WashingtonWatch.com - Revisions for H.R. 1684, The Department of Homeland Security Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008

Revision by webmaster (August 2, 2007, 02:39:47)

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 01:39:47 EDT

H.R. 1684 would authorize appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2008.

Detailed Summary

Department of Homeland Security Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 - Title I: Authorization of Appropriations - (Sec. 101) Authorizes appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for FY2008.

Title II: Policy and Management Improvements - (Sec. 201) Amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (HSA) to replace provisions establishing within DHS a Directorate of Border and Transportation Security with provisions establishing a Directorate for Policy, headed by an Under Secretary for Policy, which shall include: (1) the Office of the Private Sector; (2) the Victim Assistance Officer; (3) the Tribal Security Officer; and (4) the Border Community Liaison Officer.

Makes the Under Secretary for Policy the principal policy advisor to the Secretary of Homeland Security (the Secretary). Directs the Under Secretary: (1) acting through the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Policy and Development, to ensure that all departmental policies, programs, and activities appropriately consider the needs of and impact upon children; and (2) to report to the House and Senate homeland security committees (the committees) on activities undertaken and the resulting improvement in security for children, schools, and other child-centered facilities.

(Sec. 202) Includes among DHS's chief operating officers the Chief Financial Officer, Chief Procurement Officer, Chief Information Officer, Chief Human Capital Officer, Chief Administrative Officer, and Chief Security Officer. Directs: (1) the Secretary to delegate to such officers direct authority over their respective counterparts in component agencies; and (2) the chief operating officers in component agencies to coordinate activities with the heads of their respective agencies.

(Sec. 203) Directs the Secretary, acting through the Under Secretary for Policy, to conduct a comprehensive examination of DHS, to be known as the Comprehensive Homeland Security Review, in FY2009, with a subsequent review in the first fiscal year in which there begins the first presidential term of a new administration. Requires the Secretary in each review to: (1) include a DHS Strategy that is consistent with the most recent National Strategy for Homeland Security prescribed by the President; (2) define sufficient personnel and appropriate organizational structure, and to identify a budget plan, acquisition strategy, procurement process, and any other requirements and resources, that are necessary to provide for the successful execution of the full range of missions called for in the DHS Strategy. Requires the Secretary to report on each review to the committees and the President.

(Sec. 204) Lists qualifications of the Under Secretary for Management. Requires the Secretary to name an individual who meets such qualifications within 90 days after this Act's enactment.

(Sec. 205) Urges the consolidation of DHS and its key component headquarters on the West Campus of St. Elizabeth's Hospital as expeditiously as possible, with the agencies involved bearing costs for which they are responsible.

(Sec. 206) Directs the Secretary, in each fiscal year budget requested for DHS, to include a separate line item for expenditures by the Office of Counternarcotics Enforcement.

(Sec. 207) Designates the Director of that Office as the primary representative of DHS on all entities whose purpose is to coordinate DHS counternarcotics enforcement activities with other federal, state, or local agencies.

(Sec. 208) Requires the Secretary to ensure that the Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs has adequate authority to ensure that counterparts in component agencies of DHS adhere to the laws, rules, and departmental policies that the Assistant Secretary is responsible for implementing.

Title III: Oversight Improvements - (Sec. 301) Directs the Inspector General of DHS to: (1) review each contract action related to DHS's Secure Border Initiative having a value greater than $20 million to determine compliance with applicable cost requirements, performance objectives, program milestones, requirements for inclusion of small, minority, and women-owned business, and timelines; and (2) complete a review within 60 days after initiation of the action and upon the conclusion of the performance of the contract. Sets forth reporting requirements. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Inspector General to expeditiously refer to the Secretary or other appropriate DHS official information related to improper conduct or wrongdoing for purposes of evaluating whether to suspend or debar the contractor.

(Sec. 302) Requires: (1) the Chief Financial Officer to establish the position of Authorization Liaison Officer to provide timely budget and other financial information to the committees; and (2) the Authorization Liaison Officer to report directly to the Chief Financial Officer.

(Sec. 303) Authorizes appropriations to the Secretary for operations of the Office of the Inspector General. Permits an Inspector General to authorize staff to use authorized funds to assist the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, at the Center's request, by conducting reviews of inactive case files that the Inspector General has reason to believe involve a child or possible offender located outside the United States and by developing recommendations for further investigations.

(Sec. 304) Directs the Secretary to actively consult with the committees and keep them fully and currently informed regarding all activities and responsibilities within their jurisdictions. Requires the submission of the Coast Guard Mission Review Report to the committees (but no longer to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee).

Title IV: Procurement Policy and Resources Improvements - (Sec. 401) Directs: (1) the Chief Procurement Officer to provide homeland security procurement training to acquisition employees; and (2) the Secretary to establish a Council on Procurement Training.

(Sec. 402) Authorizes the Secretary, acting through the Chief Procurement Officer, to appoint annuitants in procurement offices to support DHS's acquisition capabilities and enhance contract management throughout DHS, subject to a specified certification requirement.

(Sec. 403) Requires the Secretary, in awarding a contract, to consider the contractor's past performance based on a required review. Directs the Secretary: (1) before awarding a contract, to require the contractor to submit specified information regarding the performance of government and private sector contracts; and (2) contact the relevant official who administered or oversaw each contract performed by that contractor during the previous five-year period.

(Sec. 404) Requires: (1) the Chief Procurement Officer to conduct an independent review of any procurement of goods or services by DHS to ensure compliance with the Buy American Act; and (2) the Secretary to require disclosure of whether the offeror is owned or controlled by a foreign person.

(Sec. 405) Requires the offeror for any contract to provide goods or services to DHS to submit: (1) an attestation that discloses any substantial role the offeror, its employees, or any corporate parent or subsidiary may have played in creating a solicitation, request for proposal, statement of work, or statement of objectives; (2) a description of the safeguards used to ensure that precautions were in place to prevent the offeror from receiving information through such role that could be used to provide an undue advantage in submitting an offer; and (3) a written certification as to whether the offeror is in default or delinquent on any tax payment to the federal government.

(Sec. 406) Directs the Chief Procurement Officer to: (1) submit a report to the committees that identifies each DHS component that awarded less that 3% of its total value of contracts in FY2006 to qualified HUBZone small business concerns and small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans or less than 5% to socially or economically disadvantaged small business concerns and small business concerns owned and controlled by women; and (2) develop, submit to the committees, and implement an action plan for achieving those objectives.

(Sec. 407) Requires uniforms, protective gear, badges, and identification cards of DHS personnel to be manufactured in the United States, with exceptions.

(Sec. 408) Directs the Secretary to establish within DHS's Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization and publicize a Mentor-Protege Program, which shall motivate and encourage prime contractors that are large businesses to provide developmental assistance to specified small business concerns.

(Sec. 409) Prohibits the Secretary from conducting a reduction in force or furlough of the workforce of the Federal Protective Service until: (1) the Comptroller General submits a report requested by the the Senate homeland security committee on the source of shortfalls at the Service; and (2) the committees have conducted hearings on such report.

Title V: Workforce and Training Improvements - (Sec. 501) Grants law enforcement officer status for retirement purposes to currently employed Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers who retire or leave within five years of enactment. Sets forth provisions governing individual and government contributions for prior qualified service. Provides that nothing in this section shall result in any individual being involuntarily separated on account of provisions of any retirement system relating to the mandatory separation of a law enforcement officer based on age or age and service combined.

Directs the Comptroller General to: (1) conduct a comprehensive review of the retirement system for law enforcement officers employed by the federal government, including all employees categorized as law enforcement officers for retirement purposes and any other federal employees performing law enforcement duties; (2) review relevant legislative proposals introduced over the 10 previous years and consult with law enforcement agencies and employee representatives; and (3) report to Congress on the findings by August 1, 2007.

(Sec. 502) Directs: (1) the Chief Human Capital Officer of DHS to transmit to the committees and the Comptroller General a plan to address any under representation of minorities in the various categories of civil service employment within DHS; and (2) the Comptroller General, within one year after receiving the plan, to assess measures being implemented and the likelihood that the plan will succeed.

(Sec. 503) Amends the 2002 Supplemental Appropriations Act for Further Recovery From and Response To Terrorist Attacks on the United States to extend through December 31, 2008, the authorization for annuitants employed by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

(Sec. 504) Authorizes the Secretary, acting through the Commissioner of CBP, for the purpose of accelerating CBP's ability to secure the borders, to appoint annuitants to positions in CBP, subject to specified limitations.

(Sec. 505) Directs the Secretary to establish a plan to address the recruitment and retention challenges faced by CBP that includes: (1) an increase in the pay percentage differentials to Border Patrol agents in certain high-cost areas; and (2) the establishment of a recruitment incentive for Border Patrol agents, a retention plan (including the payment of bonuses to agents for every year of service after the first two years of service), a mechanism whereby agents can transfer from one location to another after the first two years of service in their initial duty location, and quarterly goals for the recruitment of new agents. Directs the Secretary to report to the committees on whether the quarterly goals were met and on the status of recruitment efforts and attrition rates among Border Patrol Agents.

