II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3849 

To promote United States leadership in technical standards by directing 

the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Department 

of State to take certain actions to encourage and enable United States 

participation in developing standards and specifications for artificial intelligence and other critical and emerging technologies, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 29, 2024 

Mr. WARNER (for himself and Mrs. BLACKBURN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To promote United States leadership in technical standards 

by directing the National Institute of Standards and 

Technology and the Department of State to take certain 

actions to encourage and enable United States participation in developing standards and specifications for artificial intelligence and other critical and emerging technologies, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting United 

3 States Leadership in Standards Act of 2024’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND OTHER

7 CRITICAL AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES.—The 

8 term ‘‘artificial intelligence and other critical and 

9 emerging technologies’’ means a subset of artificial 

10 intelligence and other critical and emerging tech11 nologies included in the list of such technologies 

12 identified and maintained by the National Science 

13 and Technology Council of the Office of Science and 

14 Technology Policy as the Director considers appro15 priate for purposes of this Act. 

16 (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

17 the Director of the National Institute of Standards 

18 and Technology. 

19 SEC. 3. UNITED STATES PARTICIPATION IN ORGANIZA20 TIONS DEVELOPING STANDARDS AND SPECI21 FICATIONS FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 

22 AND OTHER CRITICAL AND EMERGING TECH23 NOLOGIES. 

24 (a) BRIEFING REQUIRED.— 

25 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

26 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director 


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1 shall provide to Congress a briefing to assist in the 

2 evaluation and identification of opportunities for 

3 Federal Government participation in the develop4 ment of technical standards for artificial intelligence 

5 and other critical and emerging technologies. 

6 (2) ELEMENTS.—The briefing provided pursu7 ant to paragraph (1) shall include the following: 

8 (A) An overview of standards activities re9 lating to artificial intelligence and other critical 

10 and emerging technologies and information 

11 about the following: 

12 (i) Key technical standards that are 

13 the subject of ongoing activity. 

14 (ii) Key standards bodies hosting 

15 these activities. 

16 (iii) Any Federal agency that is par17 ticipating in these activities. 

18 (B) An analysis identifying where partici19 pation by United States industry and Federal 

20 agencies in standards activities in artificial in21 telligence and other critical and emerging tech22 nologies would be facilitated or enhanced by 

23 conducting prestandardization and standards 

24 coordination meetings with stakeholders and 

25 standards meetings hosted in the United States. 


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1 (C) Recommendations for effectively in2 forming United States industry and Federal 

3 agencies on ongoing standardization activities 

4 with the objective of increasing participation of 

5 such industry and agencies in such activities. 

6 (3) FEDERAL AGENCY NOTICE REQUIRE7 MENT.— 

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—Using the mechanism 

9 established pursuant to subparagraph (B), each 

10 head of a Federal agency shall transmit to the 

11 Director notice of the participation of their re12 spective Federal agency in a standards activity 

13 relating to artificial intelligence and other crit14 ical and emerging technologies. 

15 (B) MECHANISM.—The Director shall, in 

16 coordination with the Director of the Office of 

17 Management and Budget, develop a mechanism 

18 for reporting participation by Federal agencies 

19 in standards activities. 

20 (b) WEB PORTAL.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—In order to inform United 

22 States industry and Federal agencies about existing 

23 and ongoing international efforts to develop tech24 nical standards for artificial intelligence and other 

25 critical and emerging technologies and opportunities 


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1 for participation in such efforts, the Director shall 

2 establish an accessible web portal to help such indus3 try and agencies navigate and participate in such ef4 forts. 

5 (2) CONTENTS.—The web portal established 

6 pursuant to paragraph (1) shall include regularly 

7 updated lists of the following: 

8 (A) International efforts described in para9 graph (1) and information on opportunities for 

10 participation in such efforts. 

11 (B) Information on accessing standards, 

12 both in development and published, for artificial 

13 intelligence and other critical and emerging 

14 technologies. 

15 (3) ADMINISTRATION.—The Director may inter 

16 into such cooperative agreements with such non17 governmental organizations as the Director considers 

18 appropriate to establish the web portal required by 

19 paragraph (1). 

20 SEC. 4. PILOT PROGRAM TO SUPPORT STANDARDS MEET21 INGS FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND 

22 OTHER CRITICAL AND EMERGING TECH23 NOLOGIES IN THE UNITED STATES. 

24 (a) PILOT PROGRAM REQUIRED.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

2 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and sub3 ject to the availability of appropriated funds, the Di4 rector shall, in coordination with the heads of such 

5 other Federal agencies as the Director considers ap6 propriate, establish a pilot program on supporting 

7 standards meetings for artificial intelligence and 

8 other critical and emerging technologies in the 

9 United States by— 

10 (A) conducting prestandardization and 

11 standards coordination meetings with stake12 holders; and 

13 (B) awarding grants to eligible entities de14 scribed in subsection (b) hosting meetings of or15 ganizations described in paragraph (1) of such 

16 subsection to support the hosting of such meet17 ings in the United States. 

