nonmedical attendants, if intelligence, law enforcement, or 

23 other information indicates that additional screening is 

24 necessary. 


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1 ‘‘(f) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the date 

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

3 the Assistant Secretary shall submit to Congress a report 

4 on the implementation of this section. Each such report 

5 shall include each of the following: 

6 ‘‘(1) Information on the training provided 

7 under subsection (d). 

8 ‘‘(2) Information on the consultations between 

9 the Assistant Secretary and organizations that advo10 cate on behalf of members of the Armed Forces and 

11 veterans as described in subsection (a). 

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

13 operations center during the period covered by the 

14 report. 

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

16 Secretary determines is appropriate.’’. 

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

18 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 

19 after the item relating to section 44926 the following new 

20 item: 


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

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

Passed the House of Representatives May 21, 2013. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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