Last Thursday, the United States Senate passed H.R. 3210, which Rep. Steve Knight, who sponsored the bill, hopes will increase transparency and expedite security clearance processes.

On March 15, Knight’s bill, the Securely Expediting Clearances Through Reporting Transparency (SECRET) act, was passed by the United States Senate. The legislation hopes to “assess inefficiencies and shortfalls” when acquiring security clearances and would expedite an individual’s ability to begin a job that requires security clearance in a “reasonable amount of time.”

“This idea was born from a meeting I had with local businesses who were frustrated with many of their hires not being able to start work due to the excessive wait times for security clearances,” said Knight in a statement released from his office on Monday. “With so many important defense and aerospace projects happening here in the Antelope Valley and throughout our district, this backlog can hurt our local economy and is a threat to our national security.”

The bill would require the Office of Personnel Management’s National Background Investigations Bureau to generate a report about the ever growing backlog of security clearance investigations and how they could attempt to mitigate the queue, according to a news release.

“It also requires NBIB to report on the process required to grant security clearances to staff of the Executive Office of the President,” said the news release.

“In addition, recent reports of individuals in the Executive Office of the President holding security clearances when they shouldn’t have are very concerning,” Knight said. “The SECRET Act addresses both of these concerns by improving accountability and encouraging more responsive processing of clearances.”

There were more than 100 staffers in the Executive Office of the President who were operating on interim clearances more than a year after Trump was elected, one of whom was the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, according to a CNN report. Many of those clearances have since been revoked or downgraded.

However, the bill has not been finalized yet. After the Senate passed it Thursday, the bill was returned to the House of Representatives to be passed once again.

“I’m very pleased my colleagues in the Senate passed this important piece of legislation and I look forward to pushing it through the final hurdles on its way to becoming law,” said Knight.

Following its second passage in the House of Representatives, the bill then moves onto the desk of the president.

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