LPOE Modernization Trust Fund Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3028 To establish the Land Port of Entry Modernization Trust Fund, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 7, 2021 Mr. CUELLAR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on Home- land Security, Transportation and Infrastructure, and Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com- mittee concerned A BILL To establish the Land Port of Entry Modernization Trust Fund, 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 ‘‘LPOE Modernization 4 Trust Fund Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3028.IH H3028 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3028 IH SEC. 2. LAND PORT OF ENTRY MODERNIZATION TRUST 1 FUND. 2 (a) CREATION OF TRUST FUND.—There is estab- 3 lished in the Treasury of the United States a trust fund 4 to be known as the ‘‘Land Port of Entry Modernization 5 Trust Fund’’ (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Trust 6 Fund’’), consisting of amounts transferred to the Trust 7 Fund under subsection (b) and any amounts that may be 8 credited to the Trust Fund under subsection (c). 9 (b) TRANSFERS TO TRUST FUND.—The Secretary of 10 the Treasury shall transfer to the Trust Fund, from the 11 general fund of the Treasury, for fiscal year 2021 and 12 each fiscal year thereafter, an amount equivalent to the 13 amount received into the general fund during that fiscal 14 year attributable to— 15 (1) twenty-five percent of all fees collected pur- 16 suant to section 13031(b)(9)(A)(ii)(I) of the Consoli- 17 dated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 18 (19 U.S.C. 58c(b)(9)(A)(ii)(I)); 19 (2) $1,600,000,000 from the Merchandise Proc- 20 essing Fees collected pursuant to section 21 13031(a)(9)(B)(i) of the Consolidated Omnibus 22 Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (19 U.S.C. 23 58c(a)(9)(B)(i)); and 24 (3) twenty-five percent of all surcharges re- 25 quired under subsection (h)(3) related to— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3028.IH H3028 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3028 IH (A) immigrant user fee established under 1 section 286(m) of the Immigration and Nation- 2 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 22 1356(m)); 3 (B) land border inspection fees established 4 under section 286(q) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 5 1356(q)); and 6 (C) the machine-readable visa fee estab- 7 lished under section 103 of the Enhanced Bor- 8 der Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 9 2002 (8 U.S.C. 1713). 10 (c) INVESTMENT OF AMOUNTS.— 11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treas- 12 ury shall invest such portion of the Trust Fund as 13 is not required to meet current withdrawals in inter- 14 est-bearing obligations of the United States or in ob- 15 ligations guaranteed as to both principal and inter- 16 est by the United States. 17 (2) INTEREST AND PROCEEDS.—The interest 18 on, and the proceeds from the sale or redemption of, 19 any obligations held in the Trust Fund shall be 20 credited to and form a part of the Trust Fund. 21 (d) USE OF TRUST FUND.— 22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Amounts in the Trust Fund 23 shall be available to the Secretary, without further 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3028.IH H3028 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3028 IH appropriation, for the purposes described in para- 1 graph 2. 2 (2) PURPOSES.—The purposes described in this 3 paragraph are the following: 4 (A) The construction of new United States 5 ports of entry. 6 (B) The expansion and improvement of ex- 7 isting United States ports of entry infrastruc- 8 ture to accommodate high volumes of commer- 9 cial, vehicle, and pedestrian traffic. 10 (C) The procurement of technology and 11 supporting infrastructure for United States 12 ports of entry, and related cargo and commer- 13 cial inspection facilities, to facilitate the inspec- 14 tion and processing of commercial, vehicle, and 15 pedestrian traffic. 16 (D) The facilitation of major repairs and 17 alterations of United States land ports of entry. 18 (E) Hiring CBP officers, CBP agricultural 19 specialists, and CBP professional staff to sup- 20 port the trade and revenue mission of CBP. 21 (3) CONSULTATION.— 22 (A) IN GENERAL.—The purposes described 23 in paragraph 2 shall be carried out by the Sec- 24 retary, in consultation with the Administrator, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3028.IH H3028 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3028 IH the Chief of Engineers and Commanding Gen- 1 eral of the United States Army Corps of Engi- 2 neers, State, local, and tribal governments, or- 3 ganizations that represent the interests of com- 4 merce, and relevant Federal Advisory Com- 5 mittee Act committees. 6 (B) CONSIDERATION OF TRANSPORTATION 7 PLANS.—The Secretary, in consultation with 8 the Board established pursuant to subsection 9 (g)(1), shall consider regional bi-national trans- 10 portation master plans to carry out the pur- 11 poses described in paragraph 2. 12 (e) LIMITATIONS.— 13 (1) EXPENDING FUNDS.—The Secretary may 14 only expend funds made available from the Trust 15 Fund to carry out the purposes described in sub- 16 section (d) if— 17 (A) the Secretary submitted the annual re- 18 port to the appropriate congressional commit- 19 tees and the Board required under subsection 20 (f)(1); and 21 (B) thirty days elapse. 22 (2) NO OFFSET AMOUNT.—The Secretary, in 23 coordination with the Secretary of the Treasury and 24 the Secretary of State, shall not seek to increase fees 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3028.IH H3028 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3028 IH as a measure to offset amounts deposited into the 1 Trust Fund. 2 (f) REPORTS.— 3 (1) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 4 March 10 of each year, the Secretary, in coordina- 5 tion with the Administrator, shall submit to the ap- 6 propriate congressional committees and the Board a 7 report on the status of the implementation of this 8 section that includes a description of— 9 (A) how, and to which recipients, amounts 10 have been expended from the Trust Fund in the 11 immediate previous fiscal year; 12 (B) how, and to which recipients, amounts 13 are planned to be expended from the Trust 14 Fund in the upcoming fiscal year; 15 (C) the amount remaining in the Trust 16 Fund; and 17 (D) the expected dates of completion for 18 purposes described in subsection (d). 19 (2) SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 20 The Secretary may expend funds made available by 21 the Trust Fund to carry out the purposes described 22 in subsection (d) not listed in the report required 23 under paragraph (1) if— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3028.IH H3028 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3028 IH (A) the Secretary submits to the appro- 1 priate congressional committees and the Board 2 a supplemental report that includes information 3 relating to such expenditure; and 4 (B) such report is submitted to the appro- 5 priate congressional committees and the Board 6 60 days prior to such expenditure of funds. 7 (g) BORDER PORT OF ENTRY MODERNIZATION 8 OVERSIGHT BOARD.— 9 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es- 10 tablish an oversight board to be known as the ‘‘Bor- 11 der Port of Entry Modernization Oversight Board’’ 12 (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Board’’). 13 (2) DUTIES OF BOARD.—The Board shall— 14 (A) advise the Secretary with respect to 15 the prioritization of purposes described in sub- 16 section (d); and 17 (B) review the expenditure of funds from 18 the Trust Fund. 19 (3) MEMBERSHIP.— 20 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Board shall be 21 composed of 9 members, as follows: 22 (i) The Secretary of Homeland Secu- 23 rity or the Secretary’s designee. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3028.IH H3028 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3028 IH (ii) The Administrator of General 1 Services or the Secretary’s designee. 2 (iii) The Secretary of Commerce or 3 the Secretary’s designee. 4 (iv) The Secretary of State or the 5 Secretary’s designee. 6 (v) The Secretary of Transportation 7 or the Secretary’s designee. 8 (vi) A representative of the United 9 States trucking industry, appointed by the 10 Secretary of Homeland Security. 11 (vii) A representative of the United 12 States land ports of entry or rail sectors 13 located on the southwest land border, ap- 14 pointed by the Secretary of Homeland Se- 15 curity. 16 (viii) A representative of the United 17 States land ports of entry or rail sectors 18 located on the northern land border, ap- 19 pointed by the Secretary of Homeland Se- 20 curity. 21 (ix) A representative of a State or 22 local transportation authority, appointed 23 by the Secretary of Homeland Security. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3028.IH H3028 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3028 IH (B) TIMING OF APPOINTMENTS.—Each 1 member appointed under clauses (vi) and (vii) 2 of subparagraph (A) shall be made not later 3 than 3 months after the date of the enactment 4 of this Act. 5 (C) TERMS.— 6 (i) IN GENERAL.—Each member ap- 7 pointed under clauses (vi), (vii), and (viii) 8 of subparagraph (A) shall serve for a term 9 of 2 years. 10 (ii) VACANCIES.