Critical Infrastructure Employee Protection Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3025 To direct the Secretary of Transportation to adopt certain priorities with respect to critical infrastructure employees during the coronavirus pan- demic, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 7, 2021 Mr. CRAWFORD (for himself, Mr. COHEN, and Mr. ROUZER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL 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 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 ‘‘Critical Infrastructure 4 Employee Protection Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. IDENTIFICATION OF COVID–19 TESTING NEEDS OF 6 CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE EMPLOYEES. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Transportation 8 shall— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:55 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3025.IH H3025 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3025 IH (1) adopt, for use by the Department of Trans- 1 portation in carrying out response efforts relating to, 2 and operations during, the Coronavirus Disease 3 2019 (COVID–19) pandemic, the categorization of 4 ‘‘essential critical infrastructure workers’’ identified 5 in the Guidance on the Essential Critical Infrastruc- 6 ture Workforce published by the Department of 7 Homeland Security on August 18, 2020 (or a subse- 8 quent version of that guidance); and 9 (2) coordinate with the Director of the Centers 10 for Disease Control and Prevention and the Admin- 11 istrator of the Federal Emergency Management 12 Agency to support efforts of State and local govern- 13 ments to provide for— 14 (A) priority testing of essential critical in- 15 frastructure workers (as such term is used in 16 paragraph (1)) with respect to the Coronavirus 17 Disease 2019 (COVID–19); 18 (B) priority access to personal protective 19 equipment, sanitizers, nonmedical-grade facial 20 coverings, and other health-related or protective 21 supplies necessary to safely perform essential 22 critical infrastructure work; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:55 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3025.IH H3025 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3025 IH (C) priority access to COIVD–19 vaccina- 1 tions, based on availability, for essential critical 2 infrastructure workers. 3 (b) APPLICATION.—Nothing in this section requires 4 the provision of priority testing or priority access to per- 5 sonal protective equipment for essential critical infrastruc- 6 ture workers (as such term is used in subsection (a)(1)) 7 to be prioritized over the provision of that testing or access 8 to personal protective equipment or vaccinations for other 9 individuals who are identified by the Centers for Disease 10 Control and Prevention or any other relevant Federal, 11 State, or local agency as having a higher priority for that 12 testing or access to personal protective equipment, includ- 13 ing— 14 (1) patients; 15 (2) healthcare workers; and 16 (3) first responders. 17 SEC. 3. FUTURE HEALTH CRISIS. 18 The Secretary of Transportation shall issue such reg- 19 ulations as are necessary to adopt any guidance from the 20 Department of Homeland Security during any future 21 health crisis to account for the transportation sector and 22 ensure the Department takes substantially similar actions 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:55 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3025.IH H3025 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3025 IH regarding prioritization for essential critical infrastructure 1 workers as described in section 2 of this Act. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:55 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3025.IH H3025 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS