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[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4830 Introduced in House (IH)]

108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4830

 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to direct the Secretary of 
Homeland Security to develop and implement a program to enhance private 
           sector preparedness for emergencies and disasters.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 14, 2004

  Mr. Turner of Texas (for himself, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mr. 
  Dicks, Ms. Norton, Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, Mr. Etheridge, and Mr. 
  Langevin) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
             Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to direct the Secretary of 
Homeland Security to develop and implement a program to enhance private 
           sector preparedness for emergencies and disasters.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Private Sector Preparedness Act of 
2004''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Private sector organizations own 85 percent of the 
        Nation's infrastructure facilities and employ the vast majority 
        of the Nation's employees. The resources of these 
        organizations, including property and personnel, can be 
        coordinated in an emergency situation more efficiently than the 
        population in general.
            (2) Private sector organizations are often unprepared for 
        emergencies, whether resulting from a natural disaster or a 
        terrorist incident. Although there have been exemplary efforts 
        by select private sector organizations, emergency preparedness 
        is not generally a priority for these organizations.
            (3) The hearings of and testimony before the National 
        Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States 
        demonstrated that the lack of emergency preparedness and 
        evacuation planning, training, and exercises by private sector 
        organizations may have contributed to additional casualties at 
        the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
            (4) Although there may be an interest in promoting 
        emergency preparedness within private sector organizations, 
        there remains uncertainty and confusion as to the definition of 
        appropriate and adequate preparedness and what actions these 
        organizations should take.
            (5) Identifying standards and best practices is necessary 
        to promote emergency preparedness by private sector 
        organizations, in addition to educational activities to 
        effectively communicate such standards and best practices.

SEC. 3. PRIVATE SECTOR EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS PROGRAM.

    (a) Establishment of Preparedness Program.--Title V of the Homeland 
Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 311 et seq.) is amended by adding at the 
end the following:

``SEC. 510. PRIVATE SECTOR EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS PROGRAM.

    ``(a) Preparedness Program.--Not later than 90 days after the date 
of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall develop and implement 
a program to enhance private sector preparedness for emergencies and 
disasters, including emergencies resulting from acts of terrorism.
    ``(b) Program Elements.--In carrying out the program, the Secretary 
shall develop guidance and identify best practices to assist or foster 
action by the private sector in--
            ``(1) identifying hazards and assessing risks and impacts;
            ``(2) mitigating the impacts of a wide variety of hazards, 
        including weapons of mass destruction;
            ``(3) managing necessary emergency preparedness and 
        response resources;
            ``(4) developing mutual aid agreements;
            ``(5) developing and maintaining emergency preparedness and 
        response plans, as well as associated operational procedures;
            ``(6) developing and maintaining communications and warning 
        systems;
            ``(7) developing and conducting training and exercises to 
        support and evaluate emergency preparedness and response plans 
        and operational procedures;
            ``(8) developing and conducting training programs for 
        security guards to implement emergency preparedness and 
        response plans and operations procedures; and
            ``(9) developing procedures to respond to external requests 
        for information from the media and the public.
    ``(c) Standards.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall support the 
        development of, promulgate, and regularly update as necessary 
        national voluntary consensus standards for private sector 
        emergency preparedness that will enable private sector 
        organizations to achieve optimal levels of emergency 
        preparedness as soon as practicable. Such standards include the 
        National Fire Protection Association 1600 Standard on Disaster/
        Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs.
            ``(2) Consultation.--The Secretary shall carry out 
        paragraph (1) in consultation with the Under Secretary for 
        Emergency Preparedness and Response, the Under Secretary for 
        Science and Technology, the Under Secretary for Information 
        Analysis and Infrastructure Protection, and the Special 
        Assistant to the Secretary for the Private Sector.
    ``(d) Coordination.--The Secretary shall coordinate the program 
with, and utilize to the maximum extent practicable--
            ``(1) the voluntary standards for disaster and emergency 
        management and business continuity programs developed by the 
        American National Standards Institute and the National Fire 
        Protection Association; and
            ``(2) any existing private sector emergency preparedness 
        guidance or best practices developed by private sector industry 
        associations or other organizations.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of contents contained in 
section 1(b) of such Act (116 Stat. 2135) is amended by inserting after 
the item relating to section 509 the following:

``Sec. 510. Private sector emergency preparedness program.''.
                                 <all>
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