House advances Rep. Garbarino’s transit security legislation

The U.S. House of Representatives advanced Wednesday legislation, introduced by U.S. Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), that would provide transit security grant recipients flexibility in how they use the grants while establishing performance periods.

The Transit Security Grant Program Flexibility Act was Garbarino’s first sponsored piece of legislation to pass the House floor. Specifically, it establishes periods of performance for the use of public transportation security access funds while allowing those grants to be used to backfill positions when employees attend security training.

“Whether it’s bus systems, ferries, or passenger rail, the Transit Security Grant Program provides needed funds to transit agencies to protect critical surface transportation infrastructure and the traveling public from acts of terrorism,” said Garbarino, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee. “With billions of riders using surface transportation annually and limited security screening, it should come as no surprise that surface transportation has been and continues to be a terror target.”

The Transit Security Grant Program was created after the 9/11 Commission and provides the public transportation system with the funding needed to protect critical transportation infrastructure and the traveling public from terrorism and increase transportation infrastructure resilience.

“I’m proud to lead this effort to provide flexibility to these transportation security assistance grants, which will directly help the New York Police Department, MTA Police, and the Port Authority of NY and NJ Police Department, ultimately bolstering our critical transportation infrastructure’s ability to thwart terrorism and future attacks,” Garbarino said.