After a great deal of debate and maneuvering around the issue of passenger and baggage screening at airports, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3150, its version of the airport security legislation. In a series of votes during the Nov. 1 debate, the House supported the approach to screening advocated by the Republican leadership and President George W. Bush.

Federal employees would supervise screening but private contractors could do the actual screening. Advocates argued that Congress should not create a new federal workforce to do this. Opponents countered only federal employees or law enforcement personnel could do the job.

The choice faced by the House was between the H.R. 3150 and H.R. 3165, a bipartisan bill supported by the Democratic leadership. H.R. 3165 mirrored the Senate-passed bill that would place federal employees in the role of baggage screeners at the top 142 airports and allow other smaller airports to use local, state or federal law enforcement personnel as screeners.

This bill was defeated in the House by a 218-214 vote. Subsequently, the House approved H.R. 3150 in a 286-139, handing the House leadership and Bush a hard won victory.

The legislation is now headed for what will likely be a contentious conference with the Senate, which previously passed its version, S. 1447, by a 100-0 margin.

In a letter, NACo strongly urged the conference committee to come to a quick resolution and “…enact legislation to reassure the public that air travel and airports are safe.”

Among other items, the letter encouraged Congress to act quickly to appropriate the allocated funds to assist financially burdened airports, and stressed the need for all airports to have flexibility in using Airport Improvement grants and Passenger Facility Charges to cover security costs.

The House conferees are Reps. Don Young (R-Alaska), John Mica (R-Fla.), Tom Petri (R-Wis.), Jimmy Duncan (R-Tenn.), Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.), Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.), Bill Lipinski (D-Ill.) and Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.).

The Senate conferees are Sens. Ernest F. Holling (D-S.C.), Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), John D. Rockefeller (D-W.V.), John Kerry (D-Mass.), John Breaux, (D-La.), Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Max Burns (R-Mont.), Trent Lott (R-Miss.), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).

Comparison of the two bills
While the bills clearly differ on who would do the screening, both require federal supervision, federal standards and federal requirements for screeners in terms of education, qualifications and training.

The House bill places responsibility for the oversight of screening in the U.S. Department of Transportation, while the Senate bill puts it in the Justice Department. Both bills impose a $2.50 security user fee paid by passengers to finance screening as well as increasing armed air marshals on flights.

In terms of assistance to airports, the House bill would authorize $1.5 billion for FY02-03 to reimburse airport operators and local governments for security requirements.

The bill would also allow Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grants to pay off bonds for certain airport projects if the U.S. Transportation Department deems it necessary to prevent default of that bond. The bill also allows AIP funds to be used for specified security purposes at non-hub and small airports.

The Senate bill authorizes such sums as may be necessary to reimburse airport operators for security mandates imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration. It also permits limited use of AIP funds for security and allows for expedited processing of Passenger Facility Fee (PFC) security-related requests.

NACo supports permitting all airport operators to use AIP grants for security purposes and debt service on an airport project facing default. NACo also supports permitting all airports to use the proceeds of PFC to be used for security purposes.

One very controversial provision in the House-passed bill would extend liability protection to a number of entities arising from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

American and United airlines were granted this protection in the airline bailout bill. H.R. 3150 would extend this protection to companies and governmental units such as Boeing, GE, Pratt and Whitney, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the fire and police departments of New York City and Boston’s Logan Airport.