Not later than 30 days after August 3, 2007, the Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration of the Department of Transportation shall submit all public transportation security assessments and all other relevant information to the Secretary.
Not later than 60 days after receiving the submission under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall review and augment the security assessments received, and conduct additional security assessments as necessary to ensure that at a minimum, all high risk public transportation agencies, as determined by the Secretary, will have a completed security assessment.
The Secretary shall require public transportation agencies determined by the Secretary to be at high risk for terrorism to develop a comprehensive security plan. The Secretary shall provide technical assistance and guidance to public transportation agencies in preparing and implementing security plans under this section.
The Secretary shall not require a public transportation agency to develop a security plan under paragraph (1) if the agency does not receive a grant under section 1135 of this title.
The Secretary may waive the exemption provided in paragraph (4) to require a public transportation agency to develop a security plan under paragraph (1) in the absence of grant funds under section 1135 of this title if not less than 3 days after making the determination the Secretary provides the appropriate congressional committees and the public transportation agency written notification detailing the need for the security plan, the reasons grant funding has not been made available, and the reason the agency has been designated high risk.
The Secretary shall ensure that the security plans developed by public transportation agencies under this section are consistent with the security assessments developed by the Department and the National Strategy for Public Transportation Security developed under section 1133 of this title.
Beginning in fiscal year 2008 and each fiscal year thereafter, the Secretary, after consultation with management and nonprofit employee labor organizations representing public transportation employees as appropriate, and with appropriate State and local officials, shall utilize the information developed or received in this section to establish security improvement priorities unique to each individual public transportation agency that has been assessed.
The Secretary shall use the security improvement priorities established in paragraph (1) as the basis for allocating risk-based grant funds under section 1135 of this title, unless the Secretary notifies the appropriate congressional committees that the Secretary has determined an adjustment is necessary to respond to an urgent threat or other significant national security factors.
The Secretary shall encourage the development and implementation of coordinated assessments and security plans to the extent a public transportation agency shares facilities (such as tunnels, bridges, stations, or platforms) with another public transportation agency, a freight or passenger railroad carrier, or over-the-road bus operator that are geographically close or otherwise co-located.
Nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing the withholding of any information from Congress.
Nothing in this section shall be construed as affecting any authority or obligation of a Federal agency to disclose any record or information that the Federal agency obtains from a public transportation agency under any other Federal law.
In response to a petition by a public transportation agency or at the discretion of the Secretary, the Secretary may recognize existing procedures, protocols, and standards of a public transportation agency that the Secretary determines meet all or part of the requirements of this section regarding security assessments or security plans.