Bills Introduced – 12-12-17

Yesterday with both the House and Senate in session there were 33 bills introduced. Of these, two may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

HR 4629 To direct the Department of Transportation to issue regulations to require enhanced security measures for shipments of security sensitive material, and for other purposes. Rep. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large]

S 2220 A bill to provide for the development, construction and operation of a backup to the Global Positioning System, and for other purposes. Sen. Cruz, Ted [R-TX]

Something odd going on with HR 4629, the current security regulations for ‘security sensitive materials’ are not DOT regulations, but rather TSA (49 CFR 1580.101). Having said that, Norton is well known for her concern about the security of rail transportation of hazardous materials because there is a major rail transshipment point in Washington, DC (very close to the Capital) that handles large volumes of hazardous materials.

S 2220 will be followed here if it specifically includes a backup to the GPS timing system used by many industrial control systems. BTW: The Cosponsor for this bill is Sen. Markey (D,MA); talk about a political odd couple; firebrands from both the Right and Left.