[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2426 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2426

 To increase security for United States ports, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 30, 2002

  Mr. Schumer introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To increase security for United States ports, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Port Terrorism Prevention Act of 
2002''.

SEC. 2. MANIFEST DISCREPANCIES.

    Section 431(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1431(b)) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``(b) Production of Manifest.--Any'' and 
        inserting the following:
    ``(b) Production of Manifest.--
            ``(1) Requirement.--Any''; and
            (2) by striking ``If any irregularity of omission'' and all 
        that follows through the end period and inserting the 
        following:
            ``(2) Discrepancies.--Notwithstanding any other provision 
        of law, if any shortages or overages of merchandise with 
        respect to any manifest are not reported to the Customs Service 
        at the time a vessel makes formal entry under section 434 or at 
        the time a vehicle or aircraft presents or transmits 
        documentation under section 433(d), the owner or operator of 
        the vessel, aircraft, or vehicle, or any party responsible for 
        such shortages or overages shall be liable for any fine or 
        penalty prescribed by law with respect to such discrepancy. The 
        Customs Service may take appropriate action against any party 
        responsible for not correcting such discrepancy. The Secretary 
        of the Treasury shall not permit any vessel master or agent, 
        any person in charge of a vehicle, or any airline pilot to 
        report shortages or overages at any time that is inconsistent 
        with the provision of this paragraph.''.

SEC. 3. SPECIFIC DESIGNATION OF MERCHANDISE.

    (a) Regulations.--Section 431(d)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 
U.S.C. 1431(d)(1)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of in subparagraph (C);
            (2) in subparagraph (D) by striking the end period and 
        inserting a semicolon and ``and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(E) prohibit the use of certain descriptions of 
                merchandise, including `freight of all kinds', 
                `hazardous not otherwise specified', and `said to 
                contain', or any other description that does not 
                provide adequate information regarding the merchandise 
                on any manifest required by the Customs Service.''.
    (b) Automated Manifest System.--Not later than 12 months after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Commissioner of Customs shall 
develop software to carry out the automated manifest system that will 
reject merchandise descriptions prohibited by section 431(d)(1)(E) of 
the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1431(d)(1)(E)).

SEC. 4. PENALTIES FOR INACCURATE MANIFEST.

    Section 436(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1436(b)) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``$5,000'' and inserting ``$10,000''; and
            (2) by striking ``and $10,000'' and inserting ``$15,000 for 
        the second violation, and $20,000''.

SEC. 5. STUDY AND REPORT ON AUTOMATED REVIEW SYSTEMS.

    (a) Study and Report.--
            (1) Requirement.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury shall 
        conduct a study of the issues set forth in paragraph (2) and 
        submit a report to Congress setting forth the results of the 
        study and any recommendations to implement the conclusions of 
        the study.
            (2) Issues to be studied.--The issues to be studied 
        pursuant to paragraph (1) are--
                    (A) the manner in which data from manifests and 
                bills of lading are submitted to the Customs Service;
                    (B) an assessment of the accuracy of such data;
                    (C) the effectiveness of the automated sufficiency 
                programs;
                    (D) the advisability of modifying the process for 
                collecting data to be used in the automated reviews; 
                and
                    (E) the ability to improve the data collection 
                system.
    (b) Authorization of Appropriation.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated $500,000 to carry out the study and prepare the report 
required by this section.

SEC. 6. MANUAL INSPECTION.

    (a) Increased Manual Inspection.--
            (1) Requirement.--The Customs Service shall increase the 
        number of manual inspections of merchandise carried on vessels 
        required to make entry under section 434 of the Tariff Act of 
        1930 (19 U.S.C. 1434) with a view toward manually inspecting 10 
        percent of all such merchandise.
            (2) Additional personnel.--The Secretary of the Treasury 
        shall employ a sufficient number of new Customs Officers to 
        perform the increased number of manual inspections described in 
        paragraph (1).
    (b) Authorization of Appropriation.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated $150,000,000 for fiscal year 2003 to be available for the 
procurement of at least 100 mobile scanning devices to assist in 
increasing the number of manual inspections described in subsection 
(a)(1).

SEC. 7. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT GRANTS.

    (a) Grants Authorized.--The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized 
to award grants to eligible entities to research and develop 
technologies that can be used to secure the ports of the United States.
    (b) Use of Funds.--Grants awarded pursuant to subsection (a) may be 
used to develop technologies such as--
            (1) methods to increase the ability of the Customs Service 
        to inspect merchandise carried on any vessel that will arrive 
        or has arrived at any port or place in the United States;
            (2) equipment that accurately detects explosives, or 
        chemical and biological agents that could be used to commit 
        terrorist acts in the United States, including--
                    (A) field-portable and hand-held Raman Lidar 
                systems for standoff identification of suspected 
                chemical or biological agents; and
                    (B) hand-held mass spectrometers for detection of 
                gaseous agents;
            (3) equipment that accurately detects nuclear materials, 
        including--
                    (A) hand-held gamma-ray detectors that utilize 
                cadmium zinc telluride crystals capable of detailed 
                spectral analysis;
                    (B) large-area, position-sensitive neutron 
                detectors that utilize He-3 chambers to provide imaging 
                capability;
                    (C) large-area, gamma-ray detection equipment that 
                utilizes tubes containing compressed xenon; and
                    (D) scintillation-based detection equipment capable 
                of attachment to spreaders to signal the presence of 
                nuclear materials during the unloading of containers;
            (4) improved tags and seals designed for use on shipping 
        containers to track the transportation of the merchandise in 
        such containers, including ``smart sensors'' that are able to 
        track a container throughout its entire supply chain, detect 
        hazardous and radioactive materials within that container, and 
        transmit such information to the appropriate authorities at a 
        remote location;
            (5) tools to mitigate the consequences of a terrorist act 
        at a port of the United States, including a network of sensors 
        to predict the dispersion of radiological, chemical, or 
        biological agents that might be intentionally or accidentally 
        released; and
            (6) pilot projects that could be implemented within 12 
        months at 1 of the Nation's 5 largest ports to demonstrate the 
        effectiveness of a system of radiation detection monitors 
        located throughout the port to detect nuclear or radiological 
        material.
    (c) Application.--Each eligible entity desiring a grant under this 
section shall submit an application to the Secretary of the Treasury at 
such time, in such manner, and accompanied by such information as the 
Secretary may reasonably require.
    (d) Eligible Entity.--In this section, the term ``eligible entity'' 
means any national laboratory, nonprofit private organization, 
institution of higher education, or other entity that the Secretary of 
the Treasury determines is eligible to receive a grant authorized by 
subsection (a).
    (e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated $50,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2003 through 2007 
to carry out the provisions of this section.
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