The NSF AI Education Act of 2026 directs the National Science Foundation to award scholarships and fellowships to undergraduate and graduate students studying artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and related fields. The bill establishes new programs to support AI education at community colleges, vocational schools, and historically underserved institutions, including priority funding for rural, Tribal, and minority-serving institutions. It also authorizes grants for AI research in agriculture and advanced manufacturing, requires the development of guidance for AI use in K-12 education, and mandates the creation of workforce frameworks for AI and other emerging technologies. The legislation includes provisions to restrict funding to institutions with certain civil rights violations and establishes requirements for oversight of public-private partnerships and foreign contributions.
This bill, titled the Enhanced Cybersecurity for SNAP Act of 2026, requires the U.S. Department of Agriculture to update cybersecurity and digital service regulations for Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards used in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The law mandates that states issue chip-enabled EBT cards within four years, ban magnetic stripe cards on new cards, and eliminate replacement fees for cards lost, stolen, or damaged due to fraud. It also requires online transaction security measures, provides funding for retailers to upgrade payment terminals, and establishes reporting requirements to track fraud and system performance.
This bill directs the U.S. Secretary of Education to create a pilot program that awards competitive grants to partnerships between colleges and employers to integrate cybersecurity training into postsecondary career and technical education programs. The grants, up to $500,000 each, are intended to help prepare workers for critical infrastructure sectors like energy, water, and transportation by teaching cybersecurity skills aligned with national workforce standards. To receive funding, partnerships must include at least one college and two or more employers in a critical infrastructure sector, and they must submit detailed plans covering curriculum development, workforce needs, diversity goals, and how they will sustain the programs after the grant period ends. The bill also requires recipients to report annually on how funds were used, student outcomes, and employment results, with a total funding authorization of $10 million.
This bill, titled the Security and Freedom Enhancement Act of 2026, amends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to reform how intelligence agencies collect and use information about Americans. It directly affects the FBI, intelligence agencies, and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court by requiring stricter rules on searching communications of U.S. persons and limiting access to data about Americans located in the United States. Key provisions include mandatory audits of FBI queries, new approval requirements for searching sensitive individuals like elected officials, expanded reporting to Congress, and restrictions on purchasing personal data from data brokers. The bill also strengthens oversight by requiring the Inspector General to conduct periodic audits and mandates greater transparency through public reporting of surveillance activities.
This bill requires Veterans Affairs call centers to use multi-factor authentication to verify the identity of callers before taking high-impact actions. It directly affects veterans and beneficiaries who interact with VA services, ensuring their identities are confirmed more securely. The law defines high-impact actions as those where fraud could cause lasting harm, such as diverting funds or accessing sensitive accounts. By adding this requirement to federal code, the bill strengthens existing security controls for vulnerable service members.
This bill, known as the Full AI Stack Export Promotion Act, aims to increase the global export of U.S.-developed artificial intelligence systems, computing hardware, and related standards. It directs the Secretary of Commerce to establish a program that helps industry groups export U.S. AI technology to allied nations while working with the State Department to remove foreign barriers to these exports. The legislation also requires government agencies to develop security measures to prevent unauthorized access by foreign adversaries and to track the success of these export efforts through regular reports to Congress.
This bill, titled the Websites and Software Applications Accessibility Act of 2026, establishes uniform accessibility standards for web content and applications used by employers, public entities, public accommodations, testing entities, and commercial providers. It requires these covered entities to ensure their digital platforms are accessible to individuals with disabilities, meaning the content must be perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust for users with various disabilities. The bill directs the Department of Justice and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to develop and update specific technical standards within 24 months of enactment, with staggered compliance deadlines for small entities. It also creates enforcement mechanisms allowing for civil penalties and damages, establishes a technical assistance center to help entities comply, and provides grants to small entities for remediating inaccessible digital content.
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This bill, known as the AI Fraud Accountability Act, makes it a federal crime to use artificial intelligence or other technology to create realistic digital impersonations of real or fictional people for the purpose of defrauding others of money, documents, or other valuable items. The law applies to communications across state lines and foreign borders, and it allows for criminal penalties including fines and up to three years in prison, along with the forfeiture of assets used to commit the fraud. In addition to criminal provisions, the bill gives the Federal Trade Commission authority to enforce these rules as unfair or deceptive business practices and requires the creation of a working group to develop technical best practices for detecting and preventing digital impersonation fraud. The legislation also establishes mechanisms for international cooperation with foreign law enforcement agencies to combat cross-border fraud and includes a safeguard protecting parody, satire, and journalism from being classified as illegal impersonation.
This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide annual preventative health evaluations to veterans with spinal cord injuries or disorders who choose to participate. These evaluations will assess risks for health complications, chronic pain management, dietary needs, prosthetic equipment functionality, and access to assistive technologies like powered mobility devices and neuromodulation systems. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs must consult with medical specialists and technology manufacturers when developing rules for these evaluations and must report annually to Congress on how many veterans receive these services and what assistive technologies are prescribed.
This bill establishes a grant program to help rural water systems adopt digital technologies like sensors, data analytics, and cybersecurity tools to improve water infrastructure management. The Environmental Protection Agency would administer the program, which provides funding for designing, constructing, and maintaining digital systems that monitor water flow, detect leaks, and protect against cyber threats. Grants can also cover software costs and workforce training, with priority given to smaller systems serving fewer than 3,300 people and community-owned organizations. The legislation authorizes $50 million annually from 2027 to 2031 and requires a study five years after enactment to evaluate the program's impact on rural water systems.
