KESSLER Act
Bill: S.4888 | Sponsor: Sen. Cornyn, John (R-TX)
Policy area: Emergency Management

Summary:
Keeping Everyone Safe and Securing Lives by Emergency Readiness Act or the KESSLER Act
This bill directs the President to supplement disaster response plans to account for catastrophic incidents.
Specifically, the President must supplement each Federal Interagency Operational Plan to include an annex containing a strategy to ensure the health, safety, and general welfare of the civilian population affected by catastrophic incidents by
The strategy must include specified elements, including a description of actions the President will take to ensure the basic needs of the U.S. civilian population in a catastrophic incident are met.
The Department of Homeland Security shall lead an exercise, as part of a national exercise program, to test and enhance the operationalization of the strategy.
The President must provide recommendations for (1) actions that should be taken to prepare the United States to implement the strategy, increase readiness, and address preparedness gaps; and (2) additional authorities that should be considered to more effectively implement the strategy.

To require the President to supplement disaster response plans to 
    account for catastrophic incidents disabling 1 or more critical 
    infrastructure sectors or significantly disrupting the critical 
          functions of modern society, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Keeping Everyone Safe and Securing 
Lives by Emergency Readiness Act'' or the ``KESSLER Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the integration of connected technologies has become 
        essential to the operation of modern critical infrastructure;
            (2) reliance on connected technologies and interoperability 
        across critical infrastructure sectors create new 
        vulnerabilities that may be used against the United States;
            (3) adversaries of the United States have targeted critical 
        infrastructure and are likely to increase attacks on essential 
        services in the United States should global conflicts escalate;
            (4) while strong defenses and mitigation measures are 
        essential to the safety of the United States, no strategy can 
        stop all catastrophic events;
            (5) the Federal Government must prepare Federal, State, and 
        local governments, along with the people of the United States, 
        to promote the general welfare of the civilian population of 
        the United States even if most or all critical infrastructure 
        sectors are impacted by catastrophic events; and
            (6) such preparations must include coordination with State, 
        local, and Tribal governments, private sector entities, and 
        individual citizens.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Basic need.--The term ``basic need''--
                    (A) means any good, service, or activity necessary 
                to protect the health, safety, and general welfare of 
                the civilian population of the United States; and
                    (B) includes--
                            (i) food;
                            (ii) water;
                            (iii) shelter;
                            (iv) basic communication services;
                            (v) basic sanitation and health services; 
                        and
                            (vi) public safety.
            (2) Catastrophic incident.--The term ``catastrophic 
        incident''--
                    (A) means any natural or man-made disaster that 
                results in extraordinary levels of casualties or 
                damage, mass evacuations, or disruption severely 
                affecting the population, infrastructure, environment, 
                economy, national morale, or government functions in an 
                area; and
                    (B) may include an incident--
                            (i) with a sustained national impact over a 
                        prolonged period of time;
                            (ii) that may rapidly exceed resources 
                        available to State and local government and 
                        private sector authorities in the impacted 
                        area; or
                            (iii) that may significantly interrupt 
                        governmental operations and emergency services 
                        to such an extent that national security could 
                        be threatened.
            (3) Critical infrastructure.--The term ``critical 
        infrastructure'' has the meaning given the term in section 
        1016(e) of the Critical Infrastructure Protection Act of 2001 
        (42 U.S.C. 5195c(e)).
            (4) National exercise program.--The term ``national 
        exercise program'' means activities carried out to test and 
        evaluate the national preparedness goal and related plans and 
        strategies as described in section 648(b) of the Post-Katrina 
        Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 (6 U.S.C. 748(b)).
            (5) Tribal government.--The term ``Tribal government'' 
        means the recognized governing body of any Indian or Alaska 
        Native Tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, community, 
        component band, or component reservation, that is individually 
        identified (including parenthetically) in the most recent list 
        published pursuant to section 104 of the Federally Recognized 
        Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 5131).

SEC. 4. ENHANCED CATASTROPHIC INCIDENT ANNEX.

