[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1007 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1007

 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish an appeal and 
redress process for individuals who are screened against the terrorist 
watchlist and wrongly delayed or prohibited from boarding a flight, or 
     denied a right, benefit, or privilege, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 10, 2011

    Ms. Clarke of New York introduced the following bill; which was 
             referred to the Committee on Homeland Security

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish an appeal and 
redress process for individuals who are screened against the terrorist 
watchlist and wrongly delayed or prohibited from boarding a flight, or 
     denied a right, benefit, or privilege, 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 ``Fair, Accurate, Secure, and Timely 
Redress Act of 2011'' or the ``FAST Redress Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPEAL AND REDRESS.

    (a) In General.--Subtitle H of title VIII of the Homeland Security 
Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 451 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new section:

``SEC. 890A. APPEAL AND REDRESS.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall establish an Office of 
Appeals and Redress to implement and execute a redress process for 
individuals who believe they were wrongly delayed or prohibited from 
boarding a commercial aircraft or denied a right, benefit, or privilege 
by the Department because they were wrongly identified as a threat when 
screened against the terrorist watchlist used by the Transportation 
Security Administration, United States Customs and Border Protection, 
or any office or component of the Department.
    ``(b) Director.--The Office shall be headed by a Director, who 
shall be appointed by the Secretary and shall report to the Secretary.
    ``(c) Responsibilities.--The Director shall carry out the following 
responsibilities:
            ``(1) Implement and maintain a redress process that 
        includes an information technology system for purposes of 
        providing redress to individuals who believe they were 
        misidentified against the terrorist watchlist and that 
        addresses case management, workflow, document management, 
        recordkeeping, and interoperability issues identified by audits 
        of the redress process in effect on the day before the date of 
        the enactment of this section.
            ``(2) Review, adjudicate, and respond in writing, within 30 
        days, to the greatest extent possible, to an individual who 
        files an appeal and redress request with information relating 
        to the disposition of such request.
            ``(3) Establish and maintain a Comprehensive Cleared List 
        of individuals who, upon providing all information required by 
        the Director to verify an individual's identity, are determined 
        by the Director to be misidentified.
            ``(4) Perform such other responsibilities as the Secretary 
        may require.
    ``(d) Comprehensive Cleared List.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall ensure that the 
        Comprehensive Cleared List is electronically integrated into 
        the systems for screening individuals against the terrorist 
        watchlist maintained by the Transportation Security 
        Administration, United States Customs and Border Protection, or 
        any other office or component of the Department and shall--
                    ``(A) transmit to other Federal, State, local, and 
                tribal agencies and entities that use any terrorist 
                watchlist the Comprehensive Cleared List and any other 
                information the Secretary determines necessary to 
                resolve misidentifications, as appropriate; and
                    ``(B) work with other Federal, State, local, and 
                tribal agencies or entities that use any terrorist 
                watchlist to ensure, to the greatest extent 
                practicable, that the Comprehensive Cleared List is 
                considered when assessing the security risk of an 
                individual.
    ``(e) Handling of Personally Identifiable Information.--The 
Secretary, in conjunction with the Chief Privacy Officer of the 
Department, shall--
            ``(1) require that Federal employees of the Department 
        handling personally identifiable information of individuals (in 
        this paragraph referred to as `PII') complete mandatory privacy 
        and security training prior to being authorized to handle PII;
            ``(2) ensure that the information maintained under this 
        subsection is secured by encryption, including one-way hashing, 
        data anonymization techniques, or such other equivalent 
        technical security protections as the Secretary determines 
        necessary;
            ``(3) limit the information collected from individuals to 
        the minimum amount necessary to resolve an appeal and redress 
        request;
            ``(4) ensure that the information maintained under this 
        subsection is shared or transferred via an encrypted data 
        network that has been audited to ensure that the anti-hacking 
        and other security related software functions perform properly 
        and are updated as necessary;
            ``(5) ensure that any employee of the Department receiving 
        the information maintained under this subsection handles such 
        information in accordance with section 552a of title 5, United 
        States Code, the Federal Information Security Management Act of 
        2002 (Public Law 107-296), and other applicable laws;
            ``(6) only retain the information maintained under this 
        subsection for as long as needed to assist the individual in 
        the appeal and redress process;
            ``(7) engage in cooperative agreements with appropriate 
        Federal agencies and entities, on a reimbursable basis, to 
        ensure that legal name changes are properly reflected in any 
        terrorist watchlist and the Comprehensive Cleared List to 
        improve the appeal and redress process and to ensure the most 
        accurate lists of identifications possible (except that section 
        552a of title 5, United States Code, shall not prohibit the 
        sharing of legal name changes among Federal agencies and 
        entities for the purposes of this section);
            ``(8) ensure that the Chief Privacy Officer publishes an 
        updated privacy impact assessment of the appeal and redress 
        process established under this section and submit to the 
        appropriate congressional committees such assessment; and
            ``(9) submit, on a quarterly basis, to the appropriate 
        congressional committees--
                    ``(A) data on the number of individuals who have 
                sought and successfully obtained redress through the 
                Office of Appeals and Redress during the immediately 
                preceding quarter;
                    ``(B) data on the number of individuals who have 
                sought and were denied redress through the Office of 
                Appeals and Redress during the immediately preceding 
                quarter;
                    ``(C) the average length of time for adjudication 
                of completed applications during the immediately 
                preceding quarter; and
                    ``(D) a list of the grounds for denials, together 
                with corresponding percentages for each such ground 
                reflecting the frequency of use by the Office of 
                Appeals and Redress during the immediately preceding 
                quarter.
    ``(f) Initiation of Appeal and Redress Process at Airports and 
Ports of Entry.--At each airport and port of entry at which--
            ``(1) the Department has a presence, the Office shall 
        provide written information to individuals to begin the appeal 
        and redress process established pursuant to subsection (a); and
            ``(2) the Department has a significant presence, provide 
        the written information referred to in subparagraph (1) and 
        ensure a Transportation Security Administration or United 
        States Customs and Border Protection supervisor who is trained 
        in such appeal and redress process is available to provide 
        support to individuals in need of guidance concerning such 
        process.
    ``(g) Inspector General Review.--Not later than one year after the 
date of the enactment of this section, the Inspector General of the 
Department shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a 
report on the status of implementation of this section. The report 
shall include the following:
            ``(1) An evaluation of the appeal and redress process 
        established pursuant to this section.
            ``(2) An assessment of the status of the Comprehensive 
        Cleared List requirements, including the extent to which 
        systems for screening individuals against the terrorist 
        watchlist maintained by the Transportation Security 
        Administration, United States Customs and Border Protection, 
        and other offices and components of the Department have 
        electronically integrated the Comprehensive Cleared List.
            ``(3) An assessment of the impact of implementation of this 
        section, including the integration of the Comprehensive Cleared 
        List into the systems for screening individuals against the 
        terrorist watchlist maintained by the Transportation Security 
        Administration, United States Customs and Border Protection, 
        and other office or component of the Department has had on 
        misidentifications of individuals.
    ``(h) Definitions.--
            ``(1) Appropriate congressional committee.--In this 
        section, the term `appropriate congressional committee' means 
        the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of 
        Representatives and Committee on Homeland Security and 
        Governmental Affairs of the Senate and any committee of the 
        House of Representatives or the Senate having legislative 
        jurisdiction under the rules of the House of Representatives or 
        Senate, respectively, over the matter concerned.
            ``(2) Terrorist watch list.--In this section, the term 
        `terrorist watchlist' means any terrorist watchlist or database 
        used by the Transportation Security Administration, United 
        States Customs and Border Protection, or any office or 
        component of the Department of Homeland Security or specified 
        in Homeland Security Presidential Directive-6 to screen 
        individuals, in effect as of the date of the enactment of this 
        section.''.
    (b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out the amendments 
made by this section.
    (c) Incorporation of Secure Flight.--Section 44903(j)(2) of title 
49, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (C)(iii)--
                    (A) by redesignating subclauses (II) through (VII) 
                as subclauses (III) through (VIII), respectively; and
                    (B) by inserting after subclause (I) the following 
                new subclause:
                                    ``(II) ensure, not later than 30 
                                days after the date of the enactment of 
                                the FAST Redress Act of 2011, that the 
                                procedure established under subclause 
                                (I) is incorporated into the appeals 
                                and redress process established under 
                                section 890A of the Homeland Security 
                                Act of 2002;'';
            (2) in subparagraph (E)(iii), by inserting before the 
        period at the end the following: ``, in accordance with the 
        appeals and redress process established under section 890A of 
        the Homeland Security Act of 2002''; and
            (3) in subparagraph (G)--
                    (A) in clause (i), by adding at the end the 
                following new sentence: ``The Assistant Secretary shall 
                incorporate the process established pursuant to this 
                clause into the appeals and redress process established 
                under section 890A of the Homeland Security Act of 
                2002.''; and
                    (B) in clause (ii), by adding at the end the 
                following new sentence: ``The Assistant Secretary shall 
                incorporate the record established and maintained 
                pursuant to this clause into the Comprehensive Cleared 
                List established and maintained under such section 
                890A.''.
    (d) Conforming Amendment.--Title 49, United States Code, is amended 
by striking section 44926 (and the item relating to such section in the 
analysis for chapter 449 of title 49).
    (e) Clerical Amendment.--Section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act 
of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 101(b)) is amended by adding after the item relating 
to section 890 the following new item:

``Sec. 890A. Appeal and redress.''.
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