Click here to read IANA's comments to DHS on proposed rules for implementation of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential in the maritime sector.

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Below are synopses of recently introduced federal legislation:

S. 1052—Transportation Security Improvement Act of 2005 (6/05)

The Transportation Security Improvement Act of 2005 was introduced by Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) and sent to the Commerce Committee. The bill to authorize programs for the Transportation Security Administration includes a number of intermodal-oriented provisions, ranging from broad items like the establishment of intermodal security regions to detailed security requirements aimed at truckers:

• Establish a cadre of “intermodal regional security managers” in eight regions around the country to receive intelligence information, assist in the implementation of vulnerability assessments and security plans and respond to terrorist incidents and threats;
• Create a task force to complete a risk assessment of freight and passenger rail transportation;
• Authorize grants to railroads for full or partial reimbursement of costs incurred in the conduct of activities to prevent or respond to acts of terrorism;
• Require DHS and DOT to prepare “detailed guidance for a rail worker security training program to prepare front-line workers for potential threat conditions;”
• Require rail carriers transporting certain highly hazard materials to develop a “high hazard material security threat mitigation plans containing appropriate measures, including alternative routing and temporary shipment suspension options, to address assessed risks to high consequence targets;”
• Require DOT to develop a program that will “encourage” the equipping of rail cars transporting certain highly hazardous materials with wireless tracking and monitoring capability;
• Require TSA to notify an employer whose employee is found to be a security risk under the hazmat-CDL credentialing program;
• Require that an individual who is approved through the hazmat-CDL credentialing process be deemed to have met the requirements of any other credentialing programs applicable to transportation workers;
• Require that motor carriers hauling certain highly hazardous materials maintain a written route plan;
• Require that commercial motor vehicles transporting certain highly hazard materials be equipped with wireless tracking and monitoring systems;
• Require TSA to develop security training guidelines for short-term truck leasing operations;
• Require TSA to develop a program to review transportation companies’ hazmat security plans;
• Require importers shipping goods to the United States via cargo container to supply entry data under the customs advance notification requirements;
• Establish a civil penalty for erroneous manifests;
• Require DHS to establish new standards and procedures for the inspection and screening of cargo in a foreign port intended for shipment to the United States;
• Require DHS to establish an antiterrorism cargo identification, tracking, and screening system for containerized cargo shipped to and from the United States;
• Require verification “at the point at which goods are placed in a cargo container for shipping,” that the container is “free of unauthorized hazardous chemical, biological, or nuclear material” and require sealing such containers after such verification;
• Establish standards and procedures for securing and monitoring cargo while in transit “from the point at which it is loaded to the point at which it is finally unloaded;”
• Develop performance standards to enhance the physical security of shipping containers, including seals and locks;
• Require DHS to conduct a study of the “feasibility and desirability of establishing a system of ocean-borne and port-related intermodal transportation user fees that could be imposed and collected as a dedicated revenue source, on a temporary or continuing basis, to provide necessary funding for the improvement and maintenance of enhanced port security;”
• Require DHS to issue a Final Rule requiring transportation security credentials for maritime workers by no later than January 1, 2006.