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[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3173 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3173

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 29, 2012

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

 
To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to reform the process for 
 the enrollment, activation, issuance, and renewal of a Transportation 
Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) to require, in total, not more 
      than one in-person visit to a designated enrollment center.

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

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) United States workers employed at nearly 2,600 marine 
        facilities and onboard nearly 13,000 United States-flag vessels 
        are required to carry a Transportation Worker Identification 
        Credential (TWIC) under the Maritime Transportation Security 
        Act of 2002 (MTSA). Department of Homeland Security (DHS) 
        regulations require merchant mariners who hold a Coast Guard-
        issued Merchant Mariner Credential (MMC) and individuals who 
        require unescorted access to secure areas of MTSA-regulated 
        vessels and facilities to carry a TWIC.
            (2) To date, nearly two million transportation workers have 
        applied for and received a TWIC. Applicants must pay $132.50 to 
        obtain the TWIC, and make two or more trips to an enrollment 
        center to apply for, and then to pick up and activate, their 
        TWIC.
            (3) A TWIC is valid for a maximum of five years, at which 
        time the cardholder must request issuance of a new card. This 
        process requires workers to make an additional two or more 
        trips to the enrollment center and again pay $132.50 to receive 
        a new card.
            (4) In addition to the cost of the card, workers face the 
        burden of making two or more time-consuming and often expensive 
        round trips to a TWIC enrollment center. In many instances, the 
        nearest enrollment center is hundreds of miles from a worker's 
        home.
            (5) The TWIC enrollment process requiring two or more round 
        trips to an enrollment center is not mandated by statute or by 
        regulation. The process is driven by a DHS policy decision to 
        align the requirements for TWIC issuance with standards for 
        Personal Identity Verification (PIV) for Federal employees and 
        contractors. These standards are contained in Federal 
        Information Processing Standard Publication 201 (FIPS-201).
            (6) While DHS has made the policy decision to generally 
        align the TWIC enrollment process with the FIPS-201 standard, 
        the Department may elect to deviate from this standard in 
        instances where it believes an alternative approach is more 
        appropriate for the TWIC program.
            (7) Unlike other Government-issued credentials that adhere 
        to the FIPS-201 standard, the TWIC is effectively a work permit 
        for a highly-mobile private sector workforce.
            (8) Possession of a TWIC does not allow a TWIC holder to 
        gain unescorted access to secure areas of MTSA-regulated 
        vessels and facilities unless the TWIC holder is authorized to 
        do so under a Coast Guard-approved vessel or facility security 
        plan.
            (9) DHS has the statutory authority and regulatory 
        flexibility to develop an alternative process for TWIC 
        enrollment and issuance that does not require applicants to 
        make multiple trips to a TWIC enrollment center.
            (10) Other secure Government-issued identity documents, 
        including United States passports, can be distributed to 
        applicants by mail.
            (11) Congress mandated the issuance of a final rule setting 
        forth requirements for TWIC biometric readers no later than two 
        years after the TWIC pilot began, which would have been August 
        2010; such a final rule has to date not been issued.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) to avoid further imposing unnecessary and costly 
        regulatory burdens on United States workers and businesses, it 
        is urgent that the TWIC application process be reformed by not 
        later than the end of 2012, when hundreds of thousands of 
        current TWIC holders will begin to face the requirement to 
        renew their TWICs;
            (2) the Secretary of Homeland Security should promulgate 
        final regulations that require the deployment of TWIC readers 
        as soon as practicable, in order to ensure the TWIC program 
        realizes its intended security purpose; and
            (3) funds, which have been awarded under the Port Security 
        Grant Program for the purpose of funding TWIC projects, shall 
        not expire before the issuance of the final TWIC reader rule.

SEC. 3. TWIC APPLICATION REFORM.

    Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the Secretary of Homeland Security shall reform the process for the 
enrollment, activation, issuance, and renewal of a Transportation 
Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) to require, in total, not more 
than one in-person visit to a designated enrollment center except in 
cases in which there are extenuating circumstances, as determined by 
the Secretary, requiring more than one such in-person visit.

            Passed the House of Representatives June 28, 2012.

            Attest:

                                                 KAREN L. HAAS,

                                                                 Clerk.
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