[Senate Report 116-323]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 626
116th Congress} { Report
SENATE
2d Session } { 116-323
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TRANSIT SECURITY GRANT PROGRAM FLEXIBILITY ACT
__________
R E P O R T
of the
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
to accompany
H.R. 1313
TO AMEND THE IMPLEMENTING RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE
9/11 COMMISSION ACT OF 2007 TO CLARIFY CERTAIN
ALLOWABLE USES OF FUNDS FOR PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
SECURITY ASSISTANCE GRANTS AND ESTABLISH PERIODS OF
PERFORMANCE FOR SUCH GRANTS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
December 14, 2020.--Ordered to be printed
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 2020
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COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin, Chairman
ROB PORTMAN, Ohio GARY C. PETERS, Michigan
RAND PAUL, Kentucky THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware
JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire
MITT ROMNEY, Utah KAMALA D. HARRIS, California
RICK SCOTT, Florida KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona
MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming JACKY ROSEN, Nevada
JOSH HAWLEY, Missouri
Gabrielle D'Adamo Singer, Staff Director
Joseph C. Folio III, Chief Counsel
Christopher S. Boness, Professional Staff Member
David M. Weinberg, Minority Staff Director
Zachary I. Schram, Minority Chief Counsel
Corban G. Ryan, Minority Research Assistant
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Calendar No. 626
116th Congress} { Report
SENATE
2d Session } { 116-323
======================================================================
TRANSIT SECURITY GRANT PROGRAM FLEXIBILITY ACT
_______
December 14, 2020.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Johnson, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 1313]
The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (H.R. 1313) to amend
the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of
2007 to clarify certain allowable use of funds for public
transportation security assistance grants and establish periods
of performance for such grants, and for other purposes, having
considered the same, reports favorably thereon with an
amendment in the nature of a substitute and recommends that the
bill, as amended, do pass.
CONTENTS
Page
I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
II. Background and Need for the Legislation..........................2
III. Legislative History..............................................3
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis......................................4
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................4
VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................4
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Act, as Reported.............5
I. Purpose and Summary
H.R. 1313, the Transit Security Grant Program Flexibility
Act, amends the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11
Commission Act of 2007 (Implementing 9/11 Recommendations Act)
to extend the period of time that public transportation
security assistance grant awards are available to grant
recipients.\1\ Specifically, this Act allows these grants to
remain available up to 36 months and grants for construction of
security improvements to public transportation systems or
improvements to public transportation infrastructure to remain
available for up to 48 months. It also allows grant funds to be
used to backfill for staff during security trainings. Finally,
the Act requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to
complete an assessment of the types of projects funded by
public transportation security assistance grants, how these
projects address security threats, the impact of this Act on
these projects, the management and administration of the
grants, as well as provide recommendations to improve how these
grants address public transportation vulnerabilities and
recommendations on ways to improve management of these grants.
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\1\ASee 6 U.S.C. 1135.
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II. Background and the Need for Legislation
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the
United States, better known as the 9/11 Commission, issued a
report with numerous recommendations on ways to strengthen
national security and prevent future terrorist attacks.\2\
Multiple recommendations in the report addressed the need to
improve security and fortify public transportation systems by
focusing on risk-based assessments and directing funding and
grant dollars towards higher-risk areas rather than spreading
money across the totality of the public transportations system.
Specifically, the report recommended that, ``The U.S.
Government should identify and evaluate the transportation
assets that need to be protected, set risk-based priorities for
defending them, select the most practical and cost-effective
ways of doing so, and then develop a plan, budget, and funding
to implement the effort.''\3\ Additionally, the report
recommended that ``Homeland security assistance should be based
strictly on an assessment of risks and vulnerabilities . . . .
It should supplement state and local resources based on the
risk of vulnerabilities that merit additional support . . .
.''\4\
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\2\National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States,
The 9/11 Commission Report 367-428 (2004), https://
govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report.pdf.
\3\Id. at 391.
\4\Id. at 396.
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Congress passed the Implementing 9/11 Recommendations Act
to codify and establish many of the recommendations issued in
the report, including creating the Transit Security Grant
Program within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).\5\ It
states that allowable uses for grant funding include capital
uses, such as tunnel protection systems, emergency response
equipment, and security improvements for public transportation
systems, as well as operating uses, such as security training
for employees, public awareness campaigns, and canine patrols
for chemical, radiological, biological, or explosives
detection.\6\ Additionally, in order to be eligible for a
public transportation security grant, the recipient must be
addressing an item in a qualifying security assessment or
produce a security plan.\7\
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\5\Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007,
Pub. L. No. 110-53, Sec. 603, 121 Stat. 266, 376-77 (2007).
\6\Id. Sec. 1406.
\7\Id.
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On January 9, 2020, the House Homeland Security Committee's
Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, & Recovery
conducted a hearing with experts on the importance of DHS
preparedness grants.\8\ In discussing grant programs, John
Miller, the Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and
Counterterrorism, New York City Police Department, said Federal
funding plays a significant part in state and locals' ability
to prevent and prepare for attacks or other events.\9\ He also
stated that if Federal funding is eliminated or reduced, it
would ``result in an erosion of our counterterror and
intelligence capabilities, cessation of many of the initiatives
. . . and a significant limitation of our overall emergency
preparedness posture.''\10\
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\8\Understanding the Importance of DHS Preparedness Grants:
Perspectives from the Field: Hearing Before the Subcomm. on Emergency
Preparedness, Response, & Recovery of the H. Comm. on Homeland Sec.,
116th Cong. (2020) (opening statements of Chairmen Payne and Thompson),
https://homeland.house.gov/activities/hearings/understanding-the-
importance-of-dhs-preparedness-grants_perspectives-from-the-field.
