Securing DHS Firearms Act of 2019

IIB 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1437 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 15, 2019 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs AN ACT To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require the Under Secretary for Management of the Department of Homeland Security to achieve security of sensitive assets among the components of the Department of Homeland Security, 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 03:09 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1437.RFS H1437 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 HR 1437 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Securing Department 2 of Homeland Security Firearms Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘Se- 3 curing DHS Firearms Act of 2019’’. 4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 5 In this Act: 6 (1) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 7 means the Department of Homeland Security. 8 (2) LOST.—The term ‘‘lost’’ includes loss by 9 theft. 10 (3) SENSITIVE ASSETS.—The term ‘‘sensitive 11 assets’’ means any asset, regardless of value— 12 (A) that the Department of Homeland Se- 13 curity issues to a Department employee; and 14 (B) that either the Under Secretary for 15 Management of the Department or a compo- 16 nent head determines requires special control 17 and accounting. 18 (4) UNDER SECRETARY FOR MANAGEMENT.— 19 The term ‘‘Under Secretary for Management’’ 20 means the Under Secretary for Management of the 21 Department of Homeland Security. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1437.RFS H1437 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 HR 1437 RFS SEC. 3. INCLUSION OF SECURING FIREARMS AND OTHER 1 SENSITIVE ASSETS IN RESPONSIBILITIES OF 2 UNDER SECRETARY FOR MANAGEMENT. 3 Section 701 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 4 (6 U.S.C. 341) is amended— 5 (1) in subsection (a)(6), by inserting ‘‘(includ- 6 ing firearms and other sensitive assets)’’ after 7 ‘‘equipment’’; 8 (2) by redesignating the second subsection (e) 9 (relating to the definition of interoperable commu- 10 nications) as subsection (f); and 11 (3) by amending such redesignated subsection 12 (f) to read as follows: 13 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 14 ‘‘(1) INTEROPERABLE COMMUNICATIONS.—The 15 term ‘interoperable communications’ has the mean- 16 ing given such term in section 7303(g) of the Intel- 17 ligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 18 2004 (6 U.S.C. 194(g)). 19 ‘‘(2) SENSITIVE ASSETS.—The term ‘sensitive 20 assets’ means any asset, regardless of value— 21 ‘‘(A) that the Department issues to a De- 22 partment employee; and 23 ‘‘(B) that either the Under Secretary for 24 Management of the Department or a compo- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1437.RFS H1437 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 HR 1437 RFS nent head determines requires special control 1 and accounting.’’. 2 SEC. 4. MANAGEMENT DIRECTIVE. 3 (a) SAFEGUARDING FIREARMS AND SENSITIVE AS- 4 SETS DIRECTIVE.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 6 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 7 Under Secretary for Management shall develop and 8 disseminate a Department-wide directive for achiev- 9 ing adequate security over firearms and other sen- 10 sitive assets across the Department. 11 (2) CONTENTS.—The directive required under 12 subsection (a) shall, at a minimum, include the fol- 13 lowing: 14 (A) Descriptions of what equipment, in ad- 15 dition to firearms, is classified as a sensitive 16 asset for the purpose of carrying out this Act. 17 (B) Requirements for securing Depart- 18 ment-issued firearms and other sensitive assets. 19 (C) A classification system for all cat- 20 egories of Department-issued badges and cor- 21 responding requirements for safeguarding such 22 assets. 23 (D) Reporting requirements for lost fire- 24 arms and other sensitive assets, including 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1437.RFS H1437 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 HR 1437 RFS timelines for such reporting, to supervisors, 1 local law enforcement, the Federal Bureau of 2 Investigation’s National Crime Information 3 Center, and Department headquarters. 4 (E) Recordkeeping requirements for lost 5 firearms and other sensitive assets in inventory 6 systems, including a timeline for recording such 7 losses. 8 (3) REVIEW AND UPDATE OF DIRECTIVE.—Not 9 later than 1 year after the issuance of the directive 10 required under subsection (a), the Under Secretary 11 for Management shall review and update, as nec- 12 essary, such directive, including adding a require- 13 ment relating to recording in the inventory systems 14 maintained by each component of the Department 15 the acceptance or transfer of a firearm or other sen- 16 sitive asset by such component. 17 (b) PERSONAL PROPERTY ASSET MANAGEMENT 18 PROGRAM MANUAL.—Together with the issuance of the 19 directive pursuant to subsection (a), the Under Secretary 20 for Management shall disseminate a revised version of the 21 Personal Property Asset Management Program Manual 22 that includes the following: 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1437.RFS H1437 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 HR 1437 RFS (1) Requirements for component heads to de- 1 velop procedures to safeguard firearms and other 2 sensitive assets during on and off-duty time. 3 (2) Requirements for the issuance of safety 4 locking devices and policies on the use of such as- 5 sets, as applicable. 6 (3) Requirements for initial, recurrent, and re- 7 medial training on safeguarding such assets. 8 (4) Examples, with detail, of how to report and 9 record lost sensitive assets across components of the 10 Department, and an enforcement mechanism to en- 11 sure supervisors maintain such records. 12 (5) A requirement that the file maintained on 13 a lost firearm or other sensitive asset contains both 14 the corresponding police report and the Department 15 report detailing the circumstances surrounding such 16 loss, including information on adherence to safe- 17 guarding procedures. 18 SEC. 5. COMPONENT RESPONSIBILITIES. 19 Department component heads shall— 20 (1) comply with Federal law, Federal regula- 21 tions, executive branch guidance, and Department 22 policy, including directives required by this Act, re- 23 lating to the management and oversight of securing 24 firearms and other sensitive assets; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1437.RFS H1437 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 HR 1437 RFS (2) review the need for non-law enforcement 1 badges; 2 (3) require component personnel to safeguard 3 firearms and other sensitive assets in accordance 4 with the directive issued by the Under Secretary for 5 Management under section 4; 6 (4) require that component personnel adhere to 7 the procedures and timelines for properly reporting 8 to supervisors lost firearms and other sensitive as- 9 sets; 10 (5) require that lost firearms and other sen- 11 sitive assets are reported to local law enforcement, 12 the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National 13 Crime Information Center, and Department head- 14 quarters in the timeframe established in such direc- 15 tive; and 16 (6) require that lost firearms and other sen- 17 sitive assets are recorded in inventory systems in the 18 timeframe established by such directive. 19 SEC. 6. INSPECTOR GENERAL REVIEW. 20 The Inspector General of the Department of Home- 21 land Security shall, on an ongoing basis, review implemen- 22 tation of this Act and, not later than 180 days after 23 issuance of the directive under section 4, submit to the 24 Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Rep- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1437.RFS H1437 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 HR 1437 RFS resentatives and the Committee on Homeland Security 1 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a review of the 2 progress and effectiveness of such directive, including an 3 assessment of the adequacy of such directive, as well as 4 the level of compliance among the components of the De- 5 partment to achieve adequate security of sensitive assets 6 across Department components. 7 Passed the House of Representatives May 14, 2019. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1437.RFS H1437 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS