IIB 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 559 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
FEBRUARY 4, 2009 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 
and Transportation 
AN ACT 
To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish 
an appeal and redress process for individuals wrongly 
delayed or prohibited from boarding a flight, or denied 
a right, benefit, or privilege, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
02:32 Feb 05, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H559.RFS
H559
jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
HR 559 RFS 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fair, Accurate, Secure, 
and Timely Redress Act of 2009’’ or the ‘‘FAST Redress 
Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF APPEAL AND REDRESS PROC-
ESS FOR INDIVIDUALS WRONGLY DELAYED 
OR PROHIBITED FROM BOARDING A FLIGHT, 
OR DENIED A RIGHT, BENEFIT, OR PRIVI-
LEGE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle H of title VIII of the 
Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 451 et seq.) 
is amended by adding at the end the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 890A. APPEAL AND REDRESS PROCESS FOR PAS-
SENGERS WRONGLY DELAYED OR PROHIB-
ITED FROM BOARDING A FLIGHT, OR DENIED 
A RIGHT, BENEFIT, OR PRIVILEGE. 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 30 days after 
the date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary 
shall establish a timely and fair process for individuals 
who believe they were delayed or prohibited from boarding 
a commercial aircraft or denied a right, benefit, or privi-
lege because they were wrongly identified as a threat when 
screened against any terrorist watchlist or database used 
by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) or 
any office or component of the Department. 
‘‘(b) OFFICE OF APPEALS AND REDRESS.— 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
02:32 Feb 05, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H559.RFS
H559
jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
HR 559 RFS 
‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es-
tablish in the Department an Office of Appeals and 
Redress to implement, coordinate, and execute the 
process established by the Secretary pursuant to 
subsection (a). The Office shall include representa-
tives from the TSA and such other offices and com-
ponents of the Department as the Secretary deter-
mines appropriate. 
‘‘(2) COMPREHENSIVE
CLEARED
LIST.—The 
process established by the Secretary pursuant to 
subsection (a) shall include the establishment of a 
method by which the Office, under the direction of 
the Secretary, will maintain and appropriately dis-
seminate a comprehensive list, to be known as the 
‘Comprehensive Cleared List’, of individuals who— 
‘‘(A) were misidentified as an individual on 
any terrorist watchlist or database; 
‘‘(B) completed an approved Department 
of Homeland Security appeal and redress re-
quest and provided such additional information 
as required by the Department to verify the in-
dividual’s identity; and 
‘‘(C) permit the use of their personally 
identifiable information to be shared between 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
02:32 Feb 05, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H559.RFS
H559
jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
HR 559 RFS 
multiple Departmental components for purposes 
of this section. 
‘‘(3) 
USE
OF
COMPREHENSIVE
CLEARED 
LIST.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall— 
‘‘(i) except as provided in subpara-
graph (B), transmit to the TSA or any 
other appropriate office or component of 
the Department, other Federal, State, 
local, and tribal entities, and domestic air 
carriers and foreign air carriers that use 
any terrorist watchlist or database, the 
Comprehensive Cleared List and any other 
information the Secretary determines nec-
essary to resolve misidentifications and im-
prove the administration of the advanced 
passenger prescreening system and reduce 
the number of false positives; and 
‘‘(ii) ensure that the Comprehensive 
Cleared List is taken into account by all 
appropriate offices or components of the 
Department when assessing the security 
risk of an individual. 
‘‘(B) TERMINATION.— 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
02:32 Feb 05, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H559.RFS
H559
jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
HR 559 RFS 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The transmission 
of the Comprehensive Cleared List to do-
mestic air carriers and foreign air carriers 
under clause (i) of subparagraph (A) shall 
terminate on the date on which the Fed-
eral 
Government 
assumes 
terrorist 
watchlist or database screening functions. 
‘‘(ii) WRITTEN NOTIFICATION TO CON-
GRESS.—Not later than 15 days after the 
date on which the transmission of the 
Comprehensive Cleared List to the air car-
riers referred to in clause (i) of this sub-
paragraph terminates in accordance with 
such clause, the Secretary shall provide 
written notification to the Committee on 
Homeland Security of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Committee on Com-
merce, Science, and Transportation and 
the Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs of the Senate of such 
termination. 
‘‘(4) 
INTERGOVERNMENTAL
EFFORTS.—The 
Secretary may— 
‘‘(A) enter into memoranda of under-
standing with other Federal, State, local, and 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
02:32 Feb 05, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H559.RFS
H559
jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
HR 559 RFS 
tribal agencies or entities, as necessary, to im-
prove the appeal and redress process and for 
other purposes such as to verify an individual’s 
identity and personally identifiable information; 
and 
‘‘(B) work with other Federal, State, local, 
and tribal agencies or entities that use any ter-
rorist watchlist or database to ensure, to the 
greatest extent practicable, that the Com-
prehensive Cleared List is considered when as-
sessing the security risk of an individual. 