    (a) In General.--The President, with support from the committee, 
shall supplement each Federal Interagency Operational Plan to include 
an annex containing a strategy to ensure the health, safety, and 
general welfare of the civilian population affected by catastrophic 
incidents by--
            (1) providing for the basic needs of the civilian 
        population of the United States that is impacted by 
        catastrophic incidents in the United States;
            (2) coordinating response efforts with State and local 
        governments, the private sector, and nonprofit relief 
        organizations;
            (3) promoting personal and local readiness and non-reliance 
        on government relief during periods of heightened tension or 
        after catastrophic incidents; and
            (4) developing international partnerships with allied 
        nations for the provision of relief services and goods.
    (b) Elements of the Strategy.--The strategy required under 
subsection (a) shall include a description of--
            (1) actions the President will take to ensure the basic 
        needs of the civilian population of the United States in a 
        catastrophic incident are met;
            (2) how the President will coordinate with non-Federal 
        entities to multiply resources and enhance relief capabilities, 
        including--
                    (A) State and local governments;
                    (B) Tribal governments;
                    (C) State disaster relief agencies;
                    (D) State and local disaster relief managers;
                    (E) State National Guards;
                    (F) law enforcement and first response entities; 
                and
                    (G) nonprofit relief services;
            (3) actions the President will take to enhance individual 
        resiliency to the effects of a catastrophic incident, which 
        actions shall include--
                    (A) readiness alerts to the public during periods 
                of elevated threat;
                    (B) efforts to enhance domestic supply and 
                availability of critical goods and basic necessities; 
                and
                    (C) information campaigns to ensure the public is 
                aware of response plans and services that will be 
                activated when necessary;
            (4) efforts the President will undertake and agreements the 
        President will seek with international allies to enhance the 
        readiness of the United States to provide for the general 
        welfare;
            (5) how the strategy will be implemented should multiple 
        levels of critical infrastructure be destroyed or taken offline 
        entirely for an extended period of time; and
            (6) the authorities the President would implicate in 
        responding to a catastrophic incident.
    (c) Assumptions.--In designing the strategy under subsection (a), 
the President shall account for certain factors to make the strategy 
operationally viable, including the assumption that--
            (1) multiple levels of critical infrastructure have been 
        taken offline or destroyed by catastrophic incidents or the 
        effects of catastrophic incidents;
            (2) impacted sectors may include--
                    (A) the transportation sector;
                    (B) the communication sector;
                    (C) the energy sector;
                    (D) the healthcare and public health sector;
                    (E) the water and wastewater sector; and
                    (F) the financial sector;
            (3) State, local, Tribal, and territorial governments have 
        been equally affected or made largely inoperable by 
        catastrophic incidents or the effects of catastrophic 
        incidents;
            (4) the emergency has exceeded the response capabilities of 
        State and local governments under the Robert T. Stafford 
        Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et 
        seq.) and other relevant disaster response laws; and
            (5) the United States military is sufficiently engaged in 
        armed or cyber conflict with State or non-State adversaries, or 
        is otherwise unable to augment domestic response capabilities 
        in a significant manner due to a catastrophic incident.
    (d) Existing Plans.--The President may incorporate existing 
contingency plans in the strategy developed under subsection (a) so 
long as those contingency plans are amended to be operational in 
accordance with the requirements under this section.
    (e) Availability.--The strategy developed under subsection (a) 
shall be available to the public but may include a classified, or other 
restricted, annex to be made available to the appropriate committees of 
Congress and appropriate government entities.

SEC. 5. VALIDATION OF THE STRATEGY THROUGH AN EXERCISE.

    Not later than 1 year after the addition of the annex required 
under section 4, the Department of Homeland Security shall lead an 
exercise as part of the national exercise program, in coordination with 
the committee, to test and enhance the operationalization of the 
strategy.

SEC. 6. RECOMMENDATIONS.

    (a) In General.--The President shall provide recommendations to 
Congress for--
            (1) actions that should be taken to prepare the United 
        States to implement the strategy required under section 4, 
        increase readiness, and address preparedness gaps for 
        responding to the impacts of catastrophic incidents on citizens 
        of the United States; and
            (2) additional authorities that should be considered for 
        Federal agencies and the President to more effectively 
        implement the strategy required under section 4.
    (b) Inclusion in Reports.--The President may include the 
recommendations required under subsection (a) in a report submitted 
under section 7.

SEC. 7. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

    Not later than 1 year after the date on which the Department of 
Homeland Security leads the exercise under section 5, the President 
shall submit to Congress a report that includes--
            (1) a description of the efforts of the President to 
        develop and update the strategy required under section 4; and
            (2) an after-action report following the conduct of the 
        exercise described in section 5.
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