HSAT Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8526 To direct the Secretary of Transportation to carry out a health smart air travel pilot program to improve the application of public health risk mitigation measures related to the public health risks presented by COVID–19 in airports and on passenger aircraft. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 2, 2020 Mr. VAN DREW introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Com- mittees on Energy and Commerce, and Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider- ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To direct the Secretary of Transportation to carry out a health smart air travel pilot program to improve the application of public health risk mitigation measures re- lated to the public health risks presented by COVID– 19 in airports and on passenger aircraft. 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 ‘‘Health Smart Air 4 Travel Act’’ or the ‘‘HSAT Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8526.IH H8526 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8526 IH SEC. 2. HEALTH SMART AIR TRAVEL PILOT PROGRAM. 1 (a) AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of Transportation, 2 jointly with the Secretary of Health and Human Services 3 and the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall establish 4 a pilot program (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Pro- 5 gram’’) to improve the application of public health risk 6 mitigation measures related to the public health risks pre- 7 sented by COVID–19 in airports and on passenger air- 8 craft. In carrying out the Program, the Secretary shall 9 pursue initiatives informed by— 10 (1) the guidance issued by the Department of 11 Transportation, jointly with the Department of 12 Health and Human Services and the Department of 13 Homeland Security, titled ‘‘Runway to Recovery: 14 The United States Framework for Airlines and Air- 15 ports to Mitigate the Public Health Risks of 16 Coronavirus’’ and dated July 2020; and 17 (2) any additional guidance that the Depart- 18 ment of Transportation, the Department of Health 19 and Human Services, and the Department of Home- 20 land Security may issue in relation to measures nec- 21 essary to mitigate the public health risks presented 22 by COVID–19 in airports and passenger aircraft. 23 (b) OBJECTIVES.—The purpose of the Program es- 24 tablished under this section is to— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8526.IH H8526 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8526 IH (1) accelerate integration of public health risk 1 mitigation measures related to the public health 2 risks presented by COVID–19 in airports and pas- 3 senger aircraft; 4 (2) identify and address technical, regulatory, 5 and policy challenges to integration of these risk 6 mitigation measures; 7 (3) develop, test, and evaluate smart airport 8 technology and processes as they relate to mitigating 9 public health risks presented by COVID–19 in air- 10 ports and passenger aircraft; and 11 (4) leverage concentrations of aviation, trans- 12 portation security, and public health capital to accel- 13 erate innovation in airports and passenger aircraft. 14 (c) GRANT AWARDS.—The Secretary of Transpor- 15 tation, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and 16 Human Services and the Secretary of Homeland Security, 17 may provide grants under the Program to eligible entities 18 to carry out development, testing, or evaluation of public 19 health risk mitigation measures related to the public 20 health risks presented by COVID–19 in airports and pas- 21 senger aircraft. 22 (d) PUBLICATION OF NOTICE OF GRANT OPPOR- 23 TUNITY.—Not later than 90 days after the date of enact- 24 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation publish 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8526.IH H8526 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8526 IH in the Federal Register a notice of grant opportunity for 1 grants available under the Program. 2 (e) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—Entities eligible to receive 3 funding under the Program may include— 4 (1) State, local, and Tribal governments; 5 (2) commercial airline operators; 6 (3) airports; 7 (4) hospitals and other public health institu- 8 tions; 9 (5) institutions of higher education; 10 (6) relevant research and development nonprofit 11 organizations that are exempt from tax under sec- 12 tion 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 13 1986; 14 (7) relevant labor organizations; 15 (8) relevant private-sector manufacturers and 16 service providers; and 17 (9) a consortia of any of the entities described 18 in paragraphs (1) through (8). 19 (f) APPLICATION SUBMISSION.—The Secretary of 20 Transportation, jointly with the Secretary of Health and 21 Human Services and the Secretary of Homeland Security, 22 shall establish application requirements for grants from 23 the Program and shall require applicants to include the 24 following information in such application: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8526.IH H8526 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8526 IH (1) Identification of the entities proposed to be 1 involved in the development, testing, or evaluation of 2 public health risk mitigation measures. 3 (2) Whether the proposed development, testing, 4 or evaluation pertain to public health mitigation 5 measures related to public health risks presented by 6 COVID–19 in airports, passenger aircraft, or both. 7 (3) A description of such development, testing, 8 or evaluation. 9 (4) A description of the financial cost of such 10 development, testing, or evaluation, including the re- 11 quested grant amount. 12 (5) How such development, testing, or evalua- 13 tion will accomplish the objectives of the pilot pro- 14 gram and inform wider adoption in airports and pas- 15 senger aircraft. 16 (6) Identification of available infrastructure and 17 capabilities to support such development, testing, or 18 evaluation. 19 (7) A description of the capabilities and exper- 20 tise related to the proposed project with respect to 21 aviation, airline operations, airport operations, smart 22 airport technology, transportation security, and pub- 23 lic health. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8526.IH H8526 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8526 IH (8) A description of any existing relationships 1 with relevant Federal agencies. 2 (g) EVALUATION OF APPLICANTS.—Upon receipt of 3 applications under this section by the Secretary of Trans- 4 portation, the Secretary shall evaluate such applications 5 jointly with the Secretary of Health and Human Services 6 and the Secretary of Homeland Security. 7 (h) SELECTION CRITERIA.—The Secretary of Trans- 8 portation shall make selections, in consultation with the 9 Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Sec- 10 retary of Homeland Security, for participation in the Pro- 11 gram, taking into consideration the following: 12 (1) The effectiveness of the proposal of develop- 13 ment, testing, or evaluation of public health risk 14 mitigation measures at accomplishing the objectives 15 under subsection (b). 16 (2) The involvement of relevant aviation, trans- 17 portation security, and public health infrastructure. 18 (3) The involvement of the private sector in the 19 proposal, including whether the proposal leverages 20 existing commercial technologies. 21 (4) The agreement of the entities involved in 22 the proposal to comply with such requirements as 23 the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of 24 Health and Human Services, and the Secretary of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8526.IH H8526 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8526 IH Homeland Security determine necessary for purposes 1 of aviation safety, public health safety, and transpor- 2 tation security. 3 (5) The agreement of the entities involved in 4 the proposal to share data collected and experience 5 gained over the course of the development, testing, 6 or evaluation of public health mitigation measures 7 with the Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of 8 Health and Human Services, and the Secretary of 9 Homeland Security. 10 (i) DESIGNATION OF DATA REPORTING FACILI- 11 TIES.— 12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 13 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 14 Transportation, the Secretary of Homeland Security, 15 and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, 16 shall each— 17 (A) designate a Federal facility or Federal 18 facilities for receiving, processing, and ana- 19 lyzing data collected and experience gained by 20 recipients of grants under the Program; and 21 (B) begin reporting the information de- 22 scribed in subparagraph (A) to the remaining 23 Secretaries listed in this paragraph. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8526.IH H8526 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 8526 IH (2) SCOPE OF INFORMATION COLLECTED.— 1 With respect to the information collected and ana- 2 lyzed under subparagraph (A)— 3 (A) the Secretary of Transportation shall 4 collect, analyze, and report information on pub- 5 lic health risk mitigation measures in passenger 6 aircraft; 7 (B) the Secretary of Homeland Security 8 shall collect, analyze, and report information on 9 public health risk mitigation measures in air- 10 ports; and 11 (C) the Secretary of Health and Human 12 Services shall collect, analyze, and report infor- 13 mation on public health risk mitigation meas- 14 ures in airports and on passenger aircraft. 15 (j) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary of Transpor- 16 tation shall, jointly with the Secretary of Health and 17 Human Services and the Secretary of Homeland Security, 18 use the data collected and experience gained under sub- 19 section (i) to— 20 (1) identify technical, regulatory, or policy chal- 21 lenges to the integration of public health risk mitiga- 22 tion measures related to the public health risks cre- 23 ated by COVID–19 in airports and on passenger air- 24 craft; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8526.IH H8526 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 8526 IH (2) inform ongoing initiatives by the Federal 1 Aviation Administration, the Transportation Secu- 2 rity Administration, and the Centers for Disease 3 Control to develop operational standards and proce- 4 dures to mitigate public health risks presented by 5 COVID–19 in airports and passenger aircraft. 6 (k) BRIEFING.—Not later than 1 year after the date 7 of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter through 8 fiscal year 2023, the Secretary of Transportation, jointly 9 with the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the 10 Secretary of Homeland Security, shall brief Congress on 11 the recipients of funding and activities carried out under 12 the Program. 13 (l) FUNDING.— 14 (1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 15 There are authorized to be appropriated 16 $77,000,000 to carry out this section, to remain 17 available through fiscal year 2023. 18 (2) USE OF FUNDS.—Of the amounts made 19 available under paragraph (1)— 20 (A) not more than $7,000,000 may be 21 used jointly by the Secretary of Transportation, 22 Secretary of Health and Human Services, and 23 the Secretary of Homeland Security for the ad- 24 ministration of the Program; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8526.IH H8526 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 8526 IH (B) not less than $70,000,000 shall be 1 awarded through the issuance of grants. 2 (3) GRANT AMOUNTS.—The amount of a grant 3 awarded under this section shall be not less than 4 $50,000 and not more than $5,000,000. 5 (m) SUNSET.—The authority to provide grants under 6 this section shall terminate on the last day of fiscal year 7 2023. 8 (n) SMART AIRPORT TECHNOLOGIES DEFINED.—In 9 this section, ‘‘smart airport technologies’’ means the tech- 10 nologies described in section 145 of the FAA Reauthoriza- 11 tion Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–254). 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Oct 30, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8526.IH H8526 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS