AMWA and five other drinking water and wastewater utility organizations wrote to the leaders of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on June 11 to request a revision to pending cybersecurity legislation to ensure that public water utilities would be eligible to partake in a new information-sharing regime proposed by the legislation.
Earlier this year, the Senate Intelligence panel approved the “Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA)” as S. 754. The bill, which is similar to a pair of cybersecurity bills approved by the House of Representatives in April, would establish procedures for private-sector computer network operators to share cyber threat information with each other and with the federal government and would offer liability protections for lawful activities associated with this sharing.
However, as approved by the Senate committee, the bill would extend the sharing authorization and the liability protections to private corporations and public utilities “performing electric utility services.” Public drinking water and wastewater utilities would not be included.
Similar language was initially part of early drafts of cybersecurity legislation proposed in the House of Representatives earlier this year, and at that time AMWA and other water sector groups coordinated with lawmakers to revise the language to ensure water systems were covered. The House approved its cyber bill with this revision in April.
AMWA and the rest of the water sector wrote to the leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee this month as speculation mounted that the full Senate would soon consider S. 754. The letter, sent on June 11, asks senators to make a similar revision to that bill to guarantee water and wastewater systems a place at the government’s cyber info-sharing table.
While the schedule has not been formally announced, many observers expect the Senate to take up S. 754 before the August recess.