TSA PreCheck Expansion Act
Latest action. Placed on Senate legislative calendarThe list of measures reported out of committee and eligible for floor action. Being on the calendar is not a promise of a vote.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) under General Orders. Calendar No. 383.
TSA PreCheck Expansion Act
(Sec. 3) This bill directs the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to continue to administer the Precheck Program (trusted traveler program).
(Sec. 4) TSA shall publish application enrollment standards that add multiple private sector application capabilities for the PreCheck program to increase the public's enrollment access to such program.
Upon publication of such standards, the TSA must:
coordinate with interested parties to deploy TSA-approved ready-to-market private sector solutions that meet such standards, make available additional enrollment capabilities, and offer secure online and mobile enrollment opportunities;
partner with the private sector to collect biographic and biometric identification information via mobile enrollment platforms to increase enrollment flexibility and minimize the amount of travel to enrollment centers for applicants;
ensure that any biometric and biographic information is collected in a manner that is comparable with National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards and that protects privacy and data security, including that any personally identifiable information is collected, retained, used, and shared in a manner consistent with the Privacy Act of 1974;
ensure that the enrollment process is streamlined and flexible to allow an individual to provide additional information to complete enrollment and verify identity;
ensure that any enrollment expansion using a private sector risk assessment is determined to be equivalent to a fingerprint-based criminal history records check conducted through the Federal Bureau of Investigation;
develop and implement a continual process for approving private sector marketing of the PreCheck program and a long-term strategy for partnering with the private sector to encourage enrollment; and
report on any PreCheck Program application fees collected in excess of the costs of administering the program, including assessment of its feasibility and recommendations for using such amounts to support its marketing.
The TSA shall:
coordinate with the heads of appropriate Department of Homeland Security (DHS) components to leverage DHS-held data and technologies to verify the citizenship of individuals enrolling in the program;
partner with the private sector to use biometrics and authentication standards such as those developed by NIST to facilitate enrollment;
The summary continues for 4 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Reported to Senate with amendment(s)" stage on March 7, 2016. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on March 7, 2016: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 383.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 114th Congress (2015-16), 329 of the 10,233 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.2 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
John Katko (R-NY) introduced it on June 19, 2015, and 2 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 2 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on June 19, 2015, 4101 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3839 days ago, on March 7, 2016.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 114th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2017 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers