S 2437 Introduced
FY 2024 THUD Spending
Back in July, Sen Schatz (D,HI) introduced S 2437, the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024. The Senate Appropriations Committee also published their Report on the bill. There is just one cybersecurity mention in the bill, but there are a number of discussions of cyber issues in the Report, along with additional mentions of chemical safety issues and UAS issues.
Cybersecurity in S 2437
As we have seen in most spending bills, the sole mention in the actual legislation of cybersecurity relates to the overall spending for cybersecurity issues in the agency covered by the bill. In this case, on page 10, the bill provides $49 million for internal DOT cybersecurity initiatives.
Cybersecurity in the Report
In addition to a couple of spending line items for cyber related issues, there are two significant discussions about cybersecurity issues in the Report. The first (on pages 15 and 16) discusses Positioning Navigation and Timing (PNT) Technologies and Global Positioning System (GPS) Backup. The discussion starts by looking at a 2023 (I can only find a 2021 report) report to Congress “Complementary PNT and GPS Backup Technologies Demonstration Report” with the Committee supporting the reports finding that: “the technologies that show strong performance, operational diversity, operational readiness, and cost effectiveness are the low-frequency and ultra-high frequency terrestrial and L-band satellite broadcasts for PNT functions with supporting fiber optic time services to transmitters/control segments.” The Committee continues to provide funding for the program at $15 million in 2024 and directs the Department “to continue working toward the deployment of backup technologies that will prevent interference and provide a resilient backup GPS capability for critical infrastructure”.
On page 31 of the Report, the Committee expresses concerns about delays in the FAA regulatory processes for issues like cybersecurity. It directs the FAA to “conduct a comprehensive review of its regulatory processes to improve the timeliness, transparency, and performance accountability in the promulgation of rules, regulatory policies, and guidance to the extent that such improvements would not reduce or deter safety” and report to Congress on the results.
Chemical Transportation Safety in the Report
The report addresses three areas of chemical transportation safety, each affecting railroad operations. The first two issues arose as a result of the investigations into the East Palestine, OH, railroad derailment. The first (on pages 89 and 90) dealt with the observed problem of melted hazardous material placards. Current placard standards only refer to weathering issues. The Committee recommends that DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) conduct a study “on the temperature threshold and visibility issues to determine whether a heat survivability performance standard would enhance safety”.
While PHMSA’s train consist rulemaking had been in the works prior to the East Palestine derailment, that incident was an added impetus to moving forward. The Committee took note (pg 90) of the rulemaking and directed PHMSA “to work with first responders and the railroad industry to ensure that any system implemented as a result of this rulemaking can effectively reach those responding to incidents with the necessary information.”
On page 65 the report notes that the Committee included $2.5 million to fund the Short Line Safety Institute (SLSI), “including continued efforts to improve the safe transportation of crude oil, other hazardous materials, freight, and passenger rail.”
UAS in Report
There is no mention of counter-UAS issues in the Report. Even when the Committee complained about regulatory efficiency issues (see above), they did not mention the overdue FAA rulemaking on registration of critical infrastructure facilities as ‘no-fly zones’. Page 30 of the Report does include discussion of UAS issues, including funding for:
$6 million - for providing matching funds to commercial entities that contract with an FAA-designated UAS test site to demonstrate or validate technologies that the FAA considers essential to the safe integration of UAS into the NAS,
$21 million for UAS research.
Moving Forward
As I mentioned Friday, the Senate has started the consideration process for HR 4366, the Military Construction and VA spending bill. The substitute language that will form the basis for that consideration includes the language from S 2437 as Division C. The amended spending bill is likely to pass with bipartisan support in the Senate. Then it will go to conference to work out the differences between the Senate and House language. See my post, “Coming FY 2024 Spending Bill Logjams”, for my thoughts on the consideration process this year for spending bills.