| 1 | 1 | | fI |
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| 2 | 2 | | 118THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 2 |
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| 4 | 4 | | DSESSION H. R. 7447 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require the Election |
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| 6 | 6 | | Assistance Commission to provide for the conduct of penetration testing |
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| 7 | 7 | | as part of the testing and certification of voting systems and to provide |
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| 8 | 8 | | for the establishment of an Independent Security Testing and Coordi- |
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| 9 | 9 | | nated Vulnerability Disclosure Pilot Program for Election Systems. |
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| 10 | 10 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 11 | 11 | | FEBRUARY23, 2024 |
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| 12 | 12 | | Ms. S |
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| 13 | 13 | | PANBERGER(for herself and Mr. VALADAO) introduced the following bill; |
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| 14 | 14 | | which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in |
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| 15 | 15 | | addition to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, for a pe- |
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| 16 | 16 | | riod to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for con- |
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| 17 | 17 | | sideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com- |
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| 18 | 18 | | mittee concerned |
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| 19 | 19 | | A BILL |
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| 20 | 20 | | To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require |
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| 21 | 21 | | the Election Assistance Commission to provide for the |
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| 22 | 22 | | conduct of penetration testing as part of the testing |
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| 23 | 23 | | and certification of voting systems and to provide for |
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| 24 | 24 | | the establishment of an Independent Security Testing |
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| 25 | 25 | | and Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure Pilot Program |
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| 26 | 26 | | for Election Systems. |
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| 27 | 27 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 28 | 28 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 30 | 30 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 |
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| 31 | 31 | | •HR 7447 IH |
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| 32 | 32 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 |
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| 33 | 33 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening Election 2 |
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| 34 | 34 | | Cybersecurity to Uphold Respect for Elections through 3 |
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| 35 | 35 | | Independent Testing Act’’ or the ‘‘SECURE IT Act’’. 4 |
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| 36 | 36 | | SEC. 2. REQUIRING PENETRATION TESTING AS PART OF 5 |
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| 37 | 37 | | THE TESTING AND CERTIFICATION OF VOT-6 |
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| 38 | 38 | | ING SYSTEMS. 7 |
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| 39 | 39 | | Section 231 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 8 |
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| 40 | 40 | | (52 U.S.C. 20971) is amended by adding at the end the 9 |
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| 41 | 41 | | following new subsection: 10 |
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| 42 | 42 | | ‘‘(e) R |
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| 43 | 43 | | EQUIREDPENETRATIONTESTING.— 11 |
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| 44 | 44 | | ‘‘(1) I |
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| 45 | 45 | | N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 12 |
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| 46 | 46 | | after the date of the enactment of this subsection, 13 |
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| 47 | 47 | | the Commission shall provide for the conduct of pen-14 |
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| 48 | 48 | | etration testing as part of the testing, certification, 15 |
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| 49 | 49 | | decertification, and recertification of voting system 16 |
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| 50 | 50 | | hardware and software by accredited laboratories 17 |
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| 51 | 51 | | under this section. 18 |
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| 52 | 52 | | ‘‘(2) A |
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| 53 | 53 | | CCREDITATION.—The Director of the 19 |
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| 54 | 54 | | National Institute of Standards and Technology 20 |
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| 55 | 55 | | shall recommend to the Commission entities the Di-21 |
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| 56 | 56 | | rector proposes be accredited to carry out penetra-22 |
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| 57 | 57 | | tion testing under this subsection and certify compli-23 |
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| 58 | 58 | | ance with the penetration testing-related guidelines 24 |
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| 59 | 59 | | required by this subsection. The Commission shall 25 |
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| 60 | 60 | | vote on the accreditation of any entity recommended. 26 |
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| 63 | 63 | | •HR 7447 IH |
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| 64 | 64 | | The requirements for such accreditation shall be a 1 |
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| 65 | 65 | | subset of the requirements for accreditation of lab-2 |
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| 66 | 66 | | oratories under subsection (b) and shall only be 3 |
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| 67 | 67 | | based on consideration of an entity’s competence to 4 |
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| 68 | 68 | | conduct penetration testing under this subsection.’’. 5 |
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| 69 | 69 | | SEC. 3. INDEPENDENT SECURITY TESTING AND COORDI-6 |
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| 70 | 70 | | NATED CYBERSECURITY VULNERABILITY 7 |
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| 71 | 71 | | DISCLOSURE PROGRAM FOR ELECTION SYS-8 |
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| 72 | 72 | | TEMS. 9 |
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| 73 | 73 | | (a) I |
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| 74 | 74 | | NGENERAL.—Subtitle D of title II of the Help 10 |
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| 75 | 75 | | America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15401 et seq.) is 11 |
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| 76 | 76 | | amended by adding at the end the following new part: 12 |
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| 77 | 77 | | ‘‘PART 7—INDEPENDENT SECURITY TESTING AND 13 |
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| 78 | 78 | | COORDINATED CYBERSECURITY VULNER-14 |
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| 79 | 79 | | ABILITY DISCLOSURE PILOT PROGRAM FOR 15 |
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| 80 | 80 | | ELECTION SYSTEMS 16 |
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| 81 | 81 | | ‘‘SEC. 297. INDEPENDENT SECURITY TESTING AND COORDI-17 |
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| 82 | 82 | | NATED CYBERSECURITY VULNERABILITY 18 |
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| 83 | 83 | | DISCLOSURE PILOT PROGRAM FOR ELEC-19 |
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| 84 | 84 | | TION SYSTEMS. 20 |
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| 85 | 85 | | ‘‘(a) E |
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| 86 | 86 | | STABLISHMENT.—The Commission, in con-21 |
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| 87 | 87 | | sultation with the Secretary, shall establish an Inde-22 |
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| 88 | 88 | | pendent Security Testing and Coordinated Vulnerability 23 |
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| 89 | 89 | | Disclosure Pilot Program for Election Systems (VDP–E) 24 |
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| 90 | 90 | | (in this section referred to as the ‘program’) in order to 25 |
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| 93 | 93 | | •HR 7447 IH |
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| 94 | 94 | | test for and disclose cybersecurity vulnerabilities in elec-1 |
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| 95 | 95 | | tion systems. 2 |
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| 96 | 96 | | ‘‘(b) D |
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| 97 | 97 | | URATION.—The program shall be conducted 3 |
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| 98 | 98 | | for a period of 5 years. 4 |
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| 99 | 99 | | ‘‘(c) R |
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| 100 | 100 | | EQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out the program, 5 |
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| 101 | 101 | | the Commission, in consultation with the Secretary, 6 |
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| 102 | 102 | | shall— 7 |
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| 103 | 103 | | ‘‘(1) establish a mechanism by which an elec-8 |
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| 104 | 104 | | tion systems vendor may make their election system 9 |
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| 105 | 105 | | (including voting machines and source code) avail-10 |
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| 106 | 106 | | able to cybersecurity researchers participating in the 11 |
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| 107 | 107 | | program; 12 |
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| 108 | 108 | | ‘‘(2) provide for the vetting of cybersecurity re-13 |
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| 109 | 109 | | searchers prior to their participation in the program, 14 |
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| 110 | 110 | | including the conduct of background checks; 15 |
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| 111 | 111 | | ‘‘(3) establish terms of participation that— 16 |
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| 112 | 112 | | ‘‘(A) describe the scope of testing per-17 |
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| 113 | 113 | | mitted under the program; 18 |
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| 114 | 114 | | ‘‘(B) require researchers to— 19 |
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| 115 | 115 | | ‘‘(i) notify the vendor, the Commis-20 |
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| 116 | 116 | | sion, and the Secretary of any cybersecu-21 |
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| 117 | 117 | | rity vulnerability they identify with respect 22 |
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| 118 | 118 | | to an election system; and 23 |
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| 122 | 122 | | ‘‘(ii) otherwise keep such vulnerability 1 |
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| 123 | 123 | | confidential for 180 days after such notifi-2 |
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| 124 | 124 | | cation; 3 |
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| 125 | 125 | | ‘‘(C) require the good faith participation of 4 |
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| 126 | 126 | | all participants in the program; and 5 |
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| 127 | 127 | | ‘‘(D) require an election system vendor, 6 |
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| 128 | 128 | | after receiving notification of a critical or high 7 |
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| 129 | 129 | | vulnerability (as defined by the National Insti-8 |
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| 130 | 130 | | tute of Standards and Technology) in an elec-9 |
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| 131 | 131 | | tion system of the vendor, to— 10 |
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| 132 | 132 | | ‘‘(i) send a patch or propound some 11 |
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| 133 | 133 | | other fix or mitigation for such vulner-12 |
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| 134 | 134 | | ability to the appropriate State and local 13 |
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| 135 | 135 | | election officials, in consultation with the 14 |
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| 136 | 136 | | researcher who discovered it; and 15 |
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| 137 | 137 | | ‘‘(ii) notify the Commission and the 16 |
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| 138 | 138 | | Secretary that such patch has been sent to 17 |
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| 139 | 139 | | such officials; 18 |
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| 140 | 140 | | ‘‘(4) in the case where a patch or fix to address 19 |
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| 141 | 141 | | a vulnerability disclosed under paragraph (3)(B)(i) 20 |
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| 142 | 142 | | is intended to be applied to a system certified by the 21 |
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| 143 | 143 | | Commission, provide— 22 |
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| 144 | 144 | | ‘‘(A) for the expedited review of such patch 23 |
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| 145 | 145 | | or fix within 90 days after receipt by the Com-24 |
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| 146 | 146 | | mission; and 25 |
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| 149 | 149 | | •HR 7447 IH |
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| 150 | 150 | | ‘‘(B) if such review is not completed by the 1 |
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| 151 | 151 | | last day of such 90-day period, that such patch 2 |
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| 152 | 152 | | or fix shall be deemed to be certified by the 3 |
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| 153 | 153 | | Commission; and 4 |
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| 154 | 154 | | ‘‘(5) 180 days after the disclosure of a vulner-5 |
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| 155 | 155 | | ability under paragraph (3)(B)(i), notify the Direc-6 |
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| 156 | 156 | | tor of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security 7 |
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| 157 | 157 | | Agency of the vulnerability for inclusion in the data-8 |
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| 158 | 158 | | base of Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures. 9 |
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| 159 | 159 | | ‘‘(d) V |
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| 160 | 160 | | OLUNTARYPARTICIPATION; SAFEHARBOR.— 10 |
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| 161 | 161 | | ‘‘(1) V |
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| 162 | 162 | | OLUNTARY PARTICIPATION .—Participa-11 |
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| 163 | 163 | | tion in the program shall be voluntary for election 12 |
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| 164 | 164 | | systems vendors and researchers. 13 |
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| 165 | 165 | | ‘‘(2) S |
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| 166 | 166 | | AFE HARBOR .—Research conducted 14 |
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| 167 | 167 | | under the program, and any subsequent publication 15 |
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| 168 | 168 | | of such research, shall be treated as follows: 16 |
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| 169 | 169 | | ‘‘(A) The research and publication shall be 17 |
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| 170 | 170 | | treated as authorized in accordance with section 18 |
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| 171 | 171 | | 1030 of title 18, United States Code (commonly 19 |
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| 172 | 172 | | known as the ‘Computer Fraud and Abuse 20 |
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| 173 | 173 | | Act’), (and similar State laws), and the election 21 |
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| 174 | 174 | | system vendor will not initiate or support legal 22 |
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| 175 | 175 | | action against the researcher for accidental, 23 |
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| 176 | 176 | | good faith violations of the program. 24 |
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| 180 | 180 | | ‘‘(B) The research and publication shall be 1 |
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| 181 | 181 | | exempt from the anti-circumvention rule of sec-2 |
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| 182 | 182 | | tion 1201 of title 17, United States Code (com-3 |
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| 183 | 183 | | monly known as the ‘Digital Millennium Copy-4 |
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| 184 | 184 | | right Act’), and the election system vendor will 5 |
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| 185 | 185 | | not bring a claim against a researcher for cir-6 |
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| 186 | 186 | | cumvention of technology controls. 7 |
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| 187 | 187 | | ‘‘(3) R |
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| 188 | 188 | | ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Nothing in 8 |
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| 189 | 189 | | this subsection may be construed to limit or other-9 |
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| 190 | 190 | | wise affect any exception to the general prohibition 10 |
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| 191 | 191 | | against the circumvention of technological measures 11 |
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| 192 | 192 | | under subparagraph (A) of section 1201(a)(1) of 12 |
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| 193 | 193 | | title 17, United States Code, including with respect 13 |
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| 194 | 194 | | to any use that is excepted from that general prohi-14 |
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| 195 | 195 | | bition by the Librarian of Congress under subpara-15 |
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| 196 | 196 | | graphs (B) through (D) of such section 1201(a)(1). 16 |
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| 197 | 197 | | ‘‘(4) E |
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| 198 | 198 | | XEMPT FROM DISCLOSURE .—Cybersecu-17 |
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| 199 | 199 | | rity vulnerabilities discovered under the program 18 |
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| 200 | 200 | | shall be exempt from section 552 of title 5, United 19 |
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| 201 | 201 | | States Code (commonly referred to as the Freedom 20 |
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| 202 | 202 | | of Information Act). 21 |
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| 203 | 203 | | ‘‘(e) D |
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| 204 | 204 | | EFINITIONS.—In this section: 22 |
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| 205 | 205 | | ‘‘(1) C |
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| 206 | 206 | | YBERSECURITY VULNERABILITY .—The 23 |
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| 207 | 207 | | term ‘cybersecurity vulnerability’ means, with re-24 |
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| 210 | 210 | | •HR 7447 IH |
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| 211 | 211 | | spect to an election system, any security vulner-1 |
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| 212 | 212 | | ability that affects the election system. 2 |
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| 213 | 213 | | ‘‘(2) E |
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| 214 | 214 | | LECTION INFRASTRUCTURE .—The term 3 |
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| 215 | 215 | | ‘election infrastructure’ means— 4 |
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| 216 | 216 | | ‘‘(A) storage facilities, polling places, and 5 |
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| 217 | 217 | | centralized vote tabulation locations used to 6 |
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| 218 | 218 | | support the administration of elections for pub-7 |
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| 219 | 219 | | lic office; and 8 |
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| 220 | 220 | | ‘‘(B) related information and communica-9 |
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| 221 | 221 | | tions technology, including— 10 |
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| 222 | 222 | | ‘‘(i) voter registration databases; 11 |
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| 223 | 223 | | ‘‘(ii) election management systems; 12 |
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| 224 | 224 | | ‘‘(iii) voting machines; 13 |
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| 225 | 225 | | ‘‘(iv) electronic mail and other com-14 |
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| 226 | 226 | | munications systems (including electronic 15 |
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| 227 | 227 | | mail and other systems of vendors who 16 |
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| 228 | 228 | | have entered into contracts with election 17 |
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| 229 | 229 | | agencies to support the administration of 18 |
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| 230 | 230 | | elections, manage the election process, and 19 |
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| 231 | 231 | | report and display election results); and 20 |
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| 232 | 232 | | ‘‘(v) other systems used to manage 21 |
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| 233 | 233 | | the election process and to report and dis-22 |
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| 234 | 234 | | play election results on behalf of an elec-23 |
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| 235 | 235 | | tion agency. 24 |
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| 238 | 238 | | •HR 7447 IH |
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| 239 | 239 | | ‘‘(3) ELECTION SYSTEM.—The term ‘election 1 |
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| 240 | 240 | | system’ means any information system that is part 2 |
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| 241 | 241 | | of an election infrastructure, including any related 3 |
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| 242 | 242 | | information and communications technology de-4 |
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| 243 | 243 | | scribed in paragraph (2)(B). 5 |
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| 244 | 244 | | ‘‘(4) E |
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| 245 | 245 | | LECTION SYSTEM VENDOR .—The term 6 |
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| 246 | 246 | | ‘election system vendor’ means any person providing, 7 |
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| 247 | 247 | | supporting, or maintaining an election system on be-8 |
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| 248 | 248 | | half of a State or local election official. 9 |
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| 249 | 249 | | ‘‘(5) I |
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| 250 | 250 | | NFORMATION SYSTEM .—The term ‘infor-10 |
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| 251 | 251 | | mation system’ has the meaning given the term in 11 |
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| 252 | 252 | | section 3502 of title 44, United States Code. 12 |
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| 253 | 253 | | ‘‘(6) S |
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| 254 | 254 | | ECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 13 |
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| 255 | 255 | | the Secretary of Homeland Security. 14 |
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| 256 | 256 | | ‘‘(7) S |
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| 257 | 257 | | ECURITY VULNERABILITY .—The term 15 |
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| 258 | 258 | | ‘security vulnerability’ has the meaning given the 16 |
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| 259 | 259 | | term in section 102 of the Cybersecurity Information 17 |
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| 260 | 260 | | Sharing Act of 2015 (6 U.S.C. 1501).’’. 18 |
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| 261 | 261 | | (b) C |
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| 262 | 262 | | LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of contents 19 |
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| 263 | 263 | | of such Act is amended by adding at the end of the items 20 |
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| 264 | 264 | | relating to subtitle D of title II the following: 21 |
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| 265 | 265 | | ‘‘PART 7—INDEPENDENT SECURITYTESTING ANDCOORDINATEDCYBERSE- |
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| 266 | 266 | | CURITYVULNERABILITYDISCLOSUREPROGRAM FORELECTIONSYSTEMS |
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| 267 | 267 | | ‘‘Sec. 297. Independent security testing and coordinated cybersecurity vulner- |
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| 268 | 268 | | ability disclosure program for election systems.’’. |
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| 269 | 269 | | Æ |
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