42 U.S.C. § 18723 — Rural and municipal utility advanced cybersecurity grant and technical assistance program
submitted 5 years ago by Pub. L. 117-58 to r/title-42-THE-PUBLIC-HEALTH-AND-WELFARE · 598 words · no verdicts yet
The Department of Energy must set up a grant program helping rural and municipal electric utilities improve cybersecurity. It funds tools that detect, prevent, and recover from cyberattacks, giving priority to utilities with fewer resources or critical grid assets. Congress may spend $250 million on the program from 2022 through 2026.
(a) Definitions
"Advanced cybersecurity technology" means any hardware, software, or service that helps an electric utility protect against, detect, respond to, or recover from a "cybersecurity threat" (defined in section 650 of title 6). "Bulk-power system" has the meaning given in section 824o(a) of title 16. "Eligible entity" means: (A) a rural electric cooperative; (B) a utility owned by a state* political subdivision, such as a municipal utility; (C) a utility owned by an agency, authority, corporation, or instrument of one or more state political subdivisions; (D) a nonprofit partnered with at least six entities described in (A), (B), or (C); or (E) an investor-owned utility that sells less than 4,000,000 megawatt hours of electricity a year. "Program" means the Rural and Municipal Utility Advanced Cybersecurity Grant and Technical Assistance Program created by this section.
(b) Establishment
Within 180 days of November 15, 2021, the Secretary* -- working with the Secretary of Homeland Security and consulting the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, and the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council -- must create this Program. It gives grants, technical assistance, and cooperative agreements to eligible entities to help them protect against, detect, respond to, and recover from cybersecurity threats.
(c) Objectives
The Program aims to: (1) put advanced cybersecurity technologies to work in electric utility systems, and (2) get more eligible entities taking part in cybersecurity threat information-sharing programs.
(d) Awards
- In general. The Secretary must award grants and technical assistance on a competitive basis, must develop criteria and a formula for making awards, may sign cooperative agreements to help meet the objectives in (c), and must set up a process making sure every eligible entity knows about funding opportunities.
- Priority. When awarding grants and technical assistance, the Secretary must give priority to an eligible entity that (A) has limited cybersecurity resources, (B) owns assets critical to the reliability of the bulk-power system, or (C) owns "defense critical electric infrastructure" (a term defined in section 824o-1(a) of title 16).
(e) Protection of information
If releasing information collected under this section could reasonably hurt the physical security or cybersecurity of an electric utility or the bulk-power system, that information (1) is exempt from release under the Freedom of Information Act (section 552(b)(3) of title 5), and (2) cannot be released by any federal agency, state, political subdivision of a state, or Tribal authority under a public-records law.
(f) Authorization of appropriations
Congress may give the Secretary $250,000,000 to run this Program for fiscal years 2022 through 2026.
In this section:
The term “advanced cybersecurity technology” means any technology, operational capability, or service, including computer hardware, software, or a related asset, that enhances the security posture of electric utilities through improvements in the ability to protect against, detect, respond to, or recover from a cybersecurity threat (as defined in section 650 of title 6).
The term “bulk-power system” has the meaning given the term in section 824o(a) of title 16.
The term “eligible entity” means—
a rural electric cooperative;
a utility owned by a political subdivision of a State*, such as a municipally owned electric utility;
a utility owned by any agency, authority, corporation, or instrumentality of 1 or more political subdivisions of a State;
a not-for-profit entity that is in a partnership with not fewer than 6 entities described in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C); and
an investor-owned electric utility that sells less than 4,000,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year.
The term “Program” means the Rural and Municipal Utility Advanced Cybersecurity Grant and Technical Assistance Program established under subsection (b).
Not later than 180 days after November 15, 2021, the Secretary*, in coordination with the Secretary of Homeland Security and in consultation with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, and the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council, shall establish a program, to be known as the “Rural and Municipal Utility Advanced Cybersecurity Grant and Technical Assistance Program”, to provide grants and technical assistance to, and enter into cooperative agreements with, eligible entities to protect against, detect, respond to, and recover from cybersecurity threats.
The objectives of the Program shall be—
to deploy advanced cybersecurity technologies for electric utility systems; and
to increase the participation of eligible entities in cybersecurity threat information sharing programs.
The Secretary—
shall award grants and provide technical assistance under the Program to eligible entities on a competitive basis;
shall develop criteria and a formula for awarding grants and providing technical assistance under the Program;
may enter into cooperative agreements with eligible entities that can facilitate the objectives described in subsection (c); and
shall establish a process to ensure that all eligible entities are informed about and can become aware of opportunities to receive grants or technical assistance under the Program.
In awarding grants and providing technical assistance under the Program, the Secretary shall give priority to an eligible entity that, as determined by the Secretary—
has limited cybersecurity resources;
owns assets critical to the reliability of the bulk-power system; or
owns defense critical electric infrastructure (as defined in section 824o–1(a) of title 16).
Information provided to, or collected by, the Federal Government pursuant to this section the disclosure of which the Secretary reasonably foresees could be detrimental to the physical security or cybersecurity of any electric utility or the bulk-power system—
shall be exempt from disclosure under section 552(b)(3) of title 5; and
shall not be made available by any Federal agency, State, political subdivision of a State, or Tribal authority pursuant to any Federal, State, political subdivision of a State, or Tribal law, respectively, requiring public disclosure of information or records.
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this section $250,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2022 through 2026.
Source credit: (Pub. L. 117–58, div. D, title I, § 40124, Nov. 15, 2021, 135 Stat. 953; Pub. L. 117–263, div. G, title LXXI, § 7143(d)(3), Dec. 23, 2022, 136 Stat. 3663.)
- 2021Enacted · Pub. L. 117-58 · 135 Stat. 953
- 2022Amended · Pub. L. 117-263 · 136 Stat. 3663
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 117-58 on 2021-11-15.
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