Title: Securing Energy Infrastructure Act
Policy area: Energy

Summary:
Securing Energy Infrastructure Act
This bill establishes a two-year pilot program within the Department of Energy's (DOE)	national laboratories to identify the	security vulnerabilities of certain entities in the energy sector, and research and test technology that can be used to isolate the most critical systems of such entities from cyber-attacks.
In addition,	DOE must establish a working group to evaluate the technology solutions proposed by the national laboratories and to develop a national cyber strategy to isolate the energy grid from attacks.
DOE must also submit a report to Congress describing the results of the pilot program, assessing the feasibility of the techniques considered, and outlining the results of the working group's evaluation.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 79 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 79

    To provide for the establishment of a pilot program to identify 
   security vulnerabilities of certain entities in the energy sector.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 10, 2017

 Mr. King (for himself, Mr. Risch, Mr. Heinrich, Ms. Collins, and Mr. 
Crapo) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 
            to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To provide for the establishment of a pilot program to identify 
   security vulnerabilities of certain entities in the energy sector.

    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 ``Securing Energy Infrastructure 
Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Covered entity.--The term ``covered entity'' means an 
        entity identified pursuant to section 9(a) of Executive Order 
        13636 of February 12, 2013 (78 Fed. Reg. 11742) relating to 
        identification of critical infrastructure where a cybersecurity 
        incident could reasonably result in catastrophic regional or 
        national effects on public health or safety, economic security, 
        or national security.
            (2) Exploit.--The term ``exploit'' means a software tool 
        designed to take advantage of a security vulnerability.
            (3) Industrial control system.--
                    (A) In general.--The term ``industrial control 
                system'' means an operational technology used to 
                measure, control, or manage industrial functions.
                    (B) Inclusions.--The term ``industrial control 
                system'' includes supervisory control and data 
                acquisition systems, distributed control systems, and 
                programmable logic or embedded controllers.
            (4) National laboratory.--The term ``National Laboratory'' 
        has the meaning given the term in section 2 of the Energy 
        Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801).
            (5) Program.--The term ``Program'' means the pilot program 
        established under section 3.
            (6) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Energy.
            (7) Security vulnerability.--The term ``security 
        vulnerability'' means any attribute of hardware, software, 
        process, or procedure that could enable or facilitate the 
        defeat of a security control.

SEC. 3. PILOT PROGRAM FOR SECURING ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE.

    Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Secretary shall establish a 2-year control systems implementation 
pilot program within the National Laboratories for the purposes of--
            (1) partnering with covered entities in the energy sector 
        (including critical component manufacturers in the supply 
        chain) that voluntarily participate in the Program to identify 
        new classes of security vulnerabilities of the covered 
        entities; and
            (2) researching, developing, testing, and implementing 
        technology platforms and standards, in partnership with covered 
        entities, to isolate and defend industrial control systems of 
        covered entities from security vulnerabilities and exploits in 
        the most critical systems of the covered entities, including--
                    (A) analog and non-digital control systems;
                    (B) purpose-built control systems; and
                    (C) physical controls.

SEC. 4. WORKING GROUP.

    (a) Establishment.--The Secretary shall establish a working group--
            (1) to evaluate the technology platforms and standards used 
        in the Program under section 3(2); and
            (2) to develop a national cyber-informed engineering 
        strategy to isolate and defend covered entities from security 
        vulnerabilities and exploits in the most critical systems of 
        the covered entities.
    (b) Membership.--The working group established under subsection (a) 
shall be composed of not fewer than 10 members, to be appointed by the 
Secretary, at least 1 member of which shall represent each of the 
following:
            (1) The Department of Energy.
            (2) The energy industry, including electric utilities and 
        manufacturers recommended by the Energy Sector coordinating 
        councils.
            (3)(A) The Department of Homeland Security; or
            (B) the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response 
        Team.
            (4) The North American Electric Reliability Corporation.
            (5) The Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
            (6)(A) The Office of the Director of National Intelligence; 
        or
            (B) the intelligence community (as defined in section 3 of 
        the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003)).
            (7)(A) The Department of Defense; or
            (B) the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland 
        Security and America's Security Affairs.
            (8) A State or regional energy agency.
            (9) A national research body or academic institution.
            (10) The National Laboratories.

SEC. 5. REPORT.

    Not later than 2 years after the date on which funds are first 
disbursed under the Program, the Secretary shall submit to the 
appropriate committees of Congress a final report that--
            (1) describes the results of the Program;
            (2) includes an analysis of the feasibility of each method 
        studied under the Program; and
            (3) describes the results of the evaluations conducted by 
        the working group established under section 4(a).

SEC. 6. NO NEW REGULATORY AUTHORITY.

    Nothing in this Act authorizes the Secretary or the head of any 
other Federal agency to issue new regulations.

SEC. 7. EXEMPTION FROM DISCLOSURE.

    Information shared by or with the Federal Government or a State, 
tribal, or local government under this Act shall be--
            (1) deemed to be voluntarily shared information; and
            (2) exempt from disclosure under any provision of Federal, 
        State, tribal, or local freedom of information law, open 
        government law, open meetings law, open records law, sunshine 
        law, or similar law requiring the disclosure of information or 
        records.

SEC. 8. PROTECTION FROM LIABILITY.

    (a) In General.--A cause of action against a covered entity for 
engaging in the voluntary activities authorized under section 3--
            (1) shall not lie or be maintained in any court; and
            (2) shall be promptly dismissed by the applicable court.
    (b) Voluntary Activities.--Nothing in this Act subjects any covered 
entity to liability for not engaging in the voluntary activities 
authorized under section 3.

SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) Pilot Program.--There is authorized to be appropriated 
$10,000,000 to carry out section 3.
    (b) Working Group and Report.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated $1,500,000 to carry out sections 4 and 5.
    (c) Availability.--Amounts made available under subsections (a) and 
(b) shall remain available until expended.
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