§469 Fees for Credentialing and Background Investigations in Transportation

Summary

Starting in fiscal year 2004, the Secretary of Homeland Security must charge reasonable fees for giving transportation credentials and for doing background checks. The total fees collected cannot be more than what the Department spends on those services. Each fee must match the cost of the specific service. Fees may only be used to pay for things like criminal history checks, searches of law enforcement and commercial databases and other government records, and for handling waiver requests and appeals or other costs directly tied to the credential or background check. Money from these fees can only be spent on those services and stays available until it is used. For non-U.S. citizens who want recurrent aircraft training, the Secretary must set up a process to confirm their identity and check they have not become a risk since any earlier threat assessment under 49 U.S.C. 44939(a). If someone is found to be a current risk, the Secretary will tell the training provider, who must not start or must stop the training immediately. The Secretary may charge the fees above for these checks, and those fees will be published in the Federal Register. The law uses the word "alien" to mean a person who is not a U.S. citizen.