II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 174 

To provide for the establishment of a pilot program to identify security 

vulnerabilities of certain entities in the energy sector. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 17, 2019 

Mr. KING (for himself, Mr. RISCH, Mr. HEINRICH, Ms. COLLINS, and Mr. 

CRAPO) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To provide for the establishment of a pilot program to identify security vulnerabilities of certain entities in the energy sector. 

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 Energy Infra5 structure Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS.— 

2 The term ‘‘appropriate committee of Congress’’ 

3 means— 

4 (A) the Select Committee on Intelligence, 

5 the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov6 ernmental Affairs, and the Committee on En7 ergy and Natural Resources of the Senate; and 

8 (B) the Permanent Select Committee on 

9 Intelligence, the Committee on Homeland Secu10 rity, and the Committee on Energy and Com11 merce of the House of Representatives. 

12 (2) COVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘covered en13 tity’’ means an entity identified pursuant to section 

14 9(a) of Executive Order 13636 of February 12, 

15 2013 (78 Fed. Reg. 11742), relating to identifica16 tion of critical infrastructure where a cybersecurity 

17 incident could reasonably result in catastrophic re18 gional or national effects on public health or safety, 

19 economic security, or national security. 

20 (3) EXPLOIT.—The term ‘‘exploit’’ means a 

21 software tool designed to take advantage of a secu22 rity vulnerability. 

23 (4) INDUSTRIAL CONTROL SYSTEM.— 

24 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘industrial 

25 control system’’ means an operational techVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:54 Jan 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S174.IS S174

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1 nology used to measure, control, or manage in2 dustrial functions. 

3 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘industrial 

4 control system’’ includes supervisory control 

5 and data acquisition systems, distributed con6 trol systems, and programmable logic or embed7 ded controllers. 

8 (5) NATIONAL LABORATORY.—The term ‘‘Na9 tional Laboratory’’ has the meaning given the term 

10 in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 

11 U.S.C. 15801). 

12 (6) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘Program’’ means 

13 the pilot program established under section 3. 

14 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

15 the Secretary of Energy. 

16 (8) SECURITY VULNERABILITY.—The term ‘‘se17 curity vulnerability’’ means any attribute of hard18 ware, software, process, or procedure that could en19 able or facilitate the defeat of a security control. 

20 SEC. 3. PILOT PROGRAM FOR SECURING ENERGY INFRA21 STRUCTURE. 

22 Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 

23 of this Act, the Secretary shall establish a 2-year control 

24 systems implementation pilot program within the National 

25 Laboratories for the purposes of— 


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1 (1) partnering with covered entities in the en2 ergy sector (including critical component manufac3 turers in the supply chain) that voluntarily partici4 pate in the Program to identify new classes of secu5 rity vulnerabilities of the covered entities; and 

6 (2) evaluating technology and standards, in 

7 partnership with covered entities, to isolate and de8 fend industrial control systems of covered entities 

9 from security vulnerabilities and exploits in the most 

10 critical systems of the covered entities, including— 

11 (A) analog and nondigital control systems; 

12 (B) purpose-built control systems; and 

13 (C) physical controls. 

14 SEC. 4. WORKING GROUP TO EVALUATE PROGRAM STAND15 ARDS AND DEVELOP STRATEGY. 

16 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish 

17 a working group— 

18 (1) to evaluate the technology and standards 

19 used in the Program under section 3(2); and 

20 (2) to develop a national cyber-informed engi21 neering strategy to isolate and defend covered enti22 ties from security vulnerabilities and exploits in the 

23 most critical systems of the covered entities. 

24 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The working group established 

25 under subsection (a) shall be composed of not fewer than 


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1 10 members, to be appointed by the Secretary, at least 

2 1 member of which shall represent each of the following: 

3 (1) The Department of Energy. 

4 (2) The energy industry, including electric utili5 ties and manufacturers recommended by the Energy 

6 Sector coordinating councils. 

7 (3)(A) The Department of Homeland Security; 

8 or 

9 (B) the Industrial Control Systems Cyber 

10 Emergency Response Team. 

11 (4) The North American Electric Reliability 

12 Corporation. 

13 (5) The Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

14 (6)(A) The Office of the Director of National 

15 Intelligence; or 

16 (B) the intelligence community (as defined in 

17 section 3 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 

18 U.S.C. 3003)). 

19 (7)(A) The Department of Defense; or 

20 (B) the Assistant Secretary of Defense for 

21 Homeland Security and America’s Security Affairs. 

22 (8) A State or regional energy agency. 

23 (9) A national research body or academic insti24 tution. 

25 (10) The National Laboratories. 


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1 SEC. 5. REPORTS ON THE PROGRAM. 

2 (a) INTERIM REPORT.—Not later than 180 days 

3 after the date on which funds are first disbursed under 

4 the Program, the Secretary shall submit to the appro5 priate committees of Congress an interim report that— 

6 (1) describes the results of the Program; 

7 (2) includes an analysis of the feasibility of 

8 each method studied under the Program; and 

9 (3) describes the results of the evaluations con10 ducted by the working group established under sec11 tion 4(a). 

12 (b) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the 

13 date on which funds are first disbursed under the Pro14 gram, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate com15 mittees of Congress a final report that— 

16 (1) describes the results of the Program; 

17 (2) includes an analysis of the feasibility of 

18 each method studied under the Program; and 

19 (3) describes the results of the evaluations con20 ducted by the working group established under sec21 tion 4(a). 

22 SEC. 6. EXEMPTION FROM DISCLOSURE. 

23 Information shared by or with the Federal Govern24 ment or a State, Tribal, or local government under this 

25 Act shall be— 


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1 (1) deemed to be voluntarily shared informa2 tion; 

3 (2) exempt from disclosure under section 552 of 

4 title 5, United States Code, or any provision of any 

5 State, Tribal, or local freedom of information law, 

6 open government law, open meetings law, open 

7 records law, sunshine law, or similar law requiring 

8 the disclosure of information or records; and 

9 (3) withheld from the public, without discretion, 

10 under section 552(b)(3) of title 5, United States 

11 Code, or any provision of a State, Tribal, or local 

12 law requiring the disclosure of information or 

13 records. 

14 SEC. 7. PROTECTION FROM LIABILITY. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—A cause of action against a cov16 ered entity for engaging in the voluntary activities author17 ized under section 3— 

18 (1) shall not lie or be maintained in any court; 

19 and 

20 (2) shall be promptly dismissed by the applica21 ble court. 

22 (b) VOLUNTARY ACTIVITIES.—Nothing in this Act 

23 subjects any covered entity to liability for not engaging 

24 in the voluntary activities authorized under section 3. 


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1 SEC. 8. NO NEW REGULATORY AUTHORITY FOR FEDERAL 

2 AGENCIES. 

3 Nothing in this Act authorizes the Secretary or the 

4 head of any other department or agency of the Federal 

5 Government to issue new regulations. 

6 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

7 (a) PILOT PROGRAM.—There is authorized to be ap8 propriated $10,000,000 to carry out section 3. 

9 (b) WORKING GROUP AND REPORT.—There is au10 thorized to be appropriated $1,500,000 to carry out sec11 tions 4 and 5. 

12 (c) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts made available under 

13 subsections (a) and (b) shall remain available until ex14 pended. 

Æ 


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