Transportation Security Preparedness Act of 2021

IIB 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1893 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 21, 2021 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation AN ACT To direct the Transportation Security Administration to de- velop a transportation security preparedness plan in the event of a communicable disease outbreak, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Jul 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1893.RFS H1893 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 HR 1893 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Transportation Secu- 2 rity Preparedness Act of 2021’’. 3 SEC. 2. SURVEY OF THE TRANSPORTATION SECURITY AD- 4 MINISTRATION WORKFORCE REGARDING 5 COVID–19 RESPONSE. 6 (a) SURVEY.—Not later than 1 year after the date 7 of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 8 Transportation Security Administration (referred to in 9 this section as the ‘‘Administrator’’), in consultation with 10 the labor organization certified as the exclusive represent- 11 ative of full- and part-time non-supervisory Administra- 12 tion personnel carrying out screening functions under sec- 13 tion 44901 of title 49, United States Code, shall conduct 14 a survey of the Transportation Security Administration 15 (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Administration’’) work- 16 force regarding the Administration’s response to the 17 COVID–19 pandemic. Such survey shall be conducted in 18 a manner that allows for the greatest practicable level of 19 workforce participation. 20 (b) CONTENTS.—In conducting the survey required 21 under subsection (a), the Administrator shall solicit feed- 22 back on the following: 23 (1) The Administration’s communication and 24 collaboration with the Administration’s workforce re- 25 garding the Administration’s response to the 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Jul 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1893.RFS H1893 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 HR 1893 RFS COVID–19 pandemic and efforts to mitigate and 1 monitor transmission of COVID–19 among its work- 2 force, including through— 3 (A) providing employees with personal pro- 4 tective equipment and mandating its use; 5 (B) modifying screening procedures and 6 Administration operations to reduce trans- 7 mission among officers and passengers and en- 8 suring compliance with such changes; 9 (C) adjusting policies regarding scheduling, 10 leave, and telework; 11 (D) outreach as a part of contact tracing 12 when an employee has tested positive for 13 COVID–19; and 14 (E) encouraging COVID–19 vaccinations 15 and efforts to assist employees that seek to be 16 vaccinated such as communicating the avail- 17 ability of duty time for travel to vaccination 18 sites and recovery from vaccine side effects. 19 (2) Any other topic determined appropriate by 20 the Administrator. 21 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 30 days after com- 22 pleting the survey required under subsection (a), the Ad- 23 ministration shall provide a report summarizing the re- 24 sults of the survey to the Committee on Homeland Secu- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Jul 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1893.RFS H1893 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 HR 1893 RFS rity of the House of Representatives and the Committee 1 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate. 2 SEC. 3. TRANSPORTATION SECURITY PREPAREDNESS 3 PLAN. 4 (a) PLAN REQUIRED.—Section 114 of title 49, 5 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 6 following new subsection: 7 ‘‘(x) TRANSPORTATION SECURITY PREPAREDNESS 8 PLAN.— 9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than two years 10 after the date of the enactment of this subsection, 11 the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting through 12 the Administrator, in coordination with the Chief 13 Medical Officer of the Department of Homeland Se- 14 curity and in consultation with the partners identi- 15 fied under paragraphs (3)(A)(i) through (3)(A)(iv), 16 shall develop a transportation security preparedness 17 plan to address the event of a communicable disease 18 outbreak. The Secretary, acting through the Admin- 19 istrator, shall ensure such plan aligns with relevant 20 Federal plans and strategies for communicable dis- 21 ease outbreaks. 22 ‘‘(2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In developing the plan 23 required under paragraph (1), the Secretary, acting 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Jul 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1893.RFS H1893 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 HR 1893 RFS through the Administrator, shall consider each of 1 the following: 2 ‘‘(A) The findings of the survey required 3 under section 2 of the Transportation Security 4 Preparedness Act of 2021. 5 ‘‘(B) All relevant reports and recommenda- 6 tions regarding the Administration’s response 7 to the COVID–19 pandemic, including any re- 8 ports and recommendations issued by the 9 Comptroller General and the Inspector General 10 of the Department of Homeland Security. 11 ‘‘(C) Lessons learned from Federal inter- 12 agency efforts during the COVID–19 pandemic. 13 ‘‘(3) CONTENTS OF PLAN.—The plan developed 14 under paragraph (1) shall include each of the fol- 15 lowing: 16 ‘‘(A) Plans for communicating and collabo- 17 rating in the event of a communicable disease 18 outbreak with the following partners: 19 ‘‘(i) Appropriate Federal departments 20 and agencies, including the Department of 21 Health and Human Services, the Centers 22 for Disease Control and Prevention, the 23 Department of Transportation, the De- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Jul 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1893.RFS H1893 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 HR 1893 RFS partment of Labor, and appropriate inter- 1 agency task forces. 