18 (2) ADMINISTRATION.—The Director may carry 

19 out the pilot program required by paragraph (1) by 

20 entering into such cooperative agreements with such 

21 nongovernmental organizations as the Director con22 siders appropriate to establish and administer the 

23 pilot program. 

24 (b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—For purposes of the pilot 

25 program required by subsection (a), an eligible entity is— 


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1 (1) an organization that is developing standards 

2 and specifications for artificial intelligence and other 

3 critical and emerging technologies for at least 1 

4 technical standard that affects the interests of 1 or 

5 more Federal agencies; or 

6 (2) an entity that hosts an organization de7 scribed in paragraph (1). 

8 (c) GRANTS.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the pilot 

10 program required by subsection (a), the Director 

11 shall award grants to eligible entities to host meet12 ings as described in such subsection. 

13 (2) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity receiv14 ing a grant under this subsection to host a meeting 

15 in the United States may use the amount of the 

16 grant for such costs as the Director considers rea17 sonable for hosting the meeting in the United 

18 States, but not more than fifty percent of antici19 pated cost of hosting the meeting and not more than 

20 a maximum amount that the Director shall establish 

21 for purposes of this subsection. Such costs may in22 clude the following: 

23 (A) Costs related to the preparation and 

24 planning of meetings described in subsection 

25 (a). 


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1 (B) Meeting venue-related expenses. 

2 (C) Such other costs that may support the 

3 eligible entity in conducting a standards meet4 ing in the United States. 

5 (3) CONSIDERATIONS.—In deciding whether to 

6 award a grant under this subsection to an eligible 

7 entity to host a meeting, the Director may consider 

8 the extent to which the eligible entity— 

9 (A) is or hosts an organization that admin10 isters technical standards activity in artificial 

11 intelligence and other critical and emerging 

12 technologies that involves United States-based 

13 participants, including participants from Fed14 eral agencies of the United States; 

15 (B) has a demonstrable history of partici16 pating in or hosting successful meetings; and 

17 (C) has a stable or growing participant 

18 base. 

19 (d) GUIDANCE.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall develop 

21 and periodically update guidance for the pilot pro22 gram carried out under this section. 

23 (2) ELEMENTS.—The guidance developed and 

24 updated pursuant to paragraph (1) shall cover the 

25 following: 


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1 (A) Eligibility for grants awarded under 

2 the pilot program. 

3 (B) How grants are awarded under sub4 section (c). 

5 (C) The duration and amounts of grants 

6 awarded under subsection (c). 

7 (D) The merit review process for the pilot 

8 program. 

9 (E) Priority areas for technical standards 

10 activity. 

11 (F) Means for recipients of grants under 

12 the pilot program to report expenses relating to 

13 costs described in subsection (c)(2)(D). 

14 (G) Such additional matters as the Direc15 tor determines appropriate for purposes of the 

16 pilot program. 

17 (e) BRIEFINGS FOR CONGRESS.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—During the third year of the 

19 pilot program carried out under this section and in 

20 each subsequent year of the pilot program, the Di21 rector shall provide Congress with a briefing on the 

22 pilot program. 

23 (2) ELEMENTS.—Each briefing provided pursu24 ant to paragraph (1) shall include the following: 


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1 (A) An assessment of the effectiveness of 

2 the pilot program with respect to improving the 

3 hosting of standards meetings in the United 

4 States. 

5 (B) Identification of the recipients of 

6 grants under the pilot program. 

7 (C) The geographic distribution of 

8 attendees at meetings supported with grants 

9 under the pilot program. 

10 (D) A summary of the expenses for which 

11 the amounts of grants awarded under the pilot 

12 program were used. 

13 (f) RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PERMANENT IMPLE14 MENTATION.—If, before the date that is 3 years after the 

15 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director determines 

16 that conducting prestandardization and standards coordi17 nation meetings with stakeholders or awarding grants as 

18 described in subsection (a) is feasible and advisable, the 

19 Director shall, not later than 3 years after the date of 

20 the enactment of this Act— 

21 (1) develop recommendations for such legisla22 tive or administrative action as the Director con23 siders appropriate to establish a permanent imple24 mentation of the pilot program; and 


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1 (2) submit to Congress the recommendations 

2 developed pursuant to paragraph (1). 

3 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

4 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

5 $10,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2024 through 

6 2028. 

Æ 


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