Amendment to FY18 House DHS Funding Bill Urges CBP to Program ACE for Organics Data
An amendment (here) adopted into House Appropriations Committee-approved fiscal year 2018 funding legislation urges CBP to add ACE questions to track imported products certified as organic under Agriculture Department standards. The committee posted House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee the manager’s amendment of Chairman John Carter, R-Texas, on July 20, after the full committee approved the amendment and the legislation July 18 (see 1707190034). Certified organic imports aren’t currently tracked, so the quantity and origin of imported organics aren’t known, the amendment says. Carter’s language also directs CBP to brief House appropriators within 120 days of enactment on a plan to develop an importer risk assessment in compliance with Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act Section 115.
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The amendment would also direct the Department of Homeland Security by Sept. 15 to brief the committee on the results of a request for information (RFI) seeking proposals to improve maritime cargo security and make progress toward the statutory 100 percent overseas scanning requirement. According to the amendment, the committee hasn’t received results or a briefing on RFI responses, despite a call in the committee report for the FY17 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill (here) for a briefing within 90 days of enactment on the RFI and pilots that could realistically be implemented within two years of passage of that bill.
The adopted amendment also adds language to the committee report directing DHS to provide within 90 days of enactment details on how it is complying with the Buy American Act and Kissell Amendment, including measures to ensure compliance. The Kissell provisions generally require that DHS apparel- and textile-related procurements originate from U.S. sources. The report says DHS’s report is to include the total number of uniforms bought in FY16 and FY17, the estimated cost for uniforms to be produced in and outside the U.S., and the status of all programs for uniform procurement.
Finally, the committee report directs the CBP commissioner to, within 90 days of enactment, survey international passenger traffic at user fee airports listed in 19 CFR 122.15(b), and designate as ports of entry airports that have scheduled international air service by one or more air carriers and that have received more than 75,000 international passenger arrivals during the most recent calendar year for which data is available. The CBP commissioner should also within 90 days of enactment ensure a “sufficient number” of CBP officers are available at any airport designated as a port of entry “in order for landing rights requests to be granted,” the report says. A Senate Appropriations Committee spokesman said the panel hasn't scheduled a markup for the Senate version of FY18 DHS spending legislation.