Bill 113-S-2534 — Defense / General
Subject: Economics and public finance

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2015 - Makes appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for FY2015.

Title I: Departmental Management and Operations - Makes appropriations for: (1) the Office of the Secretary of Homeland Security and executive management, (2) the Office of the Under Secretary for Management, (3) the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, (4) the Office of the Chief Information Officer, (5) intelligence analysis and operations coordination activities, and (6) the Office of the Inspector General.

Title II: Security, Enforcement, and Investigations - Makes appropriations for: (1) U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), including for border security fencing, infrastructure, and technology; (2) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including to reimburse other federal agencies for the costs associated with the care, maintenance, and repatriation of smuggled aliens unlawfully present in the United States, to identify and remove from the United States aliens convicted of a crime once they are judged deportable, and for detention and removal operations, including transportation of unaccompanied minor aliens; (3) the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), including for civil aviation security services (including explosives detection systems), surface transportation security activities, the development and implementation of intelligence and vetting activities, and transportation security support; (4) U.S. Coast Guard; and (5) U.S. Secret Service.

Requires: (1) the Border Patrol to maintain an active duty presence of not less than 21,370 full-time equivalent agents protecting U.S. borders in FY2015; (2) ICE funding to maintain a level of not less than 34,000 detention beds through September 30, 2015; and (3) the TSA Administrator to submit a semiannual report updating information on a strategy to increase the number of air passengers eligible for expedited screening.

Title III: Protection, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery - Makes appropriations for FY2015 for: (1) the National Protection and Programs Directorate, including for the Federal Protective Service (FPS) and the Office of Biometric Identity Management; (2) the Office of Health Affairs, including for BioWatch operations; and (3) the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), including for grants for state and local programs (including the Urban Area Security Initiative), firefighter assistance grants, emergency management performance grants, the U.S. Fire Administration, disaster relief, the flood hazard mapping and risk analysis program, the National Flood Insurance Fund, the predisaster mitigation grant program, and the emergency food and shelter program.

Requires the revenues and collections of security fees credited to the account of FPS to be available until expended for necessary expenses related to the protection of federally owned and leased buildings and for the operations of FPS, provided that the Secretary of DHS and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) shall certify in writing to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, not later than 60 days after this Act's enactment, that FPS operations will be fully funded in FY2015 through revenues and collection of security fees.

Requires the Director of FPS to include with the submission of the President's FY2016 budget a strategic human capital plan that aligns fee collections to personnel requirements based on a current threat assessment.

Title IV: Research and Development, Training, and Services - Makes appropriations for FY2015 for: (1) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS), including for the E-Verify program; (2) the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC); (3) the Office of the Under Secretary for Science and Technology; and (4) the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office.

Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act for grants for immigrant integration to provide services to aliens who have not been lawfully admitted for permanent residence.

Title V: General Provisions - (Sec. 501) Sets forth limitations and prohibitions on the availability, use, reprogramming, or transfer of funds for specified programs and activities under this Act.

(Sec. 512) Prohibits the use of funds available in this Act to amend the oath of allegiance required under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

(Sec. 521) Prohibits the use of funds by CIS to grant an immigration benefit unless the results of required background checks have been received and do not preclude granting the benefit.

(Sec. 524) Prohibits the use of funds provided in this or any other Act to approve a waiver of the navigation and vessel-inspection laws for the transportation of crude oil distributed from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until the Secretary of DHS takes adequate measures to ensure the use of U.S. flag vessels.

(Sec. 525) Prohibits the use of funds for CBP to prevent an individual from importing a prescription drug from Canada if: (1) such individual is not in the business of importing a prescription drug; and (2) such drug complies with specified provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and is not a controlled substance or a biological product. Makes this section applicable only to individuals transporting on their person a personal-use quantity of the prescription drug, not exceeding a 90-day supply.

(Sec. 526) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act: (1) to reduce the Coast Guard's Operations Systems Center mission or its government-employed or contract staff levels; (2) for planning, testing, piloting, or developing a national identification card; (3) to transfer, release, or assist in the transfer or release to or within the United States, its territories, or possessions, of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or any other detainee who is not a U.S. citizen or a member of the U.S. Armed Forces, or who is or was held on or after June 24, 2009, at the U.S. Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by the Department of Defense (DOD); or (4) to employ unauthorized aliens.

(Sec. 536) Requires any company that collects or retains personal information directly from any individual who participates in TSA's Registered Traveler or successor program to safeguard and dispose of such information in accordance with specified requirements.

(Sec. 546) Requires the DHS Secretary to ensure enforcement of immigration laws.

(Sec. 547) Requires a specified amount of the funds made available for the Federal Network Security Program to be used to deploy federal systems technology to improve the information security of agency information systems, including to assist and support government-wide and agency-specific efforts to provide adequate, risk-based, and cost-effective cybersecurity.

(Sec. 549) Prohibits funds made available under this Act from being used: (1) by a federal law enforcement officer to facilitate the transfer of an operable firearm to an individual if the officer knows or suspects that the individual is an agent of a drug cartel unless U.S. law enforcement personnel continuously monitor or control the firearm at all times, or (2) to implement the National Preparedness Grant Program unless explicitly authorized by Congress.

(Sec. 551) Authorizes the Secretary to accept donations of real and personal property (including monetary donations) and nonpersonal services from private parties and state and local governments for purposes of constructing, altering, operating, or maintaining, or equipping a new or existing land port of entry facility.

(Sec. 552) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act to pay for the travel to or attendance of more than 50 employees of a single component of DHS, who are stationed in the United States, at a single international conference unless the Deputy Secretary or a designee determines that such attendance is in the national interest and notifies the Senate and House Appropriations Committees within at least 10 days of that determination and its basis.

(Sec. 554) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act for new CBP air preclearance agreements entering into force after February 1, 2014 (with an exception for countries with preclearance facilities in service prior to 2013), unless: (1) the Secretary has certified that air preclearance operations at the airport provide a homeland or national security benefit, (2) U.S. passenger air carriers are not precluded from operating at existing preclearance locations, and (3) a U.S. passenger air carrier is operating at all airports contemplated for establishment of new air preclearance operations.

(Sec. 556) Prohibits the Secretary from imposing any new border crossing fee on individuals crossing the southern or northern U.S. borders at a land port of entry or from conducting any study relating to the imposition of a border crossing fee.

(Sec. 559) Amends: (1) the Department of Justice Appropriations Act of 2002 to increase from $7 to $9 the fee charged by the Attorney General for the immigration inspection of each passenger arriving at a U.S. port of entry, or for the preinspection of a passenger in a place outside of the United States prior to such arrival, aboard a commercial aircraft or commercial vessel; and (2) the Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003 to increase from $3 to $5 the amount charged by the Attorney General per individual for the immigration inspection or pre-inspection of each commercial vessel passenger, with an exception for designated ports of entry passengers arriving by ferry or by Great Lakes and connecting waterways when operating on a regular schedule. Requires the additional funds generated to be used solely for the hiring or sustainment of CBP officers at air and sea ports of entry.

(Sec. 563) Prohibits the use of funds by ICE to establish a National License Plate Recognition database.

(Sec. 566) Directs OMB and DHS to ensure the congressional budget justifications accompanying the President's budget proposal for DHS include estimates of the number of unaccompanied alien children anticipated to be apprehended in the budget year and the number of agent or officer hours required to process, manage, and care for such children.

(Sec. 567) Deems Gerardo Ismael Hernandez, a Transportation Security Officer employed by TSA who was killed in the line of duty on November 1, 2013, at the Los Angeles International Airport, to have been a public safety officer for purposes of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968.

(Sec. 568) Revises the visa waiver program under the INA to authorize the Secretary (in lieu of the Attorney General) to designate any country as a program country if such country provides machine-readable passports and the visa refusal rate and overstay rate for nationals of that country were both not more than 3% in the previous fiscal year. Revises probationary and termination provisions. Provides for the consultative role of the Secretary of State. Directs the Comptroller General (GAO) to conduct a review of the methods used by the Secretary to: (1) track aliens entering and exiting the United States, and (2) detect any such alien who stays longer than such alien's period of authorized admission. Directs the Secretary to submit: (1) an evaluation of the security risks of aliens who enter the United States without an approved Electronic System for Travel Authorization verification, and (2) a description of any improvements needed to minimize the number of aliens who enter the United States without such verification. Expresses the sense of Congress that the Secretary, in the process of conducting evaluations of countries participating in the visa waiver program, to prioritize the reviews of countries in which circumstances indicate that such a review is necessary or desirable.

(Sec. 569) Rescinds specified funds: (1) from certain DHS accounts and programs; (2) from unobligated balances made available in the Department of the Treasury Forfeiture Fund; (3) transferred to DHS when it was created in 2003 for CBP for salaries and expenses, the Coast Guard for acquisition, construction, and improvements, and FEMA for the Office of Domestic Preparedness and the National Predisaster Mitigation Fund; and (4) from unobligated balances made available to FEMA for the Disaster Relief Fund.

(Sec. 573) Authorizes the President, during FY2015, to provide hazard mitigation assistance for an area affected by a major disaster (under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act) to any area in which fire management assistance was provided.