WASHINGTON, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Proposed cybersecurity legislation circulating on Capitol Hill would give the president the power to declare an emergency in the case of big online attacks and force some businesses to beef up their cyber defenses and submit to scrutiny.
The draft bill, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, allows the president to declare an emergency if there is an imminent threat to the U.S. electrical grid or other critical infrastructure such as the water supply or financial network because of a cyber attack.
Industries, companies or portions of companies could be temporarily shut down, or be required to take other steps to address threats.
The emergency declaration would last for 30 days, unless the president renews it. It cannot last more than 90 days without action from Congress.
The draft is a combination of two cybersecurity bills which were merged into one at the urging of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. "It (the draft bill) is something that we hope to be able to pass before the end of the year, if we can," Reid spokeswoman Regan Lachapelle told Reuters.
Industry opposition could make it a tough go for the bill to get through the Senate and House of Representatives before the end of the year.
Steve DelBianco, director of the trade group NetChoice, whose members include Yahoo (YHOO.O), eBay (EBAY.O) and News Corp (NWSA.O), objected to a part of the bill that would bar companies designated as "critical" from fighting that designation in court.
"That has to be amended to make this bill fair to the businesses who will pay for it," he said.
The draft tries to calm fears that the government is reaching too far into business operations by requiring specific designations for which parts of a company or industry might be considered "critical infrastructure."
"Citibank router A to the New York Stock Exchange may be considered critical. It's not all of Citibank. It's not the entire banking sector," said a Senate staffer who declined to be identified because the staffer is not authorized to speak on the record.
Cybersecurity experts have been warning of the possibility of a massive attack for more than a decade, and hacking attacks, including one on Google Inc (GOOG.O) and other companies within the past year have sounded alarm bells