Fund the TSA Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3394 To amend title 49, United States Code, to improve the ability of the Transpor- tation Security Administration to carry out its security mission by ensur- ing that revenues collected from passengers as aviation security fees are used to help finance the costs of aviation security screening, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 17, 2023 Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security A BILL To amend title 49, United States Code, to improve the ability of the Transportation Security Administration to carry out its security mission by ensuring that revenues collected from passengers as aviation security fees are used to help finance the costs of aviation security screen- ing, 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 ‘‘Fund the TSA Act’’. 4 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:21 Jun 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3394.IH H3394 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3394 IH SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS TO AVIATION SECURITY FEES TO 1 INCREASE REVENUES AND END FEE DIVER- 2 SIONS. 3 (a) CHANGES TO AVIATION SECURITY FEES.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 44940 of title 49, 5 United States Code, is amended— 6 (A) in subsection (c)— 7 (i) by amending paragraph (1) to read 8 as follows: 9 ‘‘(1) AMOUNT.—Fees imposed under subsection 10 (a)(1) shall be $7.60 per one-way trip in air trans- 11 portation or intrastate air transportation that origi- 12 nates at an airport in the United States, except that 13 the fee imposed per round trip shall not exceed 14 $15.20, subject to adjustments made pursuant to 15 paragraph (2).’’; 16 (ii) by redesignating paragraphs (2) 17 and (3) as paragraphs (3) and (4); 18 (iii) by inserting after paragraph (1) 19 the following new paragraph: 20 ‘‘(2) ADJUSTMENT FOR INFLATION.— 21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of 22 the Transportation Security Administration 23 shall adjust the fee amounts established under 24 paragraph (1) on April 1, 2026, and at the be- 25 ginning of each fiscal year thereafter, to reflect 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:21 Jun 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3394.IH H3394 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3394 IH the percentage (if any) of the increase in the 1 average of the Consumer Price Index for the 2 preceding 12-month period compared to the 3 Consumer Price Index for fiscal year 2024. 4 ‘‘(B) SPECIAL RULES FOR CALCULATION 5 OF ADJUSTMENT.—In adjusting under subpara- 6 graph (A) the fee amounts established under 7 paragraph (1), the Administrator of the Trans- 8 portation Security Administration— 9 ‘‘(i) shall round the amount of any in- 10 crease in the Consumer Price Index to the 11 nearest dollar; 12 ‘‘(ii) may ignore any such increase of 13 less than one percent; 14 ‘‘(iii) shall ensure that the fee im- 15 posed per round trip does not exceed twice 16 that of the fee imposed per one-way trip; 17 and 18 ‘‘(iv) shall publish in the Federal Reg- 19 ister notice of any adjustments made 20 under this paragraph, pursuant to sub- 21 section (d). 22 ‘‘(C) CONSUMER PRICE INDEX DEFINED.— 23 For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘Con- 24 sumer Price Index’ means the Consumer Price 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:21 Jun 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3394.IH H3394 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3394 IH Index for All Urban Consumers published by 1 the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Depart- 2 ment of Labor.’’; and 3 (iv) in paragraph (4), as so redesig- 4 nated, by striking ‘‘2027’’ and inserting 5 ‘‘2023’’; and 6 (2) by striking subsection (i). 7 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Subsection 8 (d)(4) of such section is amended by striking ‘‘, 9 other than subsection (i),’’. 10 (b) FUNDING CHECKPOINT TECHNOLOGIES, FAIR 11 PAY AND RIGHTS FOR TSA WORKERS, AND OTHER SECU- 12 RITY PROGRAMS.—Section 44923 of title 49, United 13 States Code, is amended— 14 (1) by redesignating subsection (i) as subsection 15 (l); and 16 (2) by inserting after subsection (h) the fol- 17 lowing new subsections: 18 ‘‘(i) AVIATION SECURITY CHECKPOINT TECHNOLOGY 19 FUND.— 20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is established within 21 the Department of Homeland Security a fund to be 22 known as the Aviation Security Checkpoint Tech- 23 nology Fund (in this subsection referred to as the 24 ‘ASCT Fund’). The second $250,000,000 from fees 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:21 Jun 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3394.IH H3394 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3394 IH received under section 44940(a)(1) in each of fiscal 1 years 2024 through 2028 shall be available to be de- 2 posited in the ASCT Fund. The Administrator of 3 the Transportation Security Administration shall im- 4 pose the fee authorized by such section 44940(a)(1) 5 so as to collect not less than $250,000,000 in each 6 of such fiscal years for deposit into the ASCT Fund. 7 Amounts in the ASCT Fund shall be available until 8 expended to the Administrator to fund the research, 9 development, procurement, deployment, and 10 sustainment of aviation security checkpoint tech- 11 nology. 12 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION.—Of the amount made avail- 13 able under paragraph (1) for a fiscal year, not less 14 than $12,500,000 shall be allocated for awards to 15 small businesses in support of research and develop- 16 ment of technologies under consideration for pro- 17 curement and deployment, if such small businesses 18 have demonstrated an ability to produce technologies 19 supporting the advancement of checkpoint security 20 screening, as determined by the Administrator of the 21 Transportation Security Administration. 22 ‘‘(j) TSA WORKFORCE FAIR PAY AND RIGHTS 23 FUND.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:21 Jun 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3394.IH H3394 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3394 IH ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is established within 1 the Department of Homeland Security a fund to be 2 known as the TSA Workforce Fair Pay and Rights 3 Fund (in this section referred to as the ‘Workforce 4 Fund’). Following the deposit of amounts specified 5 under subsection (i) in the ASCT Fund, the next 6 $1,138,700,000 from fees received under section 7 44940(a)(1) in fiscal year 2024 shall be available to 8 be deposited in the Workforce Fund. The Adminis- 9 trator of the Transportation Security Administration 10 shall impose the fee authorized by such section 11 44940(a)(1) so as to collect not less than 12 $1,138,700,000 in fiscal year 2024 for deposit into 13 the Workforce Fund. Amounts in the Workforce 14 Fund shall be available until expended to the Ad- 15 ministrator to fund the salaries and benefits of 16 Transportation Security Administration employees 17 and the administration of collective bargaining and 18 merit systems protection rights in accordance with 19 paragraph (2). 20 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION.—Of the amount made avail- 21 able under paragraph (1) for fiscal year 2024— 22 ‘‘(A) not less than $1,086,000,000 shall be 23 allocated for the salaries and benefits of Trans- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:21 Jun 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3394.IH H3394 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3394 IH portation Security Administration employees; 1 and 2 ‘‘(B) not less than $52,700,000 shall be al- 3 located for the administration of collective bar- 4 gaining and merit systems protection rights. 5 ‘‘(k) OTHER SECURITY PROGRAMS FUND.— 6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is established within 7 the Department of Homeland Security a fund to be 8 known as the Other Security Programs Fund (in 9 this section referred to as the ‘OSP Fund’). Fol- 10 lowing the deposit of amounts specified under sub- 11 section (j) in the Workforce Fund, the next 12 $130,000,000 from fees received under section 13 44940(a)(1) in fiscal year 2024 shall be available to 14 be deposited in the OSP Fund. The Administrator 15 of the Transportation Security Administration shall 16 impose the fee authorized by such section 17 44940(a)(1) so as to collect not less than 18 $130,000,000 in fiscal year 2024 for deposit into 19 the OSP Fund. Amounts in the OSP Fund shall be 20 available until expended to the Administrator to 21 fund security programs in accordance with para- 22 graph (2). 23 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION.—Of the amount made avail- 24 able under paragraph (1) for fiscal year 2024— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:21 Jun 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3394.IH H3394 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3394 IH ‘‘(A) not less than $45,900,000 shall be al- 1 located to reimburse law enforcement agencies 2 deploying law enforcement officers to airports, 3 in accordance with requirements set by the Ad- 4 ministrator; 5 ‘‘(B) not less than $34,100,000 shall be al- 6 located to reimburse law enforcement agencies 7 deploying canines to airports, in accordance 8 with requirements set by the Administrator; 9 and 10 ‘‘(C) not less than $50,000,000 shall be al- 11 located to make discretionary grants, including 12 other transaction agreements, for projects pro- 13 viding for the procurement, deployment, and 14 sustainment of technology systems to secure 15 exit lanes from the sterile area of an airport (as 16 such term is defined in section 1540.5 of title 17 49, Code of Federal Regulations), if— 18 ‘‘(i) the Federal Government’s share 19 of the cost of such a project is not more 20 than 50 percent; and 21 ‘‘(ii) the Administrator approves an 22 application for a grant under this sub- 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:21 Jun 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3394.IH H3394 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3394 IH section that contains such information as 1 the Administrator has prescribed.’’. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:21 Jun 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3394.IH H3394 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS