By Daniel Fowler, CQ Staff

The House passed a bill Tuesday aimed at helping people who have been misidentified as terrorists clear their names from government watch lists and databases.

The bill (HR 559), sponsored by Yvette D. Clarke , D-N.Y., passed by a vote of 413-3.

“It is important to keep in mind that the watch list is only as good as the information on it,” said House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson , D-Miss.

The bill would require the Homeland Security secretary to establish a “timely and fair” process of appeal and redress for people wrongly delayed or prevented from boarding a flight, among other things, because of an erroneous match with a terrorist watch list.

In addition, the bill would task the Homeland Security secretary with creating an Office of Appeals and Redress and maintain a “comprehensive cleared list” of people who have been inappropriately included on terror watch lists or databases.

The “cleared” list would be supplied to the Homeland Security Department’s component agencies, such as the Transportation Security Administration and Customs and Border Protection, as well as state and local government agencies and airlines that use watch lists.

“This is a good bill,” said Pete Olson , R-Texas. “This is a bipartisan bill.”