Panel Approves Bill to Study Screening of Airport Workers With Access to Secure Sites

A House Homeland Security panel approved a bill Tuesday that would establish a trial program to screen workers with access to secure areas at seven airports.

As introduced, the legislation (HR 1413) called for a pilot program at five airports. The Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection Subcommittee quickly adopted an amendment by Chairwoman Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Texas, by voice vote to expand the program to seven airports. The panel then approved the underlying bill by voice vote.

It has not been determined which airports would be a part of the pilot program.

Jackson-Lee said the bill would designate alternative screening methods and make the screening of employees with unescorted access to airport facilities a high priority.

The legislation would require at least one of the selected airports to use private screening companies and require at least one of the airports to be a lower-traffic facility as determined by the federal government.

The Jackson-Lee amendment would require the Department of Homeland Security to carry out an operational assessment of all seven airports participating in the program.

Jackson-Lee called the bill "timely because of recent breaches in airport security," citing a March incident at Orlando International Airport, as well as recent security breaches at Chicago O'Hare and Miami International Airport.

The Senate does not currently have a companion bill.

Action on a second bill (HR 1981), a measure that would require new security standards for foreign aircraft repair stations, was postponed pending further hearings.

The bill would direct the administrator of the Transportation Security Administration to issue security regulations to govern foreign repair stations and screen their employees. The new standards would have to be "comparable" to those already in place for U.S. repair stations.

The subcommittee's ranking Republican, Dan Lungren of California, said both bills reflect "bipartisan concern and a bipartisan approach" to aviation security.

"Despite the fact that we've given lots of attention to aviation security, it still remains one of our foremost homeland security concerns," he said.

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