I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6886 

To direct agencies to be transparent when using automated and augmented 

systems to interact with the public or make critical decisions, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 22, 2023 

Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana (for himself, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. MCGOVERN, and Mr. DAVIS of North Carolina) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability 

A BILL 

To direct agencies to be transparent when using automated 

and augmented systems to interact with the public or 

make critical decisions, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Transparent Auto5 mated Governance Act’’ or the ‘‘TAG Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 

2 meaning given the term in section 3502 of title 44, 

3 United States Code. 

4 (2) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.—The term ‘‘ar5 tificial intelligence’’ has the meaning given the term 

6 in section 238(g) of the John S. McCain National 

7 Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (10 

8 U.S.C. note prec. 4061; Public Law 115–232). 

9 (3) AUGMENTED CRITICAL DECISION PROC10 ESS.—The term ‘‘augmented critical decision proc11 ess’’ means the use by an agency, or by a third 

12 party on behalf of the agency, of an automated sys13 tem to determine or substantially influence the out14 comes of critical decisions. 

15 (4) AUTOMATED SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘auto16 mated system’’— 

17 (A) means a set of computational processes 

18 derived from statistics or artificial intelligence 

19 techniques, or that otherwise rely on data about 

20 specific individuals or groups, to substantially 

21 influence the outcome of critical decisions, in22 cluding computational processes that stand 

23 alone or are embedded within another process, 

24 system, or application, including paper-based 

25 processes; and 


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1 (B) does not include computational proc2 esses or infrastructure the function of which is 

3 not directly related to influencing or deter4 mining the outcome of critical decisions. 

5 (5) CRITICAL DECISION.—The term ‘‘critical 

6 decision’’ means an agency determination, including 

7 the assignment of a score or classification, related to 

8 the status, rights, property, or wellbeing of specific 

9 individuals or groups, the outcome of which— 

10 (A) is likely to meaningfully differ from 

11 one individual or group to another; and 

12 (B) meaningfully affects access to, or the 

13 cost, terms, or availability of— 

14 (i) education and vocational training; 

15 (ii) employment; 

16 (iii) essential utilities, including elec17 tricity, heat, water, and internet; 

18 (iv) transportation; 

19 (v) any benefits or assistance under 

20 any Federal public assistance program or 

21 under any State or local public assistance 

22 program financed in whole or in part with 

23 Federal funds; 

24 (vi) financial services, including access 

25 to credit or insurance; 


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1 (vii) asylum and immigration services; 

2 (viii) healthcare; 

3 (ix) housing, lodging, or public accom4 modations; and 

5 (x) any other service, program, or op6 portunity a determination about which 

7 would have a legal, material, or significant 

8 effect on the life of an individual, as deter9 mined by the Director. 

10 (6) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

11 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg12 et. 

13 (7) PLAIN LANGUAGE.—The term ‘‘plain lan14 guage’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

15 1311(e)(3)(B) of the Patient Protection and Afford16 able Care Act (42 U.S.C. 18031(e)(3)(B)). 

17 (8) TRANSPARENT AUTOMATED GOVERNANCE

18 GUIDANCE.—The term ‘‘transparent automated gov19 ernance guidance’’ means the guidance issued by the 

20 Director pursuant to section 3(a). 

21 SEC. 3. TRANSPARENT AUTOMATED GOVERNANCE GUID22 ANCE. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 270 days after the 

24 date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall issue 

25 guidance that— 


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1 (1) is consistent with relevant legal authorities 

2 relating to privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties 

3 protections; and 

4 (2) requires agencies to provide disclosure and 

5 opportunity for appeal when using certain auto6 mated systems and augmented critical decision proc7 esses. 