‘‘(5) HANDLING OF PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE 
INFORMATION.—The Secretary, in conjunction with 
the Chief Privacy Officer of the Department, shall— 
‘‘(A) require that Federal employees of the 
Department handling personally identifiable in-
formation of individuals (in this paragraph re-
ferred to as ‘PII’) complete mandatory privacy 
and security training prior to being authorized 
to handle PII; 
‘‘(B) ensure that the information main-
tained under this subsection is secured by 
encryption, including one-way hashing, data 
anonymization techniques, or such other equiva-
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
02:32 Feb 05, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H559.RFS
H559
jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
HR 559 RFS 
lent technical security protections as the Sec-
retary determines necessary; 
‘‘(C) limit the information collected from 
misidentified passengers or other individuals to 
the minimum amount necessary to resolve an 
appeal and redress request; 
‘‘(D) ensure that the information main-
tained under this subsection is shared or trans-
ferred via an encrypted data network that has 
been audited to ensure that the anti-hacking 
and other security related software functions 
perform properly and are updated as necessary; 
‘‘(E) ensure that any employee of the De-
partment receiving the information maintained 
under this subsection handles such information 
in accordance with section 552a of title 5, 
United States Code, the Federal Information 
Security Management Act of 2002 (Public Law 
107–296), and other applicable laws; 
‘‘(F) only retain the information main-
tained under this subsection for as long as 
needed to assist the individual traveler in the 
appeal and redress process; 
‘‘(G) engage in cooperative agreements 
with appropriate Federal agencies and entities, 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
02:32 Feb 05, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H559.RFS
H559
jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
HR 559 RFS 
on a reimbursable basis, to ensure that legal 
name changes are properly reflected in any ter-
rorist watchlist or database and the Com-
prehensive Cleared List to improve the appeal 
and redress process and to ensure the most ac-
curate lists of identifications possible (except 
that section 552a of title 5, United States 
Code, shall not prohibit the sharing of legal 
name changes among Federal agencies and en-
tities for the purposes of this section); and 
‘‘(H) conduct and publish a privacy impact 
assessment of the appeal and redress process 
established under this section and transmit the 
assessment to the Committee on Homeland Se-
curity of the House of Representatives, and the 
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans-
portation and the Committee on Homeland Se-
curity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate. 
‘‘(6) INITIATION
OF
APPEAL
AND
REDRESS 
PROCESS AT AIRPORTS.—At each airport at which— 
‘‘(A) the Department has a presence, the 
Office shall provide written information to air 
carrier passengers to begin the appeal and re-
dress process established pursuant to subsection 
(a); and 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
02:32 Feb 05, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H559.RFS
H559
jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
HR 559 RFS 
‘‘(B) the Department has a significant 
presence, provide the written information re-
ferred to in subparagraph (A) and ensure a 
TSA supervisor who is trained in such appeal 
and redress process is available to provide sup-
port to air carrier passengers in need of guid-
ance concerning such process. 
‘‘(7) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 
240 days after the date of the enactment of this sec-
tion, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on 
Homeland Security of the House of Representatives 
and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation and the Committee on Homeland Se-
curity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a re-
port on the status of information sharing among 
users at the Department of any terrorist watchlist or 
database. The report shall include the following in-
formation: 
‘‘(A) A description of the processes and the 
status of the implementation of this section to 
share the Comprehensive Cleared List with 
other Department offices and components and 
other Federal, State, local, and tribal authori-
ties that utilize any terrorist watchlist or data-
base. 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
02:32 Feb 05, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00009
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H559.RFS
H559
jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
HR 559 RFS 
‘‘(B) A description of the extent to which 
such other Department offices and components 
are taking into account the Comprehensive 
Cleared List. 
‘‘(C) Data on the number of individuals 
who have sought and successfully obtained re-
dress through the Office of Appeals and Re-
dress. 
‘‘(D) Data on the number of individuals 
who have sought and were denied redress 
through the Office of Appeals and Redress. 
‘‘(E) An assessment of what impact infor-
mation sharing of the Comprehensive Cleared 
List has had on misidentifications of individuals 
who have successfully obtained redress through 
the Office of Appeals and Redress. 
‘‘(F) An updated privacy impact assess-
ment. 
‘‘(c) TERRORIST WATCHLIST
OR DATABASE DE-
FINED.—In this section, the term ‘terrorist watchlist or 
database’ means any terrorist watchlist or database used 
by the Transportation Security Administration or any of-
fice or component of the Department of Homeland Secu-
rity or specified in Homeland Security Presidential Direc-
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
02:32 Feb 05, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00010
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H559.RFS
H559
jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
HR 559 RFS 
tive–6, in effect as of the date of the enactment of this 
section.’’. 
(b) INCORPORATION OF SECURE FLIGHT.—Section 
44903(j)(2) of title 49, United States Code, is amended— 
(1) in subparagraph (C)(iii)— 
(A) 
by 
redesignating 
subclauses 
(II) 
through (VII) as subclauses (III) through 
(VIII), respectively; and 
(B) by inserting after subclause (I) the fol-
lowing new subclause: 
‘‘(II) ensure, not later than 30 
days after the date of the enactment 
of the FAST Redress Act of 2009, 
that the procedure established under 
subclause (I) is incorporated into the 
appeals and redress process estab-
lished under section 890A of the 
Homeland Security Act of 2002;’’; 
(2) in subparagraph (E)(iii), by inserting before 
the period at the end the following: ‘‘, in accordance 
with the appeals and redress process established 
under section 890A of the Homeland Security Act of 
2002’’; and 
(3) in subparagraph (G)— 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
02:32 Feb 05, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00011
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H559.RFS
H559
jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
HR 559 RFS 
‘‘Sec. 890A. Appeal and redress process for passengers wrongly delayed or pro-
hibited from boarding a flight, or denied a right, benefit, or 
privilege.’’. 
Passed the House of Representatives February 3, 
2009. 
Attest: 
LORRAINE C. MILLER, 
Clerk. 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
02:32 Feb 05, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00013
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H559.RFS
H559
jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS