[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 680 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 680

    To provide for the establishment of a pilot program to identify 
   security vulnerabilities of certain entities in the energy sector.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 17, 2019

Mr. Ruppersberger (for himself and Mr. Carter of Texas) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, 
                             and Technology

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To provide for the establishment of a pilot program to identify 
   security vulnerabilities of certain entities in the energy sector.

    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 ``Securing Energy Infrastructure 
Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Appropriate committee of congress.--The term 
        ``appropriate committee of Congress'' means--
                    (A) the Select Committee on Intelligence, the 
                Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
                Affairs, and the Committee on Energy and Natural 
                Resources of the Senate; and
                    (B) the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, 
                the Committee on Homeland Security, and the Committee 
                on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives.
            (2) Covered entity.--The term ``covered entity'' means an 
        entity identified pursuant to section 9(a) of Executive Order 
        13636 of February 12, 2013 (78 Fed. Reg. 11742), relating to 
        identification of critical infrastructure where a cybersecurity 
        incident could reasonably result in catastrophic regional or 
        national effects on public health or safety, economic security, 
        or national security.
            (3) Exploit.--The term ``exploit'' means a software tool 
        designed to take advantage of a security vulnerability.
            (4) Industrial control system.--
                    (A) In general.--The term ``industrial control 
                system'' means an operational technology used to 
                measure, control, or manage industrial functions.
                    (B) Inclusions.--The term ``industrial control 
                system'' includes supervisory control and data 
                acquisition systems, distributed control systems, and 
                programmable logic or embedded controllers.
            (5) National laboratory.--The term ``National Laboratory'' 
        has the meaning given the term in section 2 of the Energy 
        Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801).
            (6) Program.--The term ``Program'' means the pilot program 
        established under section 3.
            (7) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Energy.
            (8) Security vulnerability.--The term ``security 
        vulnerability'' means any attribute of hardware, software, 
        process, or procedure that could enable or facilitate the 
        defeat of a security control.

SEC. 3. PILOT PROGRAM FOR SECURING ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE.

    Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Secretary shall establish a 2-year control systems implementation 
pilot program within the National Laboratories for the purposes of--
            (1) partnering with covered entities in the energy sector 
        (including critical component manufacturers in the supply 
        chain) that voluntarily participate in the Program to identify 
        new classes of security vulnerabilities of the covered 
        entities; and
            (2) evaluating technology and standards, in partnership 
        with covered entities, to isolate and defend industrial control 
        systems of covered entities from security vulnerabilities and 
        exploits in the most critical systems of the covered entities, 
        including--
                    (A) analog and nondigital control systems;
                    (B) purpose-built control systems; and
                    (C) physical controls.

SEC. 4. WORKING GROUP TO EVALUATE PROGRAM STANDARDS AND DEVELOP 
              STRATEGY.

    (a) Establishment.--The Secretary shall establish a working group--
            (1) to evaluate the technology and standards used in the 
        Program under section 3(2); and
            (2) to develop a national cyber-informed engineering 
        strategy to isolate and defend covered entities from security 
        vulnerabilities and exploits in the most critical systems of 
        the covered entities.
    (b) Membership.--The working group established under subsection (a) 
shall be composed of not fewer than 10 members, to be appointed by the 
Secretary, at least 1 member of which shall represent each of the 
following:
            (1) The Department of Energy.
            (2) The energy industry, including electric utilities and 
        manufacturers recommended by the Energy Sector coordinating 
        councils.
            (3)(A) The Department of Homeland Security; or
            (B) the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response 
        Team.
            (4) The North American Electric Reliability Corporation.
            (5) The Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
            (6)(A) The Office of the Director of National Intelligence; 
        or
            (B) the intelligence community (as defined in section 3 of 
        the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003)).
            (7)(A) The Department of Defense; or
            (B) the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland 
        Security and America's Security Affairs.
            (8) A State or regional energy agency.
            (9) A national research body or academic institution.
            (10) The National Laboratories.

SEC. 5. REPORTS ON THE PROGRAM.

    (a) Interim Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date on 
which funds are first disbursed under the Program, the Secretary shall 
submit to the appropriate committees of Congress an interim report 
that--
            (1) describes the results of the Program;
            (2) includes an analysis of the feasibility of each method 
        studied under the Program; and
            (3) describes the results of the evaluations conducted by 
        the working group established under section 4(a).
    (b) Final Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date on which 
funds are first disbursed under the Program, the Secretary shall submit 
to the appropriate committees of Congress a final report that--
            (1) describes the results of the Program;
            (2) includes an analysis of the feasibility of each method 
        studied under the Program; and
            (3) describes the results of the evaluations conducted by 
        the working group established under section 4(a).

SEC. 6. EXEMPTION FROM DISCLOSURE.

    Information shared by or with the Federal Government or a State, 
Tribal, or local government under this Act shall be--
            (1) deemed to be voluntarily shared information;
            (2) exempt from disclosure under section 552 of title 5, 
        United States Code, or any provision of any State, Tribal, or 
        local freedom of information law, open government law, open 
        meetings law, open records law, sunshine law, or similar law 
        requiring the disclosure of information or records; and
            (3) withheld from the public, without discretion, under 
        section 552(b)(3) of title 5, United States Code, or any 
        provision of a State, Tribal, or local law requiring the 
        disclosure of information or records.

SEC. 7. PROTECTION FROM LIABILITY.

    (a) In General.--A cause of action against a covered entity for 
engaging in the voluntary activities authorized under section 3--
            (1) shall not lie or be maintained in any court; and
            (2) shall be promptly dismissed by the applicable court.
    (b) Voluntary Activities.--Nothing in this Act subjects any covered 
entity to liability for not engaging in the voluntary activities 
authorized under section 3.

SEC. 8. NO NEW REGULATORY AUTHORITY FOR FEDERAL AGENCIES.

    Nothing in this Act authorizes the Secretary or the head of any 
other department or agency of the Federal Government to issue new 
regulations.

SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) Pilot Program.--There is authorized to be appropriated 
$10,000,000 to carry out section 3.
    (b) Working Group and Report.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated $1,500,000 to carry out sections 4 and 5.
    (c) Availability.--Amounts made available under subsections (a) and 
(b) shall remain available until expended.
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