I
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5135
To amend title 49, United States Code, to provide for the modification
of airport terminal buildings to accommodate explosive detection systems
for screening checked baggage, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 16, 2002
Ms. GRANGER (for herself, Mr. MICA, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, Mr.
FROST, Mr. PASTOR, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. BRADY
of Texas, Mr. HALL of Texas, Mr. BONILLA, Mr. BARTON of Texas, Ms.
KILPATRICK, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. ISAKSON, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr.
CUNNINGHAM, Mr. GIBBONS, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mrs. MYRICK,
Mr. COLLINS, Mr. HAYWORTH, Mr. BARR of Georgia, Ms. MCCARTHY of
Missouri, Mr. LUCAS of Kentucky, Mr. COOKSEY, and Mr. PENCE) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Trans-
portation and Infrastructure
A BILL
To amend title 49, United States Code, to provide for the
modification of airport terminal buildings to accommo-
date explosive detection systems for screening checked
baggage, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Aviation Security En-
hancement Act of 2002’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The safety and security of the civil air
transportation system is critical to the security and
national defense of the United States.
(2) A large percentage of the Nation’s airports
will have checked baggage explosive detection sys-
tems in place by the statutory deadline of December
31, 2002, but the remaining airports will be required
to implement expensive interim systems requiring
full replacement or relocation (or both) within a
short period of time.
(3) Implementation and replacement of the in-
terim systems will cost millions of taxpayer dollars,
will present serious problems in ensuring that a suf-
ficient number of operators are hired and trained
within the allotted time, and will require unprece-
dented demands on lobby space in airports.
(4) The statutory deadline of December 31,
2002, which was originally believed to be adequate
in providing a reasonable time frame for imple-
menting an effective baggage screening system, may
be insufficient and inefficient to accomplish the mis-
sion envisioned by Congress in approving the Avia-
tion and Transportation Security Act.
(5) In order to meet that critical mission, sig-
nificant flexibility was included in that Act to allow
the Under Secretary of Transportation for Security
to continue using current screening practices until
explosive detection systems can be installed. A high
level of security can be maintained in the interim
using current practices while the longer-term sys-
tems are installed.
(6) A measured approach to installations will
provide the Transportation Security Administration
with appropriate leeway to incrementally address in-
dividual airport requirements and potentially allow
that agency to accommodate technology improve-
ments and lessons learned.
(7) Such installations should be accomplished
without undue delays after the planning phase has
been completed.
(8) By providing optimal solutions, air pas-
sengers will be better protected.
SEC. 3. EXPLOSIVE DETECTION SYSTEMS.
(a) INSTALLATION OF SYSTEMS.—Section 44901(d)
of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at
the end the following:
‘‘(2) MODIFICATION
OF
AIRPORT
TERMINAL
BUILDINGS
TO
ACCOMMODATE
EXPLOSIVE
DETEC-
TION SYSTEMS.—
‘‘(A) NOTIFICATION
OF
AIRPORTS.—Not
later than October 1, 2002, the Under Sec-
retary shall notify the owner or operator of each
United States airport described in section
44903(c) of the number and type of explosive
detection systems that will be required to be de-
ployed at the airport in order to screen all
checked baggage by explosive detection systems
without imposing unreasonable delays on the
passengers using the airport.
‘‘(B) ASSESSMENTS
OF
AIRPORT
TER-
MINAL BUILDINGS.—If the owner or operator of
a United States airport described in section
44903(c) determines that the airport will not be
able to make the modifications to the airport’s
terminal buildings that are necessary to accom-
modate the explosive detection systems required
under subparagraph (A) in a cost-effective
manner on or before December 31, 2002, the
owner or operator shall provide notice of that
determination to the Under Secretary not later
than November 1, 2002.
‘‘(C) PLANS FOR MAKING MODIFICATIONS
TO AIRPORT TERMINAL BUILDINGS.—
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—If the owner or
operator of an airport provides notice to
the Under Secretary under subparagraph
(B), the Under Secretary, in consultation
with the owner or operator, shall develop,
not later than December 1, 2002, a plan
for making necessary modifications to the
airport’s terminal buildings so as to deploy
and fully utilize explosive detection systems
to screen all checked baggage.
‘‘(ii) DEADLINE.—A plan developed
under this subparagraph shall include a
date for completing the plan. All such
plans shall be completed as expeditiously
as practicable.
‘‘(iii) TRANSMISSION
OF
PLANS
TO
CONGRESS.—On the date of completion of
a plan under this subparagraph, the Under
Secretary shall transmit a copy of the plan
to Congress. For security purposes, infor-
mation contained in the plan shall not be
disclosed to the public.
‘‘(D) REQUIREMENTS FOR PLANS.—A plan
developed and published under subparagraph
(C), shall provide for, to the maximum extent
practicable—
‘‘(i) the deployment of explosive detec-
tion systems in the baggage sorting area or
other non-public area rather than the lobby
of an airport terminal building; and
‘‘(ii) the deployment of state of the
art explosive detection systems that have
high throughput, low false alarm rates,
and high reliability without reducing detec-
tion rates.
‘‘(E) USE OF SCREENING METHODS OTHER
THAN
EDS.—Notwithstanding the deadline in
paragraph (1)(A), after December 31, 2002, if
explosive detection systems are not screening all
checked baggage at a United States airport de-
scribed in section 44903(c), such baggage shall
be screened by the methods described in sub-
section (e) until such time as all checked bag-
gage is screened by explosive detection systems
at the airport.
‘‘(3) PURCHASE
OF
EXPLOSIVE
DETECTION
SYSTEMS.—Any explosive detection system required
to be purchased under paragraph (2)(A) shall be
purchased by the Under Secretary.
‘‘(4) EXPLOSIVE
DETECTION
SYSTEM
DE-
FINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘explosive de-
tection system’ means a device, or combination of
devices, that can detect different types of explo-
sives.’’.
(b) ALTERNATIVE
EXPLOSIVE
DETECTION
SYS-
TEMS.—
(1) DEMONSTRATION
PROJECTS.—The Under
Secretary of Transportation for Security shall carry
out demonstration projects for the installation and
testing of alternative explosive detection systems at
not less than 5 United States airports described in
section 44903(c) of title 49, United States Code.
(2) APPLICATIONS.—
(A) SUBMISSION.—Not later than Decem-
ber 1, 2002, the owner or operator of an airport
seeking to participate in the demonstration
projects shall submit to the Under Secretary an
application in the form and containing the in-
formation that the Under Secretary requires.
(B) SELECTION OF AIRPORTS.—Not later
than March 31, 2003, the Under Secretary
shall select the airports at which the dem-