Securing Energy Infrastructure Act

Appropriate committee of Congress— The term appropriate committee of Congress means—

Covered entity— The term covered entity means an entity identified pursuant to section 9(a) of Executive Order 13636 of February 12, 2013 (78 Fed. Reg. 11742), relating to identification of critical infrastructure where a cybersecurity incident could reasonably result in catastrophic regional or national effects on public health or safety, economic security, or national security.

Exploit— The term exploit means a software tool designed to take advantage of a security vulnerability.

National Laboratory— The term National Laboratory has the meaning given the term in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801).

Program— The term Program means the pilot program established under section 3.

Secretary— The term Secretary means the Secretary of Energy.

Security vulnerability— The term security vulnerability means any attribute of hardware, software, process, or procedure that could enable or facilitate the defeat of a security control.

partnering with covered entities in the energy sector (including critical component manufacturers in the supply chain) that voluntarily participate in the Program to identify new classes of security vulnerabilities of the covered entities; and

evaluating technology and standards, in partnership with covered entities, to isolate and defend industrial control systems of covered entities from security vulnerabilities and exploits in the most critical systems of the covered entities, including—

Establishment— The Secretary shall establish a working group—

Membership— The working group established under subsection (a) shall be composed of not fewer than 10 members, to be appointed by the Secretary, at least 1 member of which shall represent each of the following:

Interim report— Not later than 180 days after the date on which funds are first disbursed under the Program, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress an interim report that—

Final report— Not later than 2 years after the date on which funds are first disbursed under the Program, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a final report that—

deemed to be voluntarily shared information;

exempt from disclosure under section 552 of title 5, United States Code, or any provision of any State, Tribal, or local freedom of information law, open government law, open meetings law, open records law, sunshine law, or similar law requiring the disclosure of information or records; and

withheld from the public, without discretion, under section 552(b)(3) of title 5, United States Code, or any provision of a State, Tribal, or local law requiring the disclosure of information or records.

In general— A cause of action against a covered entity for engaging in the voluntary activities authorized under section 3—

Voluntary activities— Nothing in this Act subjects any covered entity to liability for not engaging in the voluntary activities authorized under section 3.

Pilot Program— There is authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 to carry out section 3.

Working Group and Report— There is authorized to be appropriated $1,500,000 to carry out sections 4 and 5.

Availability— Amounts made available under subsections (a) and (b) shall remain available until expended.