—Each member ap- 11 pointed to fill a vacancy of a member ap- 12 pointed under clauses (vi), (vii), and (viii) 13 of subparagraph (A), occurring before the 14 expiration of the term for which the mem- 15 ber’s predecessor was appointed, shall be 16 appointed only for the remainder of that 17 term. A member may serve after the expi- 18 ration of that term until a successor has 19 been appointed. 20 (D) CHAIRPERSON.—The Chairperson of 21 the Board shall be the Secretary of Homeland 22 Security. 23 (4) MEETING.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3028.IH H3028 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3028 IH (A) INITIAL MEETING.—The Board shall 1 hold its initial meeting not later than 30 days 2 after the final appointment of members under 3 clauses (vi), (vii), and (viii) of subparagraph 4 (A). 5 (B) MEETING.—The Board shall meet not 6 fewer than 1 time each year at the call of the 7 Chairperson. 8 (5) QUORUM.—Four members of the Board 9 shall constitute a quorum. 10 (6) COMPENSATION.— 11 (A) PROHIBITION OF COMPENSATION.— 12 Except as provided in paragraph (2), members 13 of the Board may not receive additional pay, al- 14 lowances, or benefits by reason of their service 15 on the Board. 16 (B) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—Each member 17 shall receive travel expenses, including per diem 18 in lieu of subsistence, in accordance with appli- 19 cable provisions under subchapter I of chapter 20 57 of title 5, United States Code. 21 (7) REPORT.—Not later January 31, 2022, and 22 annually thereafter, the Board shall submit to the 23 Secretary a report containing a detailed statement 24 relating to— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3028.IH H3028 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3028 IH (A) the prioritization of activities described 1 in subsection (d); and 2 (B) recommendations with respect to the 3 expenditure of funds from the Trust Fund. 4 (8) NONAPPLICABILITY OF FACA.—Notwith- 5 standing section 14 of the Federal Advisory Com- 6 mittee Act (5 U.S.C. App.), the Board is authorized 7 for a period commensurate with the LPOE Mod- 8 ernization Trust Fund authorization. 9 (h) CUSTOMS FEES.— 10 (1) BORDER PORT OF ENTRY MAINTENANCE 11 FEES.—Section 13031(f)(1) of the Consolidated Om- 12 nibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (19 U.S.C. 13 58c(f)(1)) is amended— 14 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘, 15 and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 16 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the 17 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 18 (C) by adding at the end the following new 19 subparagraph: 20 ‘‘(C) $1,600,000,000 of such fees collected shall 21 be transferred to the Border Port of Entry Mod- 22 ernization Trust Fund established pursuant to the 23 LPOE Modernization Trust Fund Act.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3028.IH H3028 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 3028 IH (2) FEES COLLECTED FOR EXPRESS CONSIGN- 1 MENT OPERATIONS.—Section 13031(b)(9) of the 2 Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 3 1985 (19 U.S.C. 58c(b)(9)) is amended— 4 (A) in subparagraph (B)(iii)(III), to read 5 as follows: 6 ‘‘(III) The remaining 25 percent of the 7 amount of payments received under subpara- 8 graph (A)(ii) and clause (ii) of this subpara- 9 graph shall be transferred into the Border Port 10 of Entry Modernization Trust Fund and made 11 available for the purposes of that account with- 12 out fiscal year limitation;’’; and 13 (B) in subparagraph (C), by adding at the 14 end the following: 15 ‘‘(iii) The terms ‘individual air waybill’ and ‘bill 16 of lading’ mean a document or other tracking mech- 17 anism representing an individual shipment, that is 18 not a consolidated or master document— 19 ‘‘(I) having its own unique bill number, 20 unique tracking number, or other unique identi- 21 fier; 22 ‘‘(II) assigned to a single ultimate con- 23 signee; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3028.IH H3028 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 3028 IH ‘‘(III) with respect to which no lower 1 tracking unit exists.’’. 2 (3) SURCHARGE OF FEES COLLECTED.—Not- 3 withstanding any other provision of law— 4 (A) the Secretary shall charge a surcharge 5 of— 6 (i) $40 on the immigrant user fee es- 7 tablished under section 286(m) of the Im- 8 migration and Naturalization Act (8 9 U.S.C. 1356(m)); and 10 (ii) $6 on the land border inspection 11 fee established under section 286(q) of 12 such Act (8 U.S.C. 1356(q)); and 13 (B) the Secretary of State shall charge a 14 surcharge of $20 on the machine-readable visa 15 fee established under section 103 of the En- 16 hanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform 17 Act of 2002 (8 U.S.C. 1713). 18 (4) INCREA [Text truncated for display. 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