HR 3173 RFS
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 Se-
curity (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-regu-
lated 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 work-
ers to make an additional two or more trips to the 
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HR 3173 RFS
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-con-
suming and often expensive round trips to a TWIC 
enrollment center. In many instances, the nearest 
enrollment center is hundreds of miles from a work-
er’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 re-
quirements for TWIC issuance with standards for 
Personal Identity Verification (PIV) for Federal em-
ployees and contractors. These standards are con-
tained 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 
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is effectively a work permit for a highly-mobile pri-
vate 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 
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and businesses, it is urgent that the TWIC applica-
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 in-
tended 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 enact-
ment 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 
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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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