Pray Safe Act of 2023

II Calendar No. 193 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1886 [Report No. 118–90] To establish a Federal Clearinghouse on Safety and Best Practices for Non- profit Organizations, Faith-based Organizations, and Houses of Worship within the Department of Homeland Security, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 8, 2023 Ms. HASSAN (for herself, Mr. JOHNSON, Ms. ROSEN, and Mr. PETERS) intro- duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs AUGUST 22, 2023 Reported under authority of the order of the Senate of July 27, 2023, by Mr. PETERS, with an amendment [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] A BILL To establish a Federal Clearinghouse on Safety and Best Practices for Nonprofit Organizations, Faith-based Orga- nizations, and Houses of Worship within 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 00:09 Aug 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1886.RS S1886 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1886 RS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pray Safe Act of 2 2023’’. 3 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 4 In this Act: 5 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Agency’’ means the 6 Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency of 7 the Department. 8 (2) CLEARINGHOUSE.—The term ‘‘Clearing- 9 house’’ means the Federal Clearinghouse on Safety 10 and Security Best Practices for Nonprofit Organiza- 11 tions, Faith-based Organizations, and Houses of 12 Worship established under section 3(a). 13 (3) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 14 means the Department of Homeland Security. 15 (4) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 16 the Director of the Agency. 17 (5) FAITH-BASED ORGANIZATION.—The term 18 ‘‘faith-based organization’’ means a group, center, or 19 nongovernmental organization with a religious, ideo- 20 logical, or spiritual motivation, character, affiliation, 21 or purpose that meets the definition of nonprofit or- 22 ganization. 23 (6) HOUSE OF WORSHIP.—The term ‘‘house of 24 worship’’ means a place or building, including a syn- 25 agogue, mosque, temple, and church, in which 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 Aug 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1886.RS S1886 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1886 RS congregants practice their religious or spiritual be- 1 liefs. 2 (7) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION.—The term 3 ‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an organization— 4 (A) of the type described in subsection 5 (c)(3) of section 501 of the Internal Revenue 6 Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation under 7 subsection (a) of such section; and 8 (B) determined to be at risk of a terrorist 9 attack or other threat by the Secretary. 10 (8) SAFETY AND SECURITY.—The term ‘‘safety 11 and security’’ means prevention of, protection 12 against, or recovery from threats and incidents, in- 13 cluding natural disasters, manmade disasters, or ter- 14 rorist attacks. 15 (9) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 16 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 17 SEC. 3. FEDERAL CLEARINGHOUSE ON SAFETY AND SECU- 18 RITY BEST PRACTICES FOR NONPROFIT OR- 19 GANIZATIONS, FAITH-BASED ORGANIZA- 20 TIONS, AND HOUSES OF WORSHIP (PRAY 21 SAFE). 22 (a) FEDERAL CLEARINGHOUSE.— 23 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 Aug 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1886.RS S1886 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1886 RS (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 270 1 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 2 the Secretary, in consultation with the Attorney 3 General, the Executive Director of the White 4 House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood 5 Partnerships, and the head of any other agency 6 the Secretary determines appropriate, shall es- 7 tablish within the Department a Federal Clear- 8 inghouse on Safety and Security Best Practices 9 for Nonprofit Organizations, Faith-based Orga- 10 nizations, and Houses of Worship. 11 (B) PURPOSE.—The Clearinghouse shall 12 be the primary resource of the Federal Govern- 13 ment to— 14 (i) educate and publish online best 15 practices and recommendations for safety 16 and security for nonprofit organizations 17 and houses of worship; and 18 (ii) provide information relating to 19 Federal grant programs available to non- 20 profit organizations and houses of worship. 21 (C) PERSONNEL.— 22 (i) ASSIGNMENTS.—The Clearing- 23 house shall be assigned such personnel and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 Aug 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1886.RS S1886 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1886 RS resources as the Secretary considers appro- 1 priate to carry out this subsection. 2 (ii) DETAILEES.—The Secretary may 3 coordinate detailees on a reimbursable or a 4 nonreimbursable basis as required for the 5 Clearinghouse. 