[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4820 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4820

     To amend the Defense Production Act of 1950 to strengthen the 
 requirements relating to investigations under such Act, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 28, 2006

  Mr. Markey introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committees on 
 Energy and Commerce, International Relations, and Homeland Security, 
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 
                        the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend the Defense Production Act of 1950 to strengthen the 
 requirements relating to investigations under such Act, 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 Operations Require Tough 
Scrutiny (PORTS) Act of 2006''.

SEC. 2. COMMENCEMENT OF INVESTIGATIONS.

    (a) Discretionary Investigations.--Section 721(a) of the Defense 
Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. App. 2170(a)) is amended--
            (1) in the second sentence, by striking ``30 days'' and 
        inserting ``60 days'';
            (2) by inserting after the second sentence the following 
        new sentence: ``The 60-day period specified in the preceding 
        sentence may be extended by an additional 10 days if the 
        President or the President's designee determines that it is 
        appropriate to do so.''; and
            (3) in the fourth sentence (as so redesignated), by 
        striking ``such determination'' and inserting ``a determination 
        is made under this subsection that an investigation should be 
        undertaken''.
    (b) Mandatory Investigations.--Section 721(b) of the Defense 
Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. App. 2170(b)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``30 days'' and inserting 
        ``60 days''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new sentence:
``The 60-day period specified in paragraph (1) may be extended by an 
additional 10 days if the President or the President's designee 
determines that it is appropriate to do so.''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsections (a) and (b) 
apply with respect to written notifications of proposed or pending 
mergers, acquisitions, or takeovers received pursuant to section 721 of 
the Defense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. App. 2170) on or after 
the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL MANDATORY INVESTIGATIONS.

    (a) Amendments.--Section 721(b) of the Defense Production Act of 
1950 (50 U.S.C. App. 2170(b)), as amended by section 2(b) of this Act, 
is further amended--
            (1) in the first sentence--
                    (A) by striking ``The President or the President's 
                designee'' and inserting the following new paragraph:
            ``(1) In general.--The President or the President's 
        designee'';
                    (B) by striking ``in which an entity'' and 
                inserting ``in which--
                    ``(A) an entity'';
                    (C) by striking ``which could result in control'' 
                and inserting ``which could result in--
                                    ``(i) control'';
                    (D) by striking the period at the end and inserting 
                ``; or
                                    ``(ii) control of a person engaged 
                                in interstate commerce in the United 
                                States that could affect the critical 
                                infrastructure of the United States; 
                                or''; and
                    (E) by adding at the end the following new 
                subparagraph:
                    ``(B) a foreign person seeks to engage in any 
                merger, acquisition, or takeover which could result in 
                foreign control of persons engaged in interstate 
                commerce in the United States that could affect the 
                critical infrastructure of the United States.'';
            (2) in the second sentence--
                    (A) by striking ``Such investigation'' and 
                inserting the following new paragraph:
            ``(2) Requirements relating to commencement and 
        completion.--
                    ``(A) In general.--An investigation described in 
                paragraph (1)''; and
                    (B) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as 
                clauses (i) and (ii), respectively, and moving the 
                margins of clauses (i) and (ii) (as so redesignated) 4 
                ems to the right;
            (3) in the third sentence (as added by section 2(b)(2) of 
        this Act), by striking ``The 60-day period specified in 
        paragraph (1)'' and inserting the following new subparagraph:
                    ``(B) Extension of commencement.--The 60-day period 
                specified in clause (i)''; and
            (4) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(3) Definition.--In this subsection, the term `critical 
        infrastructure'--
                    ``(A) has the meaning given the term in section 
                2(4) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 
                101(4)); and
                    ``(B) includes seaports in the United States.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) apply 
with respect to written notifications of proposed or pending mergers, 
acquisitions, or takeovers received pursuant to section 721 of the 
Defense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. App. 2170) on or after the 
date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 4. REPORT; ACTION WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN MANDATORY 
              INVESTIGATIONS.

    (a) Amendments.--Section 721 of the Defense Production Act of 1950 
(50 U.S.C. App. 2170) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsections (g) through (k) as 
        subsections (h) through (l), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (f) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(g) Report; Action With Respect to Certain Mandatory 
Investigations.--
            ``(1) Report.--If the determination of the President or the 
        President's designee pursuant to an investigation described in 
        subsection (b)(1)(A)(ii) of this section is that the President 
        or the President's designee, as the case may be, approves or 
        does not otherwise object to the merger, acquisition, or 
        takeover which is the subject of the investigation and the 
        President decides not to take action pursuant to subsection (d) 
        of this section with respect to the merger, acquisition, or 
        takeover, as the case may be, then the President shall, not 
        later than 30 days after the date on which the investigation is 
        completed, transmit to the Congress a report that contains the 
        decision of the President not to take action pursuant to 
        subsection (d) of this section with respect to the merger, 
        acquisition, or takeover, as the case may be.
            ``(2) Action pursuant to joint resolution.--If, not later 
        than 45 days after the date on which the Congress receives the 
        report referred to in paragraph (1), a joint resolution 
        described in paragraph (3) is enacted into law, then the 
        President shall take such action under subsection (d) of this 
        section as is necessary to prohibit the merger, acquisition, or 
        takeover which is the subject of the investigation, including, 
        if the merger, acquisition, or takeover, as the case may be, 
        has been completed, directing the Attorney General to seek 
        divestment or other appropriate relief in the district courts 
        of the United States.
            ``(3) Joint resolution described.--For purposes of 
        paragraph (2), the term `joint resolution' means a joint 
        resolution of the Congress, the sole matter after the resolving 
        clause of which is as follows: `That the Congress disapproves 
        the decision of the President contained in the report 
        transmitted to the Congress pursuant to section 721(g)(1) of 
        the Defense Production Act of 1950 on _________.', with the 
        blank space being filled with the appropriate date.
            ``(4) Computation of review period.--In computing the 45-
        day period referred to in paragraph (2), there shall be 
        excluded any day described in section 154(b) of the Trade Act 
        of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2194(b)).''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) apply 
with respect to investigations commenced under section 721(b)(1)(A)(ii) 
of the Defense Production Act of 1950 (as added by section 3(a)(1)(D) 
of this Act) on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 5. ANNUAL REPORT.

    (a) Amendments.--Subsection (h) of section 721 of the Defense 
Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. App. 2170(g)), as redesignated by 
section 2(a)(1) of this Act, is amended--
            (1) in the heading, by striking ``Report'' and inserting 
        ``Reports'';
            (2) by striking ``The President'' and inserting the 
        following:
            ``(1) Report on presidential action.--The President''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(2) Annual report.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The President or the President's 
                designee shall transmit to the appropriate 
                congressional committees an annual report that 
                contains--
                            ``(i) a description of each written 
                        notification of a proposed or pending merger, 
                        acquisition, or takeover received pursuant to 
                        this section during the preceding year, 
                        including, with respect to each such written 
                        notification involving a merger, acquisition, 
                        or takeover described in subsection 
                        (b)(1)(A)(ii), an analysis of the corporate 
                        structure of the entity controlled by or acting 
                        on behalf of a foreign government, including 
                        whether or not the entity is a publicly-traded 
                        corporation, and an identification of the 
                        majority shareholder or shareholders; and
                            ``(ii) a description of the determination 
                        to undertake or not undertake an investigation 
                        of the merger, acquisition, or takeover 
                        referred to in clause (i) and the reasons 
                        therefor.
                    ``(B) Definition.--In this paragraph, the term 
                `appropriate congressional committees' means--
                            ``(i) the Committee on Homeland Security 
                        and the Permanent Select Committee on 
                        Intelligence of the House of Representatives; 
                        and
                            ``(ii) the Committee on Homeland Security 
                        and Governmental Affairs and the Select 
                        Committee on Intelligence of the Senate.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The report required to be transmitted to 
Congress under section 721(h)(2) of the Defense Production Act of 1950 
(as added by subsection (a) of this section) shall be transmitted 
beginning in 2007 and each subsequent calendar year.

SEC. 6. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.

    Section 721 of the Defense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. App. 
2170), as amended by this Act, is further amended--
            (1) in subsection (d), by striking ``Subject to subsection 
        (d)'' and inserting ``Subject to subsection (e)'';
            (2) in subsection (e), by striking ``the authority 
        conferred by subsection (c)'' and inserting ``the authority 
        conferred by subsection (d)''; and
            (3) in subsection (h)(1) (as redesignated by section 
        2(a)(1) and further amended by section 3(a)(2) of this Act), by 
        striking ``subsection (c) of this Act'' and inserting 
        ``subsection (c) of this section''.

SEC. 7. VERIFICATION OF SECURITY MEASURES UNDER THE CUSTOMS-TRADE 
              PARTNERSHIP AGAINST TERRORISM (C-TPAT) PROGRAM AND THE 
              FREE AND SECURE TRADE (FAST) PROGRAM.

    (a) General Verification.--Not later than one year after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, and on a biannual basis thereafter, the 
Commissioner of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection of the 
Department of Homeland Security shall verify on-site the security 
measures of each individual and entity that is participating in the 
Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program and the 
Free And Secure Trade (FAST) program.
    (b) Policies for Noncompliance With C-TPAT Program Requirements.--
The Commissioner shall establish policies for non-compliance with the 
requirements of the C-TPAT program by individuals and entities 
participating in the program, including probation or expulsion from the 
program, as appropriate.
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