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[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 888 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 888

 To direct the Department of Homeland Security to provide guidance and 
training to State and local governments relating to sensitive homeland 
             security information, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 21, 2005

  Mr. Salazar introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
 To direct the Department of Homeland Security to provide guidance and 
training to State and local governments relating to sensitive homeland 
             security information, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Homeland Security Information 
Guidance and Training Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) there are few uniform standards for State and local 
        government agencies to handle sensitive homeland security 
        information;
            (2) there are detailed procedures for handling classified 
        documents created by the Federal Government, but there is 
        little guidance for how to make decisions relating to the 
        management of information from non-Federal sources, including 
        locally generated homeland security plans, State-level grants, 
        and intelligence gathered by local law enforcement agencies;
            (3) State and local government officials have--
                    (A) a wide variety of approaches for handling such 
                information;
                    (B) wasted precious resources battling over what 
                information to make public and what information to keep 
                secret; and
                    (C) established a wide array of procedures for 
                sharing sensitive information among emergency 
                management personnel; and
            (4) the current system is inefficient and has not ensured 
        the adequate balance between protecting sensitive information 
        and ensuring that public officials and the public have the 
        information needed to keep the Nation safe.

SEC. 3. GUIDANCE FOR BEST PRACTICES RELATING TO SENSITIVE INFORMATION.

    (a) In General.--Consistent with section 201(d) of the Homeland 
Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 121(d)), the Under Secretary of Homeland 
Security for Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection shall 
establish best practices for State and local governments to assist 
State and local governments in making determinations on--
            (1) the types of sensitive non-Federal homeland security 
        information (including locally generated homeland security 
        plans, State-level grants, and intelligence gathered by local 
        law enforcement information agencies) that--
                    (A) should be made available to the public; or
                    (B) should be treated as information which should 
                not be made available to the public; and
            (2) how to use and share sensitive homeland security 
        information among State and local emergency management 
        personnel.
    (b) Effect on State and Local Governments.--Nothing under 
subsection (a) shall be construed to--
            (1) require any State or local government to comply with 
        any best practice established under that subsection; or
            (2) preempt any State or local law.

SEC. 4. TRAINING.

    The Director of the Office for Domestic Preparedness shall--
            (1) establish a training curriculum based on the best 
        practices established under section 3; and
            (2) provide training to State and local governments using 
        that curriculum.

SEC. 5. GUIDANCE ON GRANT INFORMATION.

    Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Secretary of Homeland Security shall publish in the Federal 
Register detailed instructions for State and local governments on the 
management of information relating to homeland security grants 
administered by the Department of Homeland Security.
                                 <all>
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