Cyber Response and Recovery Act of 2021 This bill authorizes the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to declare a significant incident in the event of a breach of a public or private network and establishes a Cyber Response and Recovery Fund. Specifically, DHS may make the declaration upon determining that a specific significant incident has occurred or is likely to occur imminently and that otherwise available resources, other than the fund, are likely insufficient to respond to or mitigate the incident effectively. Upon a declaration, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency must coordinate (1) the response activities of each federal agency; and (2) with other responding entities, including local governments and law enforcement agencies. A declaration or renewal of a declaration may not include the name of any affected individual or private company. The fund shall be available for the coordination of such activities and for response and recovery support.
Sponsored bills
Maddy summarySRES 870 is a symbolic Senate resolution honoring former Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, who died on October 24, 2022. The resolution expresses the Senate's sympathy to his family, commends his public service career, and recognizes his work as Defense Secretary (2015-2017), including advancing gender equity in the military, supporting defense innovation, and leading efforts against the Islamic State. It does not create new laws or policies - it is purely a commemorative gesture. The Senate also adjourned in his memory as a mark of respect.
Improving Government Efficiency and Workforce Development through Federal Executive Boards Act of 2022 This bill addresses the perpetuation, administration, and funding of Federal Executive Boards. Specifically, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), in coordination with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the General Services Administration (GSA), shall continue to support the existence of the Federal Executive Boards in geographic areas outside the District of Columbia (DC) metropolitan area. Federal Executive Board means an interagency entity established by OPM, in coordination with OMB and GSA; located in a geographic area with a high concentration of federal employees outside the DC metropolitan area; focused on strengthening the management and administration of agency activities and coordination among local federal officers to implement national initiatives in that geographic area. OPM must develop a set of criteria to establish and evaluate the number and locations of such boards that (1) factor in contemporary federal workforce data as of the date of this bill's enactment; and (2) is informed by annual changes in workforce data, including the geographic disbursement of the federal workforce and the role of remote work options. The bill sets forth provisions regarding administration and oversight, and governance and activities, of such boards. OPM, in coordination with OMB and GSA, must establish a Federal Executive Board Fund within OPM for financing essential board functions for the purposes of staffing and operating expenses.
Global Catastrophic Risk Management Act of 2022 This bill directs the President to establish an interagency committee on global catastrophic risk and addresses related issues. The President, with support from the committee, shall supplement each Federal Interagency Operational Plan to include a strategy to ensure the health, safety, and general welfare of the civilian population affected by catastrophic incidents. The Department of Homeland Security shall lead an exercise as part of the national exercise program to test and enhance the operationalization of the strategy.
DHS Blue Campaign Enhancement Act This bill requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to expand its Blue Campaign, which coordinates DHS actions to identify and prevent human trafficking. The bill requires DHS to (1) provide web-based training for law enforcement and corrections personnel, and (2) establish an advisory board for the campaign.
Cyber Incident Reporting Act of 2021 This bill requires reporting and other actions to address cybersecurity incidents, including ransomware attacks. Entities that own or operate critical infrastructure must report cyber incidents and ransom payments within specified time frames while other entities may voluntarily report incidents. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) must establish an office to receive and analyze such reports. The bill limits the use and disclosure of reported information. The information may be shared (subject to protections) with federal agencies or to address cybersecurity threats. However, shared information may not be used as a basis for certain regulatory enforcement. Additionally, an entity may not be liable for submitting required reports. Further, reports do not constitute waivers of applicable protections against disclosure (e.g., attorney-client privilege) and are not subject to laws governing release of federal records. The bill authorizes CISA to take specified action (e.g., issuing subpoenas) if an entity fails to submit a required report. CISA may share subpoenaed information with a regulator or the Department of Justice for regulatory enforcement or criminal prosecution. A federal agency must share any information it receives about cyber attacks with CISA. The bill also establishes (1) an interagency council to standardize federal reporting of cybersecurity threats, (2) a task force on ransomware attacks, and (3) a pilot program to identify information systems vulnerable to ransomware attacks.
Maddy summaryThe CISA Technical Corrections and Improvements Act of 2021 makes technical corrections to the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to improve the organization and clarity of cybersecurity provisions. It redesignates sections related to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and consolidates key cybersecurity definitions into a new section 2200. The bill updates references to these sections throughout the law to ensure consistency in the Homeland Security Act. This technical corrections bill directly affects CISA's operational framework and related cybersecurity policies without making substantive policy changes.
DHS Industrial Control Systems Capabilities Enhancement Act of 2021 This bill requires the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to maintain certain capabilities to identify and address threats to industrial control systems. Specifically, the bill requires CISA's National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center to ensure that its activities address the security of both information and operational technology, including industrial control systems. Additionally, CISA must maintain capabilities to identify and address threats and vulnerabilities to products and technologies intended for use in the automated control of critical infrastructure processes by (1) leading efforts to identify and mitigate cybersecurity threats to industrial control systems; (2) maintaining threat hunting and incident response capabilities to respond to cybersecurity risks and incidents; (3) providing cybersecurity technical assistance to stakeholders; and (4) collecting, coordinating, and providing vulnerability information to the industrial control systems community. CISA shall provide to the homeland security committees a briefing on its industrial control systems capabilities at specified intervals. The Government Accountability Office must review and report on implementation of the bill's requirements.
National R & D Strategy for Distributed Ledger Technology Act of 2022 This bill provides for a national strategy and research and development regarding technologies related to distributed ledgers (e.g., blockchain or Bitcoin). A distributed ledger is a ledger that is shared across and synchronized between a set of distributed nodes (i.e., devices or processes) in a network that store a complete or partial replica of the ledger and meet other requirements. The Office of Science and Technology Policy must develop a national strategy for the research and development of distributed ledger technologies and their applications, including applications of public and permissionless distributed ledgers. The office must coordinate with the National Science and Technology Council and other relevant federal agencies, as appropriate, on the strategy. The national strategy shall include plans to support public and private sector investment and partnerships in research and technology development for societally beneficial applications of distributed ledger technologies, and an identification of additional resources, administrative action, or legislative action recommended to assist with the implementation of such strategy. The National Science Foundation shall make competitive awards to institutions of higher education or nonprofit organizations (or their consortia) to support research, including interdisciplinary research, on distributed ledger technologies and their applications. The National Institute of Standards and Technology may carry out an applied research project to study and demonstrate the potential benefits and unique capabilities of distributed ledger technologies.
Tornado Observations Research and Notification Assessment for Development of Operations Act or the TORNADO Act This bill establishes programs and activities to improve the forecasting of hazardous weather and water events, including tornadoes. The bill directs the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to maintain and improve the system by which the risks of hazardous weather and water events are communicated to the general public, with the goal of informing action and encouraging response to prevent loss of life and property. NOAA shall also maintain a hazard risk communication office; establish or maintain a research program to modernize the creation and communication of risk-based, statistically reliable, probabilistic hazard information to inform effective responses to hazardous weather and water events; establish a pilot program for tornado hazard communication to test the effectiveness of the implementation of the research conducted pursuant to this bill; submit to Congress a strategic plan for developing and prioritizing the implementation of high-resolution probabilistic forecast guidance for hazardous weather and water events using a next-generation weather forecast and warning framework; perform one or more post-storm surveys and assessments following each hazardous weather or water event that is of sufficient societal importance; update, if necessary, the system for rating tornado severity; and maintain the Vortex USA tornado research program. The Government Accountability Office shall submit a report that examines the information technology infrastructure of the National Weather Service.