8 (b) GUIDANCE.—The transparent automated govern9 ance guidance issued under subsection (a) shall include— 

10 (1) an identification by the Director of any ad11 ditional services, programs, or opportunities relating 

12 to critical decisions described in section 2(5)(B)(x), 

13 if appropriate, for use by agencies with respect to 

14 the requirements under this Act; 

15 (2) a list of automated systems that may be 

16 used in augmented critical decision processes, that, 

17 as determined by the Director, are not subject to the 

18 requirements of this Act; 

19 (3) with respect to automated systems that con20 tribute to augmented critical decision processes and 

21 interact with the public, guidance for how agencies 

22 shall design, develop, procure, or update those auto23 mated systems to provide plain language notice to 

24 individuals not later than the time and at the place 


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1 of interaction with such an automated system that 

2 they are interacting with such an automated system; 

3 (4) the proper contents of the notice described 

4 in paragraph (3); 

5 (5) examples of what the notice described in 

6 paragraph (3) could look like in practice; 

7 (6) with respect to augmented critical decision 

8 processes, guidance for how agencies shall provide 

9 plain language notice to individuals not later than 

10 the time a critical decision is issued to an individual 

11 that a critical decision concerning the individual was 

12 made using an augmented critical decision process; 

13 (7) the proper contents of the notice described 

14 in paragraph (6); 

15 (8) examples of what the notice described in 

16 paragraph (6) could look like in practice; 

17 (9) guidance for how agencies shall establish an 

18 appeals process for critical decisions made by an 

19 augmented critical decision process in which an indi20 vidual is harmed as a direct result of the use of an 

21 automated system in the augmented critical decision 

22 process; 

23 (10) with respect to critical decisions made by 

24 an augmented critical decision process, guidance for 

25 how agencies should provide individuals with the opVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:28 Jan 09, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6886.IH H6886

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1 portunity for an alternative review, as appropriate, 

2 by an individual working for or on behalf of the 

3 agency with respect to the critical decision, inde4 pendent of the augmented critical decision process; 

5 and 

6 (11) criteria for information that each agency is 

7 required to track and collect relating to issues that 

8 arise during the use of augmented critical decision 

9 processes— 

10 (A) to ensure that the information col11 lected can be used to determine whether each 

12 automated system and augmented critical deci13 sion process covered by this Act is accurate, re14 liable, and, to the greatest extent practicable, 

15 explainable; and 

16 (B) that the agency shall make accessible 

17 for use by the agency, the Comptroller General 

18 of the United States, and Congress. 

19 (c) PUBLIC COMMENT.—Not later than 180 days 

20 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall 

21 make a preliminary version of the transparent automated 

22 governance guidance available for public comment for a 

23 period of 30 days. 


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1 (d) CONSULTATION.—In developing the transparent 

2 automated governance guidance, the Director shall con3 sider soliciting input from— 

4 (1) the Government Accountability Office; 

5 (2) the General Services Administration, includ6 ing on the topic of user experience; 

7 (3) the private sector; and 

8 (4) the nonprofit sector, including experts in 

9 privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties. 

10 (e) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE GUIDANCE.—The 

11 guidance required by section 104 of the AI in Government 

12 Act of 2020 (40 U.S.C. 11301 note) may be used to sat13 isfy the requirement for the transparent automated gov14 ernance guidance with respect to relevant automated sys15 tems and augmented critical decision processes, or a sub16 set thereof, if such guidance addresses each requirement 

17 under subsection (b) of this section with respect to the 

18 automated system or augmented critical decision process. 

19 (f) UPDATES.—Not later than 2 years after the date 

20 on which the Director issues the transparent automated 

21 governance guidance, and biennially thereafter, the Direc22 tor shall issue updates to the guidance. 

23 SEC. 4. AGENCY IMPLEMENTATION. 

24 (a) AGENCY IMPLEMENTATION OF TRANSPARENT

25 AUTOMATED GOVERNANCE GUIDANCE.—Not later than 


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1 270 days after the date on which the Director issues the 

2 transparent automated governance guidance, the head of 

3 each agency shall implement the transparent automated 

4 governance guidance to the extent that implementation 

5 does not require rulemaking. 

6 (b) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT.—Not later 

7 than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, and 

8 biannually thereafter, the Comptroller General of the 

9 United States shall review agency compliance with this Act 

10 and submit to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

11 Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee 

12 on Oversight and Accountability of the House of Rep13 resentatives a report with findings and recommendations. 

14 SEC. 5. SUNSET. 

15 Beginning on the date that is 10 years after the date 

16 of enactment of this Act, this Act shall have no force or 

17 effect. 

Æ 


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