IB 
Union Calendar No. 371 
112TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3173 
[Report No. 112–523] 
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. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 12, 2011 
Mr. SCALISE (for himself, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. 
THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. CUMMINGS, and Mr. RICHMOND) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Home-
land Security 
JUNE 15, 2012 
Additional sponsors: Mr. LUETKEMEYER, Ms. HAHN, Mr. YOUNG of Indiana, 
Mrs. BIGGERT, Mr. GRIMM, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. RUPPERS-
BERGER, Mr. COHEN, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. HANNA, Ms. 
RICHARDSON, Mr. HARRIS, Mr. GRAVES of Missouri, Mr. LARSEN of 
Washington, Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois, Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Mr. 
WITTMAN, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. JONES, Mr. LATOURETTE, Mr. MICHAUD, 
Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. NUNNELEE, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. HARPER, Ms. 
HANABUSA, Mr. CARNAHAN, Mr. HIGGINS, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of 
California, Mr. SIRES, Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. GUINTA, Mr. SCHRADER, Mr. 
MCDERMOTT, Mr. RIGELL, and Mr. PALAZZO 
JUNE 15, 2012 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on October 12, 2011] 
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A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to reform 
the process for the enrollment, activation, issuance, and 
renewal of a Transportation Worker Identification Cre-
dential (TWIC) to require, in total, not more than one 
in-person visit to a designated enrollment center. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives 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 Secu-
rity (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. Ap-
plicants 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 enroll-
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ment 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-con-
suming and often expensive round trips to a TWIC 
enrollment center. In many instances, the nearest en-
rollment 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 require-
ments 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 de-
viate 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 
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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 regu-
latory flexibility to develop an alternative process for 
TWIC enrollment and issuance that does not require 
applicants to make multiple trips to a TWIC enroll-
ment 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 applica-
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tion 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 deploy-
ment of TWIC readers as soon as practicable, in order 
to ensure the TWIC program realizes its intended se-
curity purpose; and 
(3) funds, which have been awarded under the 
Port Security Grant Program for the purpose of fund-
ing 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 re-
newal 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. 
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Union Calendar No. 371 
112TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3173 
[Report No. 112–523] 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to re-
form the process for the enrollment, activation, 
issuance, and renewal of a Transportation Work-
er Identification Credential (TWIC) to require, in 
total, not more than one in-person visit to a des-
ignated enrollment center. 
JUNE 15, 2012 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed 
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