IIB
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1877
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 21, 2021
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
AN ACT
To require the Transportation Security Administration to issue a plan to improve security screening procedures at airports during the COVID–19 national emergency, and for other purposes.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the Security Screening During COVID–19 Act
.
Plan
In general
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in coordination with the Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Homeland Security, and in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall issue and commence implementing a plan to enhance, as appropriate, security operations at airports during the COVID–19 national emergency in order to reduce risk of the spread of the coronavirus at passenger screening checkpoints and among the TSA workforce.
Contents
The plan required under subsection (a) shall include the following:
An identification of best practices developed in response to the coronavirus among foreign governments, airports, and air carriers conducting aviation security screening operations, as well as among Federal agencies conducting similar security screening operations outside of airports, including in locations where the spread of the coronavirus has been successfully contained, that could be further integrated into the United States aviation security system.
Specific operational changes to aviation security screening operations informed by the identification of best practices under paragraph (1) that could be implemented without degrading aviation security and a corresponding timeline and costs for implementing such changes.
Considerations
In carrying out the identification of best practices under subsection (b), the Administrator shall take into consideration the following:
Aviation security screening procedures and practices in place at security screening locations, including procedures and practices implemented in response to the coronavirus.
Volume and average wait times at each such security screening location.
Public health measures already in place at each such security screening location.
The feasibility and effectiveness of implementing similar procedures and practices in locations where such are not already in place.
The feasibility and potential benefits to security, public health, and travel facilitation of continuing any procedures and practices implemented in response to the COVID–19 national emergency beyond the end of such emergency.
Consultation
In developing the plan required under subsection (a), the Administrator may consult with public and private stakeholders and the TSA workforce, including through the labor organization certified as the exclusive representative of full- and part-time non-supervisory TSA personnel carrying out screening functions under section 44901 of title 49, U.S. Code.
Submission
Upon issuance of the plan required under subsection (a), the Administrator shall submit the plan to the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate.
Issuance and implementation
The Administrator shall not be required to issue or implement, as the case may be, the plan required under subsection (a) upon the termination of the COVID–19 national emergency except to the extent the Administrator determines such issuance or implementation, as the case may be, to be feasible and beneficial to security screening operations.
GAO review
Not later than 1 year after the issuance of the plan required under subsection (a) (if such plan is issued in accordance with subsection (f)), the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a review, if appropriate, of such plan and any efforts to implement such plan.
Definitions
In this section:
Administrator
The term Administrator
means the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration.
Coronavirus
The term coronavirus
has the meaning given such term in section 506 of the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020 (Public Law 116–123).
COVID–19 national emergency
The term COVID–19 national emergency
means the national emergency declared by the President under the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) on March 13, 2020, with respect to the coronavirus.
Public and private stakeholders
The term public and private stakeholders
has the meaning given such term in section 114(t)(1)(C) of title 49, United States Code.
TSA
The term TSA
means the Transportation Security Administration.
Passed the House of Representatives July 20, 2021.
Cheryl L. Johnson,
Clerk