Critical Infrastructure Employee Protection Act
Bill: H.R.3025 | Sponsor: Rep. Crawford, Eric A. "Rick" (R-AR)
Policy area: Transportation and Public Works

Summary:
Critical Infrastructure Employee Protection Act
This bill requires the Department of Transportation (DOT) to support state, local, tribal, and territorial jurisdictions in providing (1) priority COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) testing for essential critical infrastructure employees; (2) priority access to personal protective equipment, sanitizers, face coverings, and health-related or protective supplies necessary to safely perform essential critical infrastructure work; and (3) priority access to COVID-19 vaccinations for such employees. Essential critical infrastructure employees include, but are not limited to, medical and health care, telecommunications, information technology systems, defense, food and agriculture, transportation and logistics, energy, water and wastewater, and law enforcement.
DOT must also issue regulations to adopt guidance from the Department of Homeland Security during any future health crisis to account for the transportation sector and ensure it takes substantially similar action regarding prioritization for essential critical infrastructure employees.

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to adopt certain priorities 
     with respect to critical infrastructure employees during the 
             coronavirus pandemic, 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 ``Critical Infrastructure Employee 
Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. IDENTIFICATION OF COVID-19 TESTING NEEDS OF CRITICAL 
              INFRASTRUCTURE EMPLOYEES.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Transportation shall--
            (1) adopt, for use by the Department of Transportation in 
        carrying out response efforts relating to, and operations 
        during, the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the 
        categorization of ``essential critical infrastructure workers'' 
        identified in the Guidance on the Essential Critical 
        Infrastructure Workforce published by the Department of 
        Homeland Security on August 18, 2020 (or a subsequent version 
        of that guidance); and
            (2) coordinate with the Director of the Centers for Disease 
        Control and Prevention and the Administrator of the Federal 
        Emergency Management Agency to support efforts of State and 
        local governments to provide for--
                    (A) priority testing of essential critical 
                infrastructure workers (as such term is used in 
                paragraph (1)) with respect to the Coronavirus Disease 
                2019 (COVID-19);
                    (B) priority access to personal protective 
                equipment, sanitizers, nonmedical-grade facial 
                coverings, and other health-related or protective 
                supplies necessary to safely perform essential critical 
                infrastructure work; and
                    (C) priority access to COIVD-19 vaccinations, based 
                on availability, for essential critical infrastructure 
                workers.
    (b) Application.--Nothing in this section requires the provision of 
priority testing or priority access to personal protective equipment 
for essential critical infrastructure workers (as such term is used in 
subsection (a)(1)) to be prioritized over the provision of that testing 
or access to personal protective equipment or vaccinations for other 
individuals who are identified by the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention or any other relevant Federal, State, or local agency as 
having a higher priority for that testing or access to personal 
protective equipment, including--
            (1) patients;
            (2) healthcare workers; and
            (3) first responders.

SEC. 3. FUTURE HEALTH CRISIS.

    The Secretary of Transportation shall issue such regulations as are 
necessary to adopt any guidance from the Department of Homeland 
Security during any future health crisis to account for the 
transportation sector and ensure the Department takes substantially 
similar actions regarding prioritization for essential critical 
infrastructure workers as described in section 2 of this Act.
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