(Sec. 506) Limits reimbursements relating to certain detailees assigned to DHS to the highest rate allowable for a member of the Senior Executive Service.

(Sec. 507) Directs the Secretary to: (1) conduct a DHS-wide review of security clearance and suitability review procedures for DHS employees and contractors, as well as for individuals in state and local government agencies and private sector entities with a need to receive classified information; and (2) take all necessary steps to strengthen DHS's security screening policies, including consolidating the security clearance investigative authority at DHS headquarters.

(Sec. 508) Establishes within DHS a Chief Security Officer, who shall have responsibility for overall DHS-wide security activities, including issuing and confiscating credentials, controlling access to and disposing of classified and sensitive but unclassified materials, controlling access to sensitive areas and Secured Compartmentalized Intelligence Facilities, and communicating with other government agencies on the status of security clearances and security clearance applications.

(Sec. 509) Directs the Secretary, acting through the Chief Human Capital Officer, to consider implementing recommendations set forth in the Homeland Security Advisory Council Culture Task Force Report of January 2007.

(Sec. 510) Amends HSA to require the Administrator of the Homeland Security Education Program at DHS to use curricula modeled on existing DHS reviewed Master's degree curricula in homeland security, including asynchronous distance learning and video conferencing.

(Sec. 511) Repeals the authority of DHS to establish a separate personnel system.

(Sec. 512) Authorizes the Director of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center of DHS to select appropriate federal employees other than law enforcement officers to serve as instructors of non-law enforcement classes.

(Sec. 513) Prohibits any employee from being terminated, demoted, or discriminated against in the terms or conditions of employment because the employee is absent or late as a result of serving as a volunteer firefighter or providing volunteer emergency medical services as part of a response to an emergency or major disaster. Excludes absences for which the employee: (1) is absent for more than 14 days per calendar year; (2) responds to an emergency or major disaster without being officially deployed in accordance with a coordinator national deployment system; or (3) fails to provide written verification within a reasonable period of time. Allows employers to: (1) reduce the employee's regular pay for such time as the employee is absent; and (2) require the employee to provide written verification from the supervising Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), state, or local official. Requires such an employee to make a reasonable effort to notify his or her employer that he or she may be absent or late. Gives such an employee a private cause of action for discrimination which violates this Act.

Directs the Secretary of Labor to conduct a study of the impact that the requirements of this section could have on the employers of volunteer firefighters or individuals who provide volunteer emergency medical services and who may be called on to respond to an emergency or major disaster.

Title VI: Biopreparedness Improvements - (Sec. 601) Amends HSA to provide that DHS's Chief Medical Officer shall have the rank and title of Assistant Secretary for Health Affairs and Chief Medical Officer. Establishes within DHS an Office of Health Affairs, headed by such Officer. Expands that Officer's responsibilities to include leading DHS's medical care, public health, food, water, veterinary care, and agrosecurity and defense responsibilities and administering DHS's responsibilities for medical readiness.

(Sec. 602) Amends the Public Health Service Act to: (1) direct the Secretary to utilize existing, credible risk assessments; and (2) consider the completion of assessments and determinations of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear agents to facilitate the assessment of countermeasures that may address more than one agent and countermeasures that may address adverse health consequences that are common to exposure to different agents.

Directs the Secretary to complete determinations by December 31, 2007, and report on known chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear agents considered to be capable of significantly affecting national security.

Extends the authorization of appropriations through FY2009 for terror threat assessments under the security countermeasures program. Authorizes additional sums for FY2008 for purposes including conducting risk assessments when there are no existing risk assessments that the Secretary considers credible.

(Sec. 603) Requires the Secretary to conduct a joint study (with the Secretaries of Defense and Health and Human Services) and report on the staffing and training requirements for pending capital programs to construct biodefense laboratories at Biosafety Levels 3 and 4 or to expand current biodefense laboratories to such levels.

(Sec. 604) Directs: (1) the Secretary to establish a National Biosurveillance Integration Center (NBIC) to enhance the government's capability to rapidly identify, characterize, and localize a biological event by integrating and analyzing data related to human health, animals, plants, food, and the environment; and (2) the Director to develop, operate, and maintain an integrated network to detect a biological event that presents a risk to the United States.

Status of the Legislation

Latest Major Action: 5/11/2007: Referred to Senate committee. Status: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Points in Favor

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Points Against

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Revision by webmaster (July 11, 2007, 18:05:31)

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 17:05:31 EDT

H.R. 1684 would authorize appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2008.

Detailed Summary

Department of Homeland Security Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 - Authorizes appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for FY2008.

Amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (HSA) to replace the Directorate of Border and Transportation Security with a Directorate for Policy.

Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to conduct a Comprehensive Homeland Security Review.

Requires the Inspector General of DHS to review Secure Border Initiative-related contracts having a value exceeding $20 million.

Directs the Chief Financial Officer to establish the position of Authorization Liaison Officer to provide timely financial information to the homeland security committees.

Directs: (1) the Chief Procurement Officer to provide homeland security procurement training to acquisition employees; and (2) the Secretary to establish a Council on Procurement Training.

Requires Customs and Border Protection (CBP) positions to be treated the same as law enforcement officer positions for retirement purposes.

Directs: (1) the Chief Human Capital Officer to transmit to the homeland security committees and the Comptroller General a plan addressing under-representation of minorities in DHS; and (2) the Secretary to conduct a DHS-wide review of security clearance and suitability review procedures. Establishes a Chief Security Officer within DHS.

Designates DHS's Chief Medical Officer as Assistant Secretary for Health Affairs and Chief Medical Officer and expands such Officer's responsibilities. Establishes an Office of Health Affairs.

Directs the Secretary to establish a National Biosurveillance Integration Center.

Establishes within DHS an Office of Cybersecurity and Telecommunications. Directs the Under Secretary for Science and Technology to: (1) support research, development, testing, evaluation, and transition of cybersecurity technology; (2) transmit to Congress a strategic plan which includes a strategy to enhance the Directorate for Science and Technology workforce; (3) contract with the National Research Council to assess DHS's university programs; and (4) establish the Science and Technology Homeland Security International Cooperative Programs Office.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) submit a comprehensive strategy for the biometric entry and exit data system (US-VISIT) and complete the exit portion for airports or seaports by December 31, 2008; (2) take steps to control costs of hiring, training, and deploying new Border Patrol agents; and (3) assess the personnel, infrastructure, and technology required to reduce border crossing wait times to times comparable to prior to September 11, 2001.

Modifies HSA information sharing provisions to require the Secretary to establish within DHS a State and Local Fusion Center Program to facilitate information sharing between DHS and local law enforcement. Directs the Secretary to establish: (1) a program of privacy, civil liberties, and civil rights protection training for fusion center employees participating in the Program; and (2) a program to expand homeland security training to local and tribal governments located in rural areas

Establishes a Metropolitan Medical Response System Program.

Status of the Legislation

Latest Major Action: 5/11/2007: Referred to Senate committee. Status: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Points in Favor

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Points Against

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Revision by webmaster (July 11, 2007, 18:05:31)

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 17:05:31 EDT

H.R. 1684 would authorize appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2008.

Detailed Summary

(Sec. 204) Lists qualifications of the Under Secretary for Management. Requires the Secretary to name an individual who meets such qualifications within 90 days after this Act's enactment.

(Sec. 206) Directs the Secretary, in each fiscal year budget requested for DHS, to include a separate line item for expenditures by the Office of Counternarcotics Enforcement.

Title III: Oversight Improvements - (Sec. 301) Directs the Inspector General of DHS to: (1) review each contract action related to DHS's Secure Border Initiative having a value greater than million to determine compliance with applicable cost requirements, performance objectives, program milestones, requirements for inclusion of small, minority, and women-owned business, and timelines; and (2) complete a review within 60 days after initiation of the action and upon the conclusion of the performance of the contract. Sets forth reporting requirements. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Inspector General to expeditiously refer to the Secretary or other appropriate DHS official information related to improper conduct or wrongdoing for purposes of evaluating whether to suspend or debar the contractor.

(Sec. 407) Requires uniforms, protective gear, badges, and identification cards of DHS personnel to be manufactured in the United States, with exceptions.

(Sec. 506) Limits reimbursements relating to certain detailees assigned to DHS to the highest rate allowable for a member of the Senior Executive Service.

(Sec. 511) Repeals the authority of DHS to establish a separate personnel system.

Status of the Legislation

Latest Major Action: 5/11/2007: Referred to Senate committee. Status: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Points in Favor

(Log in to edit the wiki and be the first to show why the bill should pass!)

Points Against

(Log in to edit the wiki and be the first to show why the bill should not pass!)