Sheila Jackson Lee: “As a senior member of the Homeland Security Committee, I rise to speak on H.R. 3102, the ``Airport Access Control…”

“As a senior member of the Homeland Security Committee, I rise to speak on H.R. 3102, the ``Airport Access Control Security Improvement Act of 2015,'' which amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to reform programs of the Transportation Security Administration, and streamline transportation security regulations. The objective of the bill is to establish a risk-based, intelligence- driven model for the screening of employees at airports based on level of access and employment positions at domestic airports. The model is intended to ensure that only those individuals authorized to have access to secure areas of a domestic airport are permitted such access. The model must be able to differentiate between individuals authorized to have access to an entire secure area and those who are not permitted access. The Director of the FBI and Director of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee are directed to review the disqualifying criminal offenses in the Code of Federal Regulations to determine the adequacy for an individual to have continued access to Secure Identification Display Areas of airports. The review based on the current language of the bill would consider whether the list of disqualifying offenses should be amended to include other offenses. As House Judiciary Committee's Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Investigation, I am concerned that the bill contains this language.…”