Securing the Cities Act of 2017
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)
Securing the Cities Act of 2017
(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) to establish the Securing the Cities program to enhance the ability of the United States to detect and prevent terrorist attacks and other high consequence events utilizing nuclear or other radiological materials that pose a high risk to homeland security in high-risk urban areas.
Under such program, the DNDO shall:
assist state, local, tribal, and territorial governments in designing and implementing, or enhancing existing, architectures for coordinated and integrated detection and interdiction of nuclear or other radiological materials that are out of regulatory control;
support the development of a region-wide operating capability to detect and report on nuclear and other radioactive materials out of regulatory control;
provide resources to enhance detection, analysis, communication, and coordination to better integrate state, local, tribal, and territorial assets into federal operations;
facilitate alarm adjudication and provide subject matter expertise and technical assistance on concepts of operations, training, exercises, and alarm response protocols;
communicate with, and promote sharing of information about the presence or detection of nuclear or other radiological materials among, appropriate federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial governments in a manner that ensures transparency;
provide augmenting resources to enable state, local, tribal, and territorial governments to sustain and refresh their capabilities developed under the program; and
designate participating jurisdictions from among high-risk urban areas and other cities and regions, as appropriate, and notify Congress at least three days before designating or changing such jurisdictions.
The Comptroller General is required to submit an assessment evaluating the effectiveness of the program.
(Sec. 3) The DNDO shall report to Congress on the feasibility of developing model exercises to test the preparedness of jurisdictions participating in the program in meeting the challenges that may be posed by a range of nuclear and radiological threats.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House without amendment" stage on January 31, 2017. 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 February 1, 2017: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
- 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 115th Congress (2017-18), 442 of the 11,421 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.9 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?
Daniel Donovan (R-NY) introduced it on January 24, 2017, 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 January 24, 2017, 3516 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3508 days ago, on February 1, 2017.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 115th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2019 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