The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“POWER AND SECURITY SYSTEMS (PASS) ACT” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H7192-H7193 on Dec. 6, 2016.
The Department oversees energy policies and is involved in how the US handles nuclear programs. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, said the Department's misguided energy regulations have caused large losses to consumers for decades.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
POWER AND SECURITY SYSTEMS (PASS) ACT
Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 6375) to provide for consideration of the extension under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of nonapplication of No-Load Mode energy efficiency standards to certain security or life safety alarms or surveillance systems.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 6375
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Power And Security Systems
(PASS) Act''.
SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF NONAPPLICATION OF NO-LOAD MODE ENERGY
EFFICIENCY STANDARD TO CERTAIN SECURITY OR LIFE
SAFETY ALARM OR SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS.
(a) Section 325(u)(3)(D)(ii) of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6295(u)(3)(D)(ii)) is amended--
(1) by striking ``2015'' and inserting ``2021''; and
(2) by striking ``2017'' and inserting ``2023''.
(b) Section 325(u)(3)(E) of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6295(u)(3)(E)) is amended--
(1) in clause (ii), by striking ``July 1, 2017,'' and inserting ``the effective date of the amendment under subparagraph (D)(ii)''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(iv) Treatment in rule.--In the rule under subparagraph
(D)(ii) and subsequent amendments the Secretary may treat some or all external power supplies designed to be connected to a security or life safety alarm or surveillance system as a separate product class or may extend the nonapplication under clause (ii).''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Olson) and the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Welch) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas.
General Leave
Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials in the Record on the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Texas?
There was no objection.
Mr. OLSON. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 6375, the Power and Security Systems (PASS) Act, extends an important exemption from current regulations for devices such as security systems and medical devices. Specifically, many electronic devices use external power supplies that are subject to strict limits on the amount of electricity they can consume when not in use. However, these provisions are not feasible for products that have to be on 24/7, such as home security alarms and heart monitors.
This bill extends the existing exemption for external power supplies for these kinds of products. H.R. 6375 would ensure the continued availability of these important and potentially lifesaving devices, and I urge everyone to support it.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WELCH. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6375, the Power and Security Systems Act, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, as my colleague has stated, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 requires electronic devices to meet certain efficiency standards while in no-load mode or standby mode, and that obviously makes a lot of sense. You don't want to be consuming unnecessary energy when, in fact, you don't need to use energy; but the whole law was written in a way that it included some devices that are always on active mode. Security and life safety systems, such as video surveillance, intrusion detection, and access control systems, have to be active all of the time.
So this law is now to extend something that was an exemption, and that is going to expire unless we pass this legislation and then allow manufacturers to avoid having to go through very costly steps in order to bring it into compliance with the law that would actually make their products ineffective when it came to surveillance.
This law was originally introduced by Ranking Member Frank Pallone and his colleague, Roy Blunt, who is now in the Senate, to provide that temporary exemption. This is really going to extend it.
I joined with the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Pompeo), and it is fitting that we are working with Mr. Pompeo because he is about to start a new job that has just a little bit to do with security and intelligence. We congratulate him, by the way, on that appointment by President-elect Trump.
This bill, which has the support of industry and efficiency advocates, addresses the unique needs of critical life safety and security systems to remain on at all times while meeting DOE energy efficiency standards. It is a practical bill and a straightforward bill.
By the way, it is something that we should be trying together to do more often: when we pass a bill, it is a good bill, but we find out it has got a bit of a problem; instead of arguing about it, let's fix it. We managed to accomplish that in this legislation.
I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
Having no further speakers on this side, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia, the Peanut State (Mr. Carter).
Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6375, the Power and Security Systems Act. This bill directs the Department of Energy to decide by 2021 whether to amend standards for certain external power supply products, and directs that these standards would not apply to products manufactured before 2023.
External power supplies convert power from an outlet to a lower voltage for use in everyday items like cell phones, laptops, power tools, and other electronics. The average home has 5 to 10 external power supplies, and that number continues to grow with more than 300 million shipped in the United States annually.
The PASS Act would also allow for the Department of Energy to classify external power supplies connected to security or safety systems differently than other types. By design, external power supplies associated with a safety or security device are always in an active mode and simply do not have a no-load or inactive mode, which is why the distinction is needed.
This bill provides necessary regulatory relief while the Department of Energy develops standards for these products.
I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, I will close by saying that H.R. 6375 ensures that these important and potentially lifesaving devices work when needed. This is a great bill. I urge all my colleagues to vote for this bill.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6375, the Power and Security Systems, or PASS Act. This bill will provide an important technical exemption to certain security and life safety products from energy efficiency standards set forth in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. A provision in the law increased the energy efficiency requirements for battery chargers and external power supplies--and I strongly supported that change. However, the provision also mistakenly included security and life safety products, and required that they be manufactured with a standby mode, despite being products that are inherently always on.
Without providing this correction, the security industry will need to spend millions of dollars to comply with an energy standard that will yield no energy savings and could cost jobs, which was never the initial intent of the law.
Six years ago, I stood on the House floor in support of legislation I authored that provided this exemption through July 2017. I'm pleased that Representative Welch, along with Representative Pompeo, has taken up this important issue and introduced this bill to extend the exemption I originally authored through 2023. And, the language in the bill before us today will also allow the Department of Energy to extend this exemption or reclassify these products into a separate class if they deem it appropriate.
Mr. Speaker, this is a commonsense and consensus fix to a simple problem: the language was developed by both industry and efficiency advocates, with technical assistance from the Department of Energy. So it should come as no surprise that this bill enjoys broad support from the security industry and energy efficiency advocates. I urge all of my colleagues to support it.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Olson) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 6375.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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