H.R. 559

FAST Redress Act of 2009

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IIB

111th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 559

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

February 4, 2009

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

AN ACT

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish an appeal and redress process for individuals wrongly delayed or prohibited from boarding a flight, or denied a right, benefit, or privilege, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Fair, Accurate, Secure, and Timely Redress Act of 2009 or the FAST Redress Act of 2009.

2.

Establishment of appeal and redress process for individuals wrongly delayed or prohibited from boarding a flight, or denied a right, benefit, or privilege

(a)

In general

Subtitle H of title VIII of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 451 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:

890A.

Appeal and redress process for passengers wrongly delayed or prohibited from boarding a flight, or denied a right, benefit, or privilege

(a)

Establishment

Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary shall establish a timely and fair process for individuals who believe they were delayed or prohibited from boarding a commercial aircraft or denied a right, benefit, or privilege because they were wrongly identified as a threat when screened against any terrorist watchlist or database used by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) or any office or component of the Department.

(b)

Office of Appeals and Redress

(1)

Establishment

The Secretary shall establish in the Department an Office of Appeals and Redress to implement, coordinate, and execute the process established by the Secretary pursuant to subsection (a). The Office shall include representatives from the TSA and such other offices and components of the Department as the Secretary determines appropriate.

(2)

Comprehensive Cleared List

The process established by the Secretary pursuant to subsection (a) shall include the establishment of a method by which the Office, under the direction of the Secretary, will maintain and appropriately disseminate a comprehensive list, to be known as the Comprehensive Cleared List, of individuals who—

(A)

were misidentified as an individual on any terrorist watchlist or database;

(B)

completed an approved Department of Homeland Security appeal and redress request and provided such additional information as required by the Department to verify the individual’s identity; and

(C)

permit the use of their personally identifiable information to be shared between multiple Departmental components for purposes of this section.

(3)

Use of Comprehensive Cleared List

(A)

In general

The Secretary shall—

(i)

except as provided in subparagraph (B), transmit to the TSA or any other appropriate office or component of the Department, other Federal, State, local, and tribal entities, and domestic air carriers and foreign air carriers that use any terrorist watchlist or database, the Comprehensive Cleared List and any other information the Secretary determines necessary to resolve misidentifications and improve the administration of the advanced passenger prescreening system and reduce the number of false positives; and

(ii)

ensure that the Comprehensive Cleared List is taken into account by all appropriate offices or components of the Department when assessing the security risk of an individual.

(B)

Termination

(i)

In general

The transmission of the Comprehensive Cleared List to domestic air carriers and foreign air carriers under clause (i) of subparagraph (A) shall terminate on the date on which the Federal Government assumes terrorist watchlist or database screening functions.

(ii)

Written notification to Congress

Not later than 15 days after the date on which the transmission of the Comprehensive Cleared List to the air carriers referred to in clause (i) of this subparagraph terminates in accordance with such clause, the Secretary shall provide written notification to the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate of such termination.

(4)

Intergovernmental efforts

The Secretary may—

(A)

enter into memoranda of understanding with other Federal, State, local, and tribal agencies or entities, as necessary, to improve the appeal and redress process and for other purposes such as to verify an individual’s identity and personally identifiable information; and

(B)

work with other Federal, State, local, and tribal agencies or entities that use any terrorist watchlist or database to ensure, to the greatest extent practicable, that the Comprehensive Cleared List is considered when assessing the security risk of an individual.

(5)

Handling of personally identifiable information

The Secretary, in conjunction with the Chief Privacy Officer of the Department, shall—

(A)

require that Federal employees of the Department handling personally identifiable information of individuals (in this paragraph referred to as PII) complete mandatory privacy and security training prior to being authorized to handle PII;

(B)

ensure that the information maintained under this subsection is secured by encryption, including one-way hashing, data anonymization techniques, or such other equivalent technical security protections as the Secretary determines necessary;

(C)

limit the information collected from misidentified passengers or other individuals to the minimum amount necessary to resolve an appeal and redress request;