6 (iii) DESIGNATED POINT OF CON- 7 TACT.— 8 (I) IN GENERAL.—There shall be 9 not fewer than 1 employee assigned or 10 detailed to the Clearinghouse who 11 shall be the designated point of con- 12 tact to provide information and assist- 13 ance to nonprofit organizations and 14 houses of worship, including assist- 15 ance relating to the grant program es- 16 tablished under subsection (c). 17 (II) CONTACT INFORMATION.— 18 The contact information of the des- 19 ignated point of contact under sub- 20 clause (I) shall be made available on 21 the website of the Clearinghouse. 22 (iv) QUALIFICATION.—To the max- 23 imum extent possible, any personnel as- 24 signed or detailed to the Clearinghouse 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 Aug 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1886.RS S1886 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1886 RS under this subparagraph should be familiar 1 with nonprofit organizations (including 2 faith-based organizations and houses of 3 worship) and with physical and online se- 4 curity measures to identify and prevent 5 safety and security risks. 6 (2) CLEARINGHOUSE CONTENTS.— 7 (A) EVIDENCE-BASED TIERS.— 8 (i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in 9 consultation with the Attorney General, the 10 Executive Director of the White House Of- 11 fice of Faith-Based and Neighborhood 12 Partnerships, and the head of any other 13 agency the Secretary determines appro- 14 priate, shall develop tiers for determining 15 evidence-based best practices and rec- 16 ommendations that demonstrate a signifi- 17 cant effect on improving safety and secu- 18 rity of nonprofit organizations and houses 19 of worship. 20 (ii) REQUIREMENTS.—The tiers re- 21 quired to be developed under clause (i) 22 shall— 23 (I) prioritize— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 Aug 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1886.RS S1886 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1886 RS (aa) strong evidence from 1 not fewer than 1 well-designed 2 and well-implemented experi- 3 mental study; and 4 (bb) moderate evidence from 5 not fewer than 1 well-designed 6 and well-implemented quasi-ex- 7 perimental study; and 8 (II) consider promising evidence 9 that demonstrates a rationale based 10 on high-quality research findings or 11 positive evaluations that the activity, 12 strategy, or intervention is likely to 13 improve and promote safety and secu- 14 rity of nonprofit organizations and 15 houses of worship. 16 (B) CRITERIA FOR BEST PRACTICES AND 17 RECOMMENDATIONS.—The best practices and 18 recommendations referred to in paragraph 19 (1)(B)(i) of the Clearinghouse shall, at a min- 20 imum— 21 (i) identify areas of concern for non- 22 profit organizations and houses of worship, 23 including event planning recommendations, 24 checklists, facility hardening, tabletop exer- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 Aug 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1886.RS S1886 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1886 RS cise resources, and other resilience meas- 1 ures; 2 (ii) involve comprehensive safety and 3 security measures, including threat preven- 4 tion, preparedness, protection, mitigation, 5 incident response, and recovery to improve 6 the safety and security posture of non- 7 profit organizations and houses of worship 8 upon implementation; 9 (iii) involve comprehensive safety and 10 security measures, including preparedness, 11 protection, mitigation, incident response, 12 and recovery to improve the resiliency of 13 nonprofit organizations and houses of wor- 14 ship from threats and incidents, including 15 natural disasters, manmade disasters, or 16 terrorist attacks or other threats; 17 (iv) include any evidence or research 18 rationale supporting the determination of 19 the Clearinghouse that the comprehensive 20 safety and security measures under clauses 21 (ii) and (iii) have been shown to have a 22 significant effect on improving the safety 23 and security of individuals who, at the time 24 of any such threat or incident, are phys- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 Aug 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1886.RS S1886 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1886 RS ically located in the place or building of a 1 nonprofit organization or house of worship, 2 including— 3 (I) findings and data from pre- 4 vious Federal, State, local, Tribal, ter- 5 ritorial, private sector, and nongovern- 6 mental organization research centers 7 relating to the safety and security of 8 nonprofit organizations and houses of 9 worship, including from targeted vio- 10 lence; and 11 (II) other supportive evidence or 12 findings relied upon by the Clearing- 13 house in determining best practices 14 and recommendations to improve the 15 safety and security posture of non- 16 profit organizations and houses of 17 worship upon implementation; and 18 (v) include an overview of the avail- 19 able resources the Clearinghouse can pro- 20 vide to nonprofit organizations and houses 21 of worship. 22 (C) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.—The 23 Clearinghouse shall maintain and make avail- 24 able a comprehensive index of all Federal grant 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 Aug 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1886.RS S1886 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1886 RS programs for which nonprofit organizations and 1 houses of worship are eligible, which shall in- 2 clude the performance metrics for each grant 3 the recipient will be required to provide. 4 (D) PAST RECOMMENDATIONS.—To the 5 greatest extent practicable, the Clearinghouse 6 shall identify and present, as appropriate, best 7 practices and recommendations issued by Fed- 8 eral, State, local, Tribal, territorial, private sec- 9 tor, and nongovernmental organizations rel- 10 evant to the safety and security of nonprofit or- 11 ganizations (including faith-based organizations 12 and houses of worship). 13 (E) EXISTING PLATFORM.—The Secretary 14 may establish and maintain the Clearinghouse 15 on an online platform or a website that is in ex- 16 istence as of the date of enactment of this Act. 17 (3) ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING.—The Sec- 18 retary may produce and publish materials on the 19 Clearinghouse to assist and train nonprofit organiza- 20 tions, houses of worship, and law enforcement agen- 21 cies regarding the implementation of the best prac- 22 tices and recommendations under this subsection. 23 (4) CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT.— 24 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 Aug 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1886.RS S1886 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1886 RS (i) collect for the purpose of contin- 1 uous improvement of the Clearinghouse— 2 (I) Clearinghouse data analytics; 3 (II) user feedback on the imple- 4 mentation of resources, best practices, 5 and recommendations identified by 6 the Clearinghouse; and 7 (III) any evaluations conducted 8 regarding implementation of such best 9 practices and recommendations; 10 (ii) in coordination with the Faith- 11 Based Security Advisory Council of the 12 Department, the Department of Justice, 13 the Executive Director of the White House 14 Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood 15 Partnerships, and any other agency the 16 Secretary determines appropriate— 17 (I) assess and identify Clearing- 18 house best practices and recommenda- 19 tions for which there are no resources 20 available through Federal Government 21 programs for implementation; 22 (II) provide feedback on the im- 23 plementation of such best practices 24 and recommendations; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 Aug 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1886.RS S1886 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1886 RS (III) propose additional rec- 1 ommendations for best practices for 2 inclusion in the Clearinghouse; and 3 (iii) not less frequently than annually, 4 examine and update the Clearinghouse in 5 accordance with— 6 (I) the information collected 7 under clause (i); and 8 (II) the recommendations pro- 9 posed under clause (ii)(III). 10 (B) ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The 11 Secretary shall submit to Congress, on an an- 12 nual basis, a report on the updates under sub- 13 paragraph (A)(iii) made to the Clearinghouse 14 during the preceding 1-year period, which shall 15 include a description of any changes made pur- 16 suant thereto to the Clearinghouse. 17 (b) NOTIFICATION OF THE CLEARINGHOUSE.— 18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide 19 to the individuals, Federal agencies, and committees 20 specified in paragraph (2) written notification of the 21 establishment of the Clearinghouse, including up- 22 dates pertaining to grant programs identified under 23 subsection (a)(2)(C). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 Aug 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1886.RS S1886 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •S 1886 RS (2) INDIVIDUALS, FEDERAL AGENCIES, AND 1 COMMITTEES SPECIFIED.—The individuals and enti- 2 ties specified in this paragraph are the following: 3 (A) Every State homeland security advisor. 4 (B) Every State department of homeland 5 security. 6 (C) Other Federal agencies with grant pro- 7 grams or initiatives that aid in the safety and 8 security of faith-based organizations and houses 9 of worship, as determined appropriate by the 10 Secretary. 11 (D) Every Cyber Security Advisor. 12 (E) Every Protective Security Advisor. 13 (F) Every Federal Bureau of Investigation 14 Joint Terrorism Task Force. 15 (G) Every Homeland Security Fusion Cen- 16 ter. 17 (H) Every State or territorial Governor or 18 other Chief Executive. 19 (I) The Committee on Homeland Security 20 and Government [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]