HR 3846 · 113th Congress 2013–2015, ended

United States Customs and Border Protection Authorization Act

Fact sheet

Latest action · Jul 29, 2014 Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Progress

Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.

  1. IntroducedJan 10, 2014
  2. Passed HouseJul 28, 2014
  3. Passed SenateNot reached
  4. To the PresidentNot reached
  5. Became lawNot reached

Summary

United States Customs and Border Protection Authorization Act - (Sec. 2) Amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish formally, in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) (formerly the U.S. Customs Service), headed by the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Establishes in the CBP:

  • a Deputy Commissioner;
  • the U.S. Border Patrol;
  • an Office of Air and Marine Operations;
  • an Office of Field Operations, including a National Targeting Center;
  • an Office of Intelligence and Investigative Liaison;
  • an Office of International Affairs; and
  • an Office of Internal Affairs.

Requires the CBP Commissioner to establish, and update triennially, certain standard operating procedures for CBP personnel.

Directs the CBP Commissioner to require all CBP agents and officers to participate in a specified amount of continuing education to maintain an understanding of federal legal rulings, court decisions, and departmental policies, procedures, and guidelines.

Requires the CBP Commissioner to ensure that:

  • adequate access to food and water is provided as soon as possible to individuals apprehended and detained between a U.S. port of entry, and
  • detainee rights are provided at CBP processing centers.

Directs the CBP Commissioner to publish wait times at the 20 U.S. airports with the highest volume of international travel and make this information available to the public on the CBP website.

(Sec. 4) Makes technical conforming amendments.

Declares that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) shall be maintained as a distinct entity within DHS.

Removes the Office for Domestic Preparedness from within the Directorate of Border and Transportation Security and establishes it simply within DHS.

Transfers all functions of the Under Secretary for Border and Transportation Security to the DHS Secretary.

Authorizes the DHS Secretary (currently, the Under Secretary) to impose disciplinary action on any employee of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and CBP who willfully deceives Congress or agency leadership on any matter.

(Sec. 5) Directs the CBP Commissioner to report to Congress on:

  • the number of contract management acquisition and procurement personnel (including by position) assigned to the CBP Office of Technology Innovation and Acquisition;
  • the CBP Business Transformation Initiative;
  • unaccompanied alien children apprehended at U.S. borders;
  • the CBP strategy for the Unmanned Aerial Systems program;
  • CBP efforts to evaluate technologies to provide a biometric exit capability at airports;
  • current CBP capacity to hire, train, and deploy additional CBP officers;
  • the development and implementation of CBP metrics for measuring the status of security of U.S. international borders at and between U.S. ports of entry; and
  • supervisor-approved personal searches conducted in the previous year by CBP personnel.

Requires the CBP Commissioner to:

  • make public information collected on migrant deaths occurring along the U.S.-Mexico border available to the public, and
  • assess CBP's physical infrastructure and technology needs at the 20 busiest land ports of entry.

(Sec. 6) Directs the DHS Secretary, in coordination with the Secretary of State, to:

  • engage with the appropriate Canadian and Mexican Government officials to assess the specific needs of Central American countries to maintain the security of their international borders and determine the support they need from the United States, Canada, and Mexico to meet those needs;
  • engage with appropriate officials of the Caribbean countries to establish a program to assess the specific needs of those countries to address the unique challenges of maritime border security; and
  • engage with appropriate Mexican officials to assess the specific needs to help secure Mexico's southern border from undocumented aliens, drugs, weapons and other contraband.

(Sec. 7) Directs the CBP Commissioner to give priority consideration to an application for port of entry status submitted by any commercial airport that has served at least 100,000 deplaned international passengers in the previous calendar year.

(Sec. 8) Prohibits the DHS Secretary from entering into or renewing an agreement with a foreign country government for a CBP administered trusted traveler program unless that government certifies that it:

  • routinely submits information about lost and stolen passports of its citizens and nationals to INTERPOL's Stolen and Lost Travel Document database, or
  • makes such information available to the United States through another comparable means of reporting.

(Sec. 9) Expresses the sense of Congress that the Foreign Language Award Program (FLAP) incentivizes CBP officers and agents to attain and maintain competency in a foreign language.

(Sec. 10) Declares that no additional appropriations are authorized to carry out this Act. Requires this Act to be carried out using amounts otherwise available.

Cosponsors 2

Members who signed on, in the order they did. All signed on Jan 10, 2014.

SeatCosponsorSigned on
R-TXMichael T. McCaulOriginalJan 10, 2014
D-TXSheila Jackson LeeOriginalJan 10, 2014

Actions 17

Everything that happened, newest first.

  1. Jul 29, 2014Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
  2. Jul 28, 2014Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H6899-6908)
  3. Jul 28, 2014DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 3846.
  4. Jul 28, 2014Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
  5. Jul 28, 2014Mrs. Miller (MI) moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Foreign Trade and International Finance.

Text 4

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

  1. Jul 29, 2014Referred in Senate
  2. Jul 28, 2014Engrossed in House
  3. Jul 24, 2014Reported in House
  4. Jan 10, 2014Introduced in House

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Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.