[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 175 (Tuesday, December 6, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H7192-H7193]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 POWER AND SECURITY SYSTEMS (PASS) ACT

  Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 6375) to provide for consideration of the extension under the 
Energy Policy and Conservation Act of nonapplication of No-Load Mode 
energy efficiency standards to certain security or life safety alarms 
or surveillance systems.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 6375

       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 ``Power And Security Systems 
     (PASS) Act''.

     SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF NONAPPLICATION OF NO-LOAD MODE ENERGY 
                   EFFICIENCY STANDARD TO CERTAIN SECURITY OR LIFE 
                   SAFETY ALARM OR SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS.

       (a) Section 325(u)(3)(D)(ii) of the Energy Policy and 
     Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6295(u)(3)(D)(ii)) is amended--
       (1) by striking ``2015'' and inserting ``2021''; and
       (2) by striking ``2017'' and inserting ``2023''.
       (b) Section 325(u)(3)(E) of the Energy Policy and 
     Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6295(u)(3)(E)) is amended--
       (1) in clause (ii), by striking ``July 1, 2017,'' and 
     inserting ``the effective date of the amendment under 
     subparagraph (D)(ii)''; and
       (2) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(iv) Treatment in rule.--In the rule under subparagraph 
     (D)(ii) and subsequent amendments the Secretary may treat 
     some or all external power supplies designed to be connected 
     to a security or life safety alarm or surveillance system as 
     a separate product class or may extend the nonapplication 
     under clause (ii).''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Olson) and the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Welch) each will 
control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas.


                             General Leave

  Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
insert extraneous materials in the Record on the bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Texas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. OLSON. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 6375, the Power and Security Systems (PASS) Act, 
extends an important exemption from current regulations for devices 
such as security systems and medical devices. Specifically, many 
electronic devices use external power supplies that are subject to 
strict limits on the amount of electricity they can consume when not in 
use. However, these provisions are not feasible for products that have 
to be on 24/7, such as home security alarms and heart monitors.
  This bill extends the existing exemption for external power supplies 
for these kinds of products. H.R. 6375 would ensure the continued 
availability of these important and potentially lifesaving devices, and 
I urge everyone to support it.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. WELCH. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6375, the Power and 
Security Systems Act, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, as my colleague has stated, the Energy Independence and 
Security Act of 2007 requires electronic devices to meet certain 
efficiency standards while in no-load mode or standby mode, and that 
obviously makes a lot of sense. You don't want to be consuming 
unnecessary energy when, in fact, you don't need to use energy; but the 
whole law was written in a way that it included some devices that are 
always on active mode. Security and life safety systems, such as video 
surveillance, intrusion detection, and access control systems, have to 
be active all of the time.
  So this law is now to extend something that was an exemption, and 
that is going to expire unless we pass this legislation and then allow 
manufacturers to avoid having to go through very costly steps in order 
to bring it into compliance with the law that would actually make their 
products ineffective when it came to surveillance.
  This law was originally introduced by Ranking Member Frank Pallone 
and his colleague, Roy Blunt, who is now in the Senate, to provide that 
temporary exemption. This is really going to extend it.
  I joined with the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Pompeo), and it is 
fitting that we are working with Mr. Pompeo because he is about to 
start a new job that has just a little bit to do with security and 
intelligence. We congratulate him, by the way, on that appointment by 
President-elect Trump.
  This bill, which has the support of industry and efficiency 
advocates, addresses the unique needs of critical life safety and 
security systems to remain on at all times while meeting DOE energy 
efficiency standards. It is a practical bill and a straightforward 
bill.
  By the way, it is something that we should be trying together to do 
more often: when we pass a bill, it is a good bill, but we find out it 
has got a bit of a problem; instead of arguing about it, let's fix it. 
We managed to accomplish that in this legislation.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
  Having no further speakers on this side, I yield back the balance of 
my time.
  Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Georgia, the Peanut State (Mr. Carter).
  Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 
6375, the Power and Security Systems Act. This bill directs the 
Department of Energy to decide by 2021 whether to amend standards for 
certain external power supply products, and directs that these 
standards would not apply to products manufactured before 2023.
  External power supplies convert power from an outlet to a lower 
voltage for use in everyday items like cell phones, laptops, power 
tools, and other electronics. The average home has 5 to 10 external 
power supplies, and that

[[Page H7193]]

number continues to grow with more than 300 million shipped in the 
United States annually.
  The PASS Act would also allow for the Department of Energy to 
classify external power supplies connected to security or safety 
systems differently than other types. By design, external power 
supplies associated with a safety or security device are always in an 
active mode and simply do not have a no-load or inactive mode, which is 
why the distinction is needed.
  This bill provides necessary regulatory relief while the Department 
of Energy develops standards for these products.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
  Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, I will close by saying that H.R. 6375 ensures 
that these important and potentially lifesaving devices work when 
needed. This is a great bill. I urge all my colleagues to vote for this 
bill.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6375, the Power 
and Security Systems, or PASS Act. This bill will provide an important 
technical exemption to certain security and life safety products from 
energy efficiency standards set forth in the Energy Independence and 
Security Act of 2007. A provision in the law increased the energy 
efficiency requirements for battery chargers and external power 
supplies--and I strongly supported that change. However, the provision 
also mistakenly included security and life safety products, and 
required that they be manufactured with a standby mode, despite being 
products that are inherently always on.
  Without providing this correction, the security industry will need to 
spend millions of dollars to comply with an energy standard that will 
yield no energy savings and could cost jobs, which was never the 
initial intent of the law.
  Six years ago, I stood on the House floor in support of legislation I 
authored that provided this exemption through July 2017. I'm pleased 
that Representative Welch, along with Representative Pompeo, has taken 
up this important issue and introduced this bill to extend the 
exemption I originally authored through 2023. And, the language in the 
bill before us today will also allow the Department of Energy to extend 
this exemption or reclassify these products into a separate class if 
they deem it appropriate.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a commonsense and consensus fix to a simple 
problem: the language was developed by both industry and efficiency 
advocates, with technical assistance from the Department of Energy. So 
it should come as no surprise that this bill enjoys broad support from 
the security industry and energy efficiency advocates. I urge all of my 
colleagues to support it.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Olson) that the House suspend the rules and 
pass the bill, H.R. 6375.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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