2 ‘‘(ii) The workforce of the Administra- 3 tion, including through the labor organiza- 4 tion certified as the exclusive representa- 5 tive of full- and part-time non-supervisory 6 Administration personnel carrying out 7 screening functions under section 44901 of 8 this title. 9 ‘‘(iii) International partners, including 10 the International Civil Aviation Organiza- 11 tion and foreign governments, airports, 12 and air carriers. 13 ‘‘(iv) Public and private stakeholders, 14 as such term is defined under subsection 15 (t)(1)(C). 16 ‘‘(v) The traveling public. 17 ‘‘(B) Plans for protecting the safety of the 18 Transportation Security Administration work- 19 force, including— 20 ‘‘(i) reducing the risk of commu- 21 nicable disease transmission at screening 22 checkpoints and within the Administra- 23 tion’s workforce related to the Administra- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Jul 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1893.RFS H1893 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 HR 1893 RFS tion’s transportation security operations 1 and mission; 2 ‘‘(ii) ensuring the safety and hygiene 3 of screening checkpoints and other 4 workstations; 5 ‘‘(iii) supporting equitable and appro- 6 priate access to relevant vaccines, prescrip- 7 tions, and other medical care; and 8 ‘‘(iv) tracking rates of employee ill- 9 ness, recovery, and death. 10 ‘‘(C) Criteria for determining the condi- 11 tions that may warrant the integration of addi- 12 tional actions in the aviation screening system 13 in response to the communicable disease out- 14 break and a range of potential roles and re- 15 sponsibilities that align with such conditions. 16 ‘‘(D) Contingency plans for temporarily 17 adjusting checkpoint operations to provide for 18 passenger and employee safety while maintain- 19 ing security during the communicable disease 20 outbreak. 21 ‘‘(E) Provisions setting forth criteria for 22 establishing an interagency task force or other 23 standing engagement platform with other ap- 24 propriate Federal departments and agencies, in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Jul 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1893.RFS H1893 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 HR 1893 RFS cluding the Department of Health and Human 1 Services and the Department of Transportation, 2 to address such communicable disease outbreak. 3 ‘‘(F) A description of scenarios in which 4 the Administrator should consider exercising 5 authorities provided under subsection (g) and 6 for what purposes. 7 ‘‘(G) Considerations for assessing the ap- 8 propriateness of issuing security directives and 9 emergency amendments to regulated parties in 10 various modes of transportation, including sur- 11 face transportation, and plans for ensuring 12 compliance with such measures. 13 ‘‘(H) A description of any potential obsta- 14 cles, including funding constraints and limita- 15 tions to authorities, that could restrict the abil- 16 ity of the Administration to respond appro- 17 priately to a communicable disease outbreak. 18 ‘‘(4) DISSEMINATION.—Upon development of 19 the plan required under paragraph (1), the Adminis- 20 trator shall disseminate the plan to the partners 21 identified under paragraph (3)(A) and to the Com- 22 mittee on Homeland Security of the House of Rep- 23 resentatives and the Committee on Commerce, 24 Science, and Transportation of the Senate. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Jul 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1893.RFS H1893 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 HR 1893 RFS ‘‘(5) REVIEW OF PLAN.—Not later than two 1 years after the date on which the plan is dissemi- 2 nated under paragraph (4), and biennially there- 3 after, the Secretary, acting through the Adminis- 4 trator and in coordination with the Chief Medical 5 Officer of the Department of Homeland Security, 6 shall review the plan and, after consultation with the 7 partners identified under paragraphs (3)(A)(i) 8 through (3)(A)(iv), update the plan as appropriate.’’. 9 (b) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT.—Not later 10 than 1 year after the date on which the transportation 11 security preparedness plan required under subsection (x) 12 of section 114 of title 49, United States Code, as added 13 by subsection (a), is disseminated under paragraph (4) of 14 such subsection (x), the Comptroller General of the United 15 States shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Secu- 16 rity of the House of Representatives and the Committee 17 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate 18 a report containing the results of a study assessing the 19 transportation security preparedness plan, including an 20 analysis of— 21 (1) whether such plan aligns with relevant Fed- 22 eral plans and strategies for communicable disease 23 outbreaks; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Jul 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1893.RFS H1893 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 HR 1893 RFS (2) the extent to which the Transportation Se- 1 curity Administration is prepared to implement the 2 plan. 3 Passed the House of Representatives July 20, 2021. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Jul 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1893.RFS H1893 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS