Latta has statement on passage of bill

Submitted information

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Representative Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green) released the following statement after legislation he authored, H.R. 4227, the Vehicular Terrorism Prevention Act, was signed into law.

“The Vehicular Terrorism Prevention Act will boost efforts to prevent terror attacks on American soil. We’ve seen a spike in the number of attacks using vehicles in Europe and around the world, and it shouldn’t take multiple attacks in the U.S. before we act. We need to ensure that the Department of Homeland Security has the necessary tools to stop terror groups from using this tactic to harm American citizens. I’d like to thank the President for signing this important piece of legislation into law.”

The legislation requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to assess current actions at the department to support emergency response providers and the private sector to prevent, mitigate, and respond to the threat of vehicular terrorism. The bill then requires DHS to submit a strategy to Congress that includes an examination of the current threat of vehicular terrorism, methods to improve information sharing activities with the private sector, and training activities that the department can undertake. The strategy would also include recommendations from DHS on what can be done to aid department efforts to prevent vehicular terrorism.