(D)

ensure that the information maintained under this subsection is shared or transferred via an encrypted data network that has been audited to ensure that the anti-hacking and other security related software functions perform properly and are updated as necessary;

(E)

ensure that any employee of the Department receiving the information maintained under this subsection handles such information in accordance with section 552a of title 5, United States Code, the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (Public Law 107–296), and other applicable laws;

(F)

only retain the information maintained under this subsection for as long as needed to assist the individual traveler in the appeal and redress process;

(G)

engage in cooperative agreements with appropriate Federal agencies and entities, on a reimbursable basis, to ensure that legal name changes are properly reflected in any terrorist watchlist or database and the Comprehensive Cleared List to improve the appeal and redress process and to ensure the most accurate lists of identifications possible (except that section 552a of title 5, United States Code, shall not prohibit the sharing of legal name changes among Federal agencies and entities for the purposes of this section); and

(H)

conduct and publish a privacy impact assessment of the appeal and redress process established under this section and transmit the assessment to the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate.

(6)

Initiation of appeal and redress process at airports

At each airport at which—

(A)

the Department has a presence, the Office shall provide written information to air carrier passengers to begin the appeal and redress process established pursuant to subsection (a); and

(B)

the Department has a significant presence, provide the written information referred to in subparagraph (A) and ensure a TSA supervisor who is trained in such appeal and redress process is available to provide support to air carrier passengers in need of guidance concerning such process.

(7)

Report to Congress

Not later than 240 days after the date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a report on the status of information sharing among users at the Department of any terrorist watchlist or database. The report shall include the following information:

(A)

A description of the processes and the status of the implementation of this section to share the Comprehensive Cleared List with other Department offices and components and other Federal, State, local, and tribal authorities that utilize any terrorist watchlist or database.

(B)

A description of the extent to which such other Department offices and components are taking into account the Comprehensive Cleared List.

(C)

Data on the number of individuals who have sought and successfully obtained redress through the Office of Appeals and Redress.

(D)

Data on the number of individuals who have sought and were denied redress through the Office of Appeals and Redress.

(E)

An assessment of what impact information sharing of the Comprehensive Cleared List has had on misidentifications of individuals who have successfully obtained redress through the Office of Appeals and Redress.

(F)

An updated privacy impact assessment.

(c)

Terrorist watchlist or database defined

In this section, the term terrorist watchlist or database means any terrorist watchlist or database used by the Transportation Security Administration or any office or component of the Department of Homeland Security or specified in Homeland Security Presidential Directive–6, in effect as of the date of the enactment of this section.

.

(b)

Incorporation of secure flight

Section 44903(j)(2) of title 49, United States Code, is amended—

(1)

in subparagraph (C)(iii)—

(A)

by redesignating subclauses (II) through (VII) as subclauses (III) through (VIII), respectively; and

(B)

by inserting after subclause (I) the following new subclause:

(II)

ensure, not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of the FAST Redress Act of 2009, that the procedure established under subclause (I) is incorporated into the appeals and redress process established under section 890A of the Homeland Security Act of 2002;

;

(2)

in subparagraph (E)(iii), by inserting before the period at the end the following: , in accordance with the appeals and redress process established under section 890A of the Homeland Security Act of 2002; and

(3)

in subparagraph (G)—

(A)

in clause (i), by adding at the end the following new sentence: The Assistant Secretary shall incorporate the process established pursuant to this clause into the appeals and redress process established under section 890A of the Homeland Security Act of 2002.; and

(B)

in clause (ii), by adding at the end the following new sentence: The Assistant Secretary shall incorporate the record established and maintained pursuant to this clause into the Comprehensive Cleared List established and maintained under such section 890A..

(c)

Conforming amendment

Title 49, United States Code, is amended by striking section 44926 (and the item relating to such section in the analysis for chapter 449 of title 49).

(d)

Clerical amendment

Section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 101(b)) is amended by adding after the item relating to section 890 the following new item:

Sec. 890A. Appeal and redress process for passengers wrongly delayed or prohibited from boarding a flight, or denied a right, benefit, or privilege.

.

Passed the House of Representatives February 3, 2009.

Lorraine C. Miller,

Clerk.