VETS Safe Travel Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 855 To provide PreCheck to certain severely injured or disabled veterans, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 5, 2021 Mr. GOSAR (for himself, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. STEUBE, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. WALTZ, Mr. BIGGS, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota, Mrs. HARSHBARGER, Mr. CARL, Mr. MOULTON, Mrs. RODGERS of Wash- ington, Mr. KELLER, Mr. BERGMAN, Mr. CORREA, Mr. KELLY of Mis- sissippi, Mr. LAMB, Ms. HOULAHAN, Ms. SLOTKIN, Mr. SAN NICOLAS, Mr. PENCE, and Mr. GALLAGHER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security, and in addition to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, for a period to be subsequently de- termined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To provide PreCheck to certain severely injured or disabled veterans, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Expedited 4 TSA Screening Safe Travel Act’’ or the ‘‘VETS Safe 5 Travel Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Feb 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H855.IH H855 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 855 IH SEC. 2. AVAILABILITY OF PRECHECK PROGRAM TO CER- 1 TAIN SEVERELY INJURED OR DISABLED VET- 2 ERANS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 44927 of title 49, United 4 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 5 lowing: 6 ‘‘(g) AVAILABILITY OF PRECHECK PROGRAM TO 7 CERTAIN SEVERELY INJURED OR DISABLED VET- 8 ERANS.— 9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A veteran described in 10 paragraph (2) is eligible for security screening under 11 the PreCheck Program under section 44919 at no 12 cost to the veteran if the veteran is able to meet the 13 background check and other security requirements 14 for participation in the program. 15 ‘‘(2) VETERANS DESCRIBED.—A veteran de- 16 scribed in this paragraph is a veteran who— 17 ‘‘(A) is enrolled in the patient enrollment 18 system of the Department of Veterans Affairs 19 established and operated under section 1705 of 20 title 38, United States Code; 21 ‘‘(B) has— 22 ‘‘(i) lost, or lost use of, a limb; 23 ‘‘(ii) become paralyzed or partially 24 paralyzed; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Feb 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H855.IH H855 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 855 IH ‘‘(iii) incurred permanent blindness; 1 and 2 ‘‘(C) as a result of a loss, paralyzation or 3 partial paralyzation, or blindness described in 4 subparagraph (B), requires the use of a wheel- 5 chair, prosthetic limb, or other assistive device 6 to aid with mobility.’’. 7 (b) COORDINATION ON IMPLEMENTATION.—The Ad- 8 ministrator of the Transportation Security Administration 9 and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall jointly— 10 (1) develop and implement a process under 11 which a veteran described in paragraph (2) of sub- 12 section (g) of section 44927 of title 49, United 13 States Code, as added by subsection (a), can receive 14 the benefits under such subsection by not later than 15 one year after the date of enactment of this Act; and 16 (2) provide to Congress a briefing on the status 17 of implementing the process required by paragraph 18 (1) by not later than one year after the date of the 19 enactment of this Act. 20 SEC. 3. OUTREACH FOR DISABLED VETERANS ON AVAIL- 21 ABILITY OF TRANSPORTATION SECURITY AD- 22 MINISTRATION PROGRAMS. 23 (a) COORDINATION.—The Secretary of Veterans Af- 24 fairs and the Administrator of the Transportation Secu- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Feb 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H855.IH H855 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 855 IH rity Administration shall develop and implement a process 1 under which the Secretary provides to disabled veterans 2 effective outreach about Transportation Security Adminis- 3 tration programs designed to improve the screening proc- 4 ess for passengers with disabilities. 5 (b) FURTHER ENHANCEMENTS TO EASE AIR TRAV- 6 EL FOR WOUNDED WARRIORS AND OTHER DISABLED 7 VETERANS.—Notwithstanding section 3501 et seq. of title 8 44, United States Code (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Pa- 9 perwork Reduction Act’’), or any other provision of law, 10 the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in coordination with the 11 Administrator of the Transportation Security Administra- 12 tion, shall— 13 (1) engage appropriate veterans service organi- 14 zations and other relevant organizations, as appro- 15 priate, to assess the awareness of veterans of rel- 16 evant Transportation Security Administration pro- 17 grams; and 18 (2) examine the need and feasibility of other 19 measures to improve travel security procedures for 20 disabled veterans. 21 (c) BRIEFING REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 180 22 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec- 23 retary of Veterans Affairs and the Administrator of 24 Transportation Security Administration shall jointly pro- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Feb 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H855.IH H855 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 855 IH vide to Congress a briefing on the status of the implemen- 1 tation of subsections (a) and (b). 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Feb 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H855.IH H855 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS