This Act may be cited as the “Securing Public Areas of Transportation Facilities Act of 2018”.

In this Act:

(a) Working group.—The Secretary of Homeland Security shall establish a working group to promote collaborative engagement between the Department of Homeland Security and public and private sector stakeholders to develop non-binding recommendations for enhancing security in public areas of transportation facilities (including facilities that are surface transportation assets), including recommendations regarding the following topics:

(1) Information sharing and interoperable communication capabilities among the Department of Homeland Security and public and private stakeholders with respect to terrorist or other threats.

(2) Coordinated incident response procedures.

(3) The prevention of terrorist attacks and other incidents through strategic planning, security training, exercises and drills, law enforcement patrols, worker vetting, and suspicious activity reporting.

(4) Infrastructure protection through effective construction design barriers and installation of advanced surveillance and other security technologies.

(b) Annual report.—Not later than one year after the establishment of the working group under subsection (a) and annually thereafter for five years, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall report to the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate on the working group’s organization, participation, activities, findings, and non-binding recommendations for the immediately preceding 12-month period. The Secretary may publish a public version of such report that describes the working group’s activities and such related matters as would be informative to the public, consistent with section 552(b) of title 5, United States Code.

(c) Inapplicability of the Federal Advisory Committee Act.—The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the working group established under subsection (a) or any subsidiary thereof.

(a) In general.—The Secretary of Homeland Security shall—

(1) inform owners and operators of surface transportation assets about the availability of technical assistance, including vulnerability assessment tools and cybersecurity guidelines, to help protect and enhance the resilience of public areas of such assets; and

(2) subject to the availability of appropriations, provide such technical assistance to requesting owners and operators of surface transportation assets.

(b) Best practices.—Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall publish on the Department of Homeland Security’s website and widely disseminate, as appropriate, best practices for protecting and enhancing the resilience of public areas of transportation facilities (including facilities that are surface transportation assets), including associated frameworks or templates for implementation. Such best practices shall be updated periodically.

(a) Review.—Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report that includes a review of regulations, directives, policies, and procedures issued by the Administrator regarding the transportation of a firearm and ammunition, and, as appropriate, information on plans to modify any such regulation, directive, policy, or procedure based on such review.

(b) Consultation.—In preparing the report required under subsection (a), the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration shall consult with the Aviation Security Advisory Committee (established pursuant to section 44946 of title 49, United States Code) and appropriate public and private sector stakeholders.