Private Airport Screening Expansion

Summary#

This bill lets an airport operator hire a qualified private screening company to do passenger and property screening at an airport. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) must keep a public list of qualified private screening companies. To be on the list, a company must hire people who meet the same screening requirements as Federal screening staff, show it can provide the same level of screening, and be owned and controlled by U.S. citizens to the extent the TSA can determine.

After an airport signs a contract, the airport must tell the TSA within 7 days and create a 30-day transition plan. The TSA must provide Federal supervisors and law enforcement at airports using private screeners, perform covert testing, and offer remedial training support. The bill limits an airport operator's liability for damages related to negligent or wrongful acts by a contracted private screening company or Federal supervisors while the private company is acting under the airport contract, but it does not remove an airport's liability for its own actions or necessarily remove private companies' liability for their own acts (except as allowed by the Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies Act of 2002).

The TSA must send annual reports to Congress comparing average screening performance and average costs between private screening companies and Federal screening, and must publish those reports online. The bill also requires airports contracting for private screening be given a cost comparison between the contract and the estimated cost of using Federal personnel.

What it means for you#

  • Travelers: Screening at airports could be done by private companies, but those companies must meet the same personnel requirements and will be overseen by Federal supervisors.
  • Airport operators: You may choose to hire qualified private screening companies, must notify TSA and make a transition plan, and will receive cost comparisons required by the bill.
  • Screening staff: Private screening employees must meet the same requirements as Federal screeners under current law.
  • Taxpayers and oversight: TSA will continue to provide supervision and report annually on performance and costs.

Expenses#

  • The bill requires TSA to compare mean costs of Federal screening and private contracts and to report total Federal costs. It also requires a cost comparison be provided to airport operators who contract for private screening services.
  • Airports that hire private companies will pay contract costs to those companies.
  • Federal agencies will continue to provide supervisors and law enforcement at affected airports, which the bill says must be included in Federal cost estimates.
  • No publicly available information on specific dollar amounts or estimated budgetary effects is included in the bill text.

Proponents' View#

No publicly available information in the bill text about proponents' stated reasons or arguments.

Opponents' View#

No publicly available information in the bill text about opponents' stated reasons or arguments.