\9\Id. (statement of John Miller, Deputy Commissioner, Intelligence
and Counterterrorism, New York City Police Department).
\10\Id.
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This Act makes several changes to the Transit Security
Grant Program based feedback from grant recipients. First, the
Act clarifies that monies can be used to pay for associated
backfill when public transportation employees enroll in
security training allowed under the operational uses of the
grant funding. Second, the Act codifies the period of
performance for the grant program. For most use cases, the
grant funding period is 36 months, which is the current
performance period. For grant funding for security improvements
to public transportation systems in final design or under
construction, and security improvements for stations and other
public transportation infrastructure, the Act extends the
funding period to 48 months. This change is being made to
address feedback and concerns from grant recipients that large-
capital projects enrolled in the grant program did not have
sufficient time to spend the allotted funding to complete
large-capital projects, such as construction on stations, and
they had to return the money they were awarded and re-apply for
grant funding.
III. Legislative History
Representative Peter King (R-NY-2) introduced H.R. 1313 on
February 19, 2019. Representative Donald Payne, Jr. (D-NJ-10)
joined as co-sponsor on May 14, 2019. The House of
Representatives passed H.R. 1313 by voice vote under suspension
of the rules on May 14, 2019.
The Act was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs on May 15, 2019. The Committee
considered H.R. 1313 at a business meeting on July 22, 2020.
During the business meeting, Chairman Ron Johnson offered an
amendment in the nature of a substitute to change the duration
of large-capital grant awards from 55 months to 48 months based
on feedback the Committee received from stakeholders. The
amendment was adopted by voice vote en bloc. Senators Johnson,
Portman, Paul, Lankford, Romney, Scott, Enzi, Hawley, Peters,
Carper, Hassan, Harris, and Rosen were present.
H.R. 1313, as amended by the substitute amendment, was
reported favorably by voice vote en bloc. Senators Johnson,
Portman, Paul, Lankford, Romney, Scott, Enzi, Hawley, Peters,
Carper, Hassan, Harris, and Rosen were present. Senator Paul
was recorded ``No''.
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis of the Act, as Reported
Sec. 1. Short title
This section names the Act as the ``Transit Security Grant
Program Flexibility Act''.
Sec. 2. Allowable uses of funds for public transportation security
assistance grants
This section allows the operational uses of the grants to
be used for backfill when employees are attending security
training for public transportation employees.
Sec. 3. Periods of performance for public transportation security
assistance grants
This section amends the Implementing 9/11 Recommendations
Act. Specifically, this section codifies the length of most
public transportation security assistance grant allocations to
36 months. Any grants awarded related to security improvements
for public transportation systems in final design or under
construction, or security improvements for stations and other
public transportation infrastructure, may be allowable up to 48
months.
Sec. 4. GAO review
This section requires the GAO to complete an assessment of
the type of projects funded by public transportation security
assistance grants, how these projects address security threats,
the impact of this Act on these projects, the management and
administration of the grants, provide recommendations to
improve how these grants address public transportation
vulnerabilities, and recommendations on ways to improve
management of these grants. It also requires the GAO to submit
a report on this assessment not later than one year after
enactment of the Act, and again not later than five years after
enactment.
Sec. 5. Determination of budgetary effects
This section states that the budgetary effects of this Act
shall be determined by the latest statement of budgetary
effects of PAYGO legislation submitted by the Chairman of the
Senate Budget Committee.
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact
Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has
considered the regulatory impact of this Act and determined
that the Act will have no regulatory impact within the meaning
of the rules. The Committee agrees with the Congressional
Budget Office's statement that the Act contains no
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs
on state, local, or tribal governments.
VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate
CBO failed to provide the Committee with a cost estimate in
time for the final reporting deadline of the 116th Congress.
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Act, as Reported
In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by
the Act, as reported, are shown as follows: (existing law
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in brackets, new matter is
printed in italic, and existing law in which no change is
proposed is shown in roman):
UNITED STATES CODE
* * * * * * *
TITLE 6--DOMESTIC SECURITY
* * * * * * *
CHAPTER 4--TRANSPORTATION SECURITY
* * * * * * *
SUBCHAPTER III--PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SECURITY
* * * * * * *
SEC. 1135. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ASSISTANCE
(a) * * *
(b) Uses of Funds.--A recipient of a grant under subsection
(a) shall use the grant funds for one or more of the following:
(1) * * *
(2) Operating uses of funds, including--
(A) security training and associated
backfill, including training under section 1408
and training developed by institutions of
higher education and by nonprofit employee
labor organizations, for public transportation
employees, including frontline employees;
* * * * * * *
(m) Periods of Performance._
(1) In general._Except as provided in paragraph (2),
funds provided pursuant to a grant awarded under this
section for a use specified in subsection (b) shall
remain available for use by a grant recipient for a
period of not fewer than 36 months.
(2) Exception._Funds provided pursuant to a grant
awarded under this section for a use specified in
subparagraph (M) or (N) of subsection (b)(1) shall
remain available for use by a grant recipient for a
period of not fewer than 48 months.
[(m)] (n) Authorization of Appropriations.--
* * * * * * *
[all]