[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1403 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1403

    To amend title 49, United States Code, to direct the Assistant 
Secretary of Homeland Security (Transportation Security Administration) 
to facilitate the screening of severely injured or disabled members of 
the Armed Forces and severely injured or disabled veterans at airports, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 31, 2013

 Mr. Pryor (for himself and Ms. Ayotte) introduced the following bill; 
    which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend title 49, United States Code, to direct the Assistant 
Secretary of Homeland Security (Transportation Security Administration) 
to facilitate the screening of severely injured or disabled members of 
the Armed Forces and severely injured or disabled veterans at airports, 
                        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 ``Helping Heroes Fly Act''.

SEC. 2. FACILITATION OF PASSENGER SCREENING FOR SEVERELY INJURED OR 
              DISABLED MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES AND SEVERELY INJURED 
              OR DISABLED VETERANS.

    (a) In General.--Subchapter I of chapter 449 of title 49, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 44927. Facilitation of passenger screening for severely injured 
              or disabled members of the Armed Forces and severely 
              injured or disabled veterans
    ``(a) Passenger Screening.--The Assistant Secretary of Homeland 
Security (Transportation Security Administration), in consultation with 
the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and 
organizations described in subsection (b), shall develop and implement 
a process to support severely injured or disabled members of the Armed 
Forces and severely injured or disabled veterans during, and to 
facilitate the movement of such members and veterans through, the 
screening of passengers before boarding passenger aircraft required by 
section 44901(a) (in this section referred to as `passenger 
screening'). The process required under this subsection shall include 
offering private screening for such members and veterans to the maximum 
extent practicable.
    ``(b) Organizations Described.--Organizations described in this 
subsection are organizations identified by the Secretary of Defense and 
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs that advocate on behalf of severely 
injured or disabled members of the Armed Forces and severely injured or 
disabled veterans.
    ``(c) Operations Center.--As part of the process required under 
subsection (a), the Assistant Secretary shall maintain an operations 
center to provide support for severely injured or disabled members of 
the Armed Forces and severely injured or disabled veterans during, and 
to facilitate the movement of such members and veterans through, 
passenger screening.
    ``(d) Protocols.--The Assistant Secretary shall--
            ``(1) establish and publish protocols, in consultation with 
        the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, 
        and organizations described in subsection (b), under which a 
        severely injured or disabled member of the Armed Forces or 
        severely injured or disabled veteran, or the family member or 
        other representative of such a member or veteran, may contact 
        the operations center maintained under subsection (c) and 
        request support during and facilitation of passenger screening 
        for the member or veteran; and
            ``(2) upon receipt of such a request, require the 
        operations center to notify the appropriate Federal Security 
        Director of the request.
    ``(e) Training.--The Assistant Secretary shall integrate training 
on the protocols established under subsection (c) into the training 
provided to all employees who will regularly conduct passenger 
screening.
    ``(f) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section affects the 
authority of the Assistant Secretary to require additional screening of 
a severely injured or disabled member of the Armed Forces or a severely 
injured or disabled veteran if intelligence, law enforcement, or other 
information indicates that additional screening is necessary.
    ``(g) Report.--Not later than one year after the date of the 
enactment of this section, and annually thereafter, the Assistant 
Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the implementation of 
this section. Each such report shall include each of the following:
            ``(1) Information on the training provided under subsection 
        (d).
            ``(2) Information on the consultations between the 
        Assistant Secretary and organizations described in subsection 
        (b).
            ``(3) The number of people who accessed the operations 
        center during the period covered by the report.
            ``(4) Such other information as the Assistant Secretary 
        determines is appropriate.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
such chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 
44926 the following new item:

``44927. Facilitation of passenger screening for severely injured or 
                            disabled members of the Armed Forces and 
                            severely injured or disabled veterans.''.
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