I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2575 

To authorize an AI Center of Excellence within the General Services 

Administration, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 8, 2019 

Mr. MCNERNEY (for himself and Mr. MEADOWS) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform 

A BILL 

To authorize an AI Center of Excellence within the General 

Services Administration, 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 ‘‘AI in Government Act 

5 of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act— 

8 (1) the term ‘‘Administration’’ means the Gen9 eral Services Administration; 


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1 (2) the term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Ad2 ministrator of General Services; 

3 (3) the term ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning given 

4 the term in section 3502 of title 44, United States 

5 Code; 

6 (4) the term ‘‘AI CoE’’ means the AI Center of 

7 Excellence described in section 3; 

8 (5) the term ‘‘artificial intelligence’’ means any 

9 method implemented on a computer, including any 

10 method that is drawn from machine learning, data 

11 science, or statistics, to enable the computer to carry 

12 out a task or behavior that would require intel13 ligence if performed by a human; 

14 (6) the term ‘‘Board’’ means the advisory board 

15 established under section 5(a); 

16 (7) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 

17 the Office of Management and Budget; 

18 (8) the term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ 

19 has the meaning given the term in section 102 of the 

20 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002); 

21 and 

22 (9) the term ‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an 

23 organization described in section 501(c)(3) of the 

24 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from 

25 taxation under section 501(a) of that Code. 


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1 SEC. 3. AI CENTER OF EXCELLENCE. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is established within the 

3 Administration an office to be known as the ‘‘AI Center 

4 of Excellence’’, which shall— 

5 (1) advise and promote the efforts of the Fed6 eral Government in developing innovative uses of ar7 tificial intelligence by the Federal Government to the 

8 benefit of the public; and 

9 (2) improve cohesion and competency in the use 

10 of artificial intelligence. 

11 (b) DUTIES.—The duties of the AI CoE shall in12 clude— 

13 (1) regularly convening individuals from agen14 cies, industry, Federal laboratories, nonprofit organi15 zations, institutions of higher education, and other 

16 entities to discuss recent developments in artificial 

17 intelligence, including the dissemination of informa18 tion regarding programs, pilots, and other initiatives 

19 at agencies, as well as recent trends and relevant in20 formation on artificial intelligence; 

21 (2) advising Federal Government acquisition 

22 and use of artificial intelligence through technical in23 sight and expertise, as needed; 

24 (3) assisting agencies in applying the manage25 ment and use of data in applications of artificial in26 telligence; 


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1 (4) identifying and disseminating information 

2 regarding educational and workforce development 

3 opportunities for agency employees relative to artifi4 cial intelligence topics, and leading those opportuni5 ties, as needed; 

6 (5) studying economic, policy, legal, and ethical 

7 challenges and implications related to the use of ar8 tificial intelligence by the Federal Government, in9 cluding how the privacy, civil liberties, and civil 

10 rights of individuals are or will be affected by the 

11 use of artificial intelligence by the Federal Govern12 ment; 

13 (6) encouraging and assisting joint initiatives 

14 with State or local governments, regional organiza15 tions, private businesses, institutions of higher edu16 cation, nonprofit organizations, and Federal labora17 tories to advance the innovative use of artificial in18 telligence in government; and 

19 (7) assisting relevant agencies in developing 

20 and maintaining plans for the governance of agency 

21 artificial intelligence systems. 

22 (c) STAFF.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall pro24 vide necessary staff, resources, and administrative 

25 support for the AI CoE. 


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1 (2) TEMPORARY OR TERM APPOINTMENTS.— 

2 The Administrator may hire temporary or term em3 ployees in accordance with part 316 of title 5, Code 

4 of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation, 

5 to serve as AI CoE employees. 

6 (3) FELLOWS.—The Administrator may, to the 

7 maximum extent practicable, appoint fellows to par8 ticipate in the AI CoE from nonprofit organizations, 

9 think tanks, institutions of higher education, and in10 dustry. 

11 (4) DETAILS.—When appropriate, and to the 

12 maximum extent practicable, the Administrator may 

13 detail AI CoE employees to agencies on a reimburs14 able or nonreimbursable basis in accordance with 

15 section 3341 of title 5, United States Code. 

16 (d) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Administrator shall 

17 submit to Congress an annual report on the AI CoE, 

18 which shall include, for the preceding year— 

19 (1) a summary of the activity of the AI CoE, 

20 including a description of specific projects worked on 

21 in partnership with agencies; 

22 (2) recommendations on ways in which agencies 

23 can better support the development and deployment 

24 of artificial intelligence, including initiatives deVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:42 May 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2575.IH H2575

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1 signed to promote knowledge of those technologies 

2 among the Federal workforce; and 

3 (3) an identification of joint initiatives encour4 aged or assisted under subsection (b)(6). 

5 (e) TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS.—All functions of the 

6 Emerging Citizen Technology Office of the Administra7 tion, including the personnel, assets, and obligations of the 

8 Emerging Citizen Technology Office, as in existence before 

9 the date of enactment of this Act, shall be transferred to 

10 the AI CoE. 

11 (f) DEEMING OF NAME.—Any reference in law, regu12 lation, document, paper, or other record of the United 

13 States to the Emerging Citizen Technology Office of the 

14 Administration shall be deemed a reference to the AI CoE. 

15 SEC. 4. AGENCY GOVERNANCE PLANS FOR ARTIFICIAL IN16 TELLIGENCE SYSTEMS. 

17 (a) GUIDANCE.—In order to develop a clear and com18 prehensive understanding of how artificial intelligence can 

19 be used to deliver benefits to citizens of the United States 

20 while mitigating risks, the Director, in coordination with 

21 the Administrator, the head of any relevant agency as de22 termined by the Director, and key stakeholders, shall issue 

23 a memorandum to the head of each agency that shall— 


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1 (1) inform the development of artificial intel2 ligence governance approaches by those agencies re3 garding technologies and applications that— 

4 (A) are empowered or enabled by the use 

5 of artificial intelligence within that agency; and 

6 (B) advance the innovative use of artificial 

7 intelligence for the benefit of the public while 

8 upholding civil liberties, privacy, and civil 

9 rights; 

10 (2) consider ways to reduce barriers to the use 

11 of artificial intelligence in order to promote innova12 tive application of those technologies for the benefit 

13 of the public, while protecting civil liberties, privacy, 

14 and civil rights; 

15 (3) establish best practices for identifying, as16 sessing, and mitigating any bias on the basis of any 

17 classification protected under Federal nondiscrimina18 tion laws or other negative unintended consequence 

19 stemming from the use of artificial intelligence sys20 tems; and 

21 (4) provide a template of the required contents 

22 of the agency Governance Plans described in sub23 section (b). 

24 (b) AGENCY GOVERNANCE PLANS.—Not later than 

25 180 days after the date on which the memorandum is 


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1 issued under subsection (a), the head of each agency 

2 shall— 

3 (1) review the applications of artificial intel4 ligence at the agency; 

5 (2) identify and prioritize applications of artifi6 cial intelligence that would significantly benefit the 

7 public while upholding civil liberties, privacy, and 

8 civil rights; and 

9 (3) submit to the Director and the Adminis10 trator a Governance Plan to achieve consistency with 

11 the memorandum. 

12 (c) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—Each agency described 

13 in subsection (b) shall— 

14 (1) not later than 1 year after the date on 

15 which the head of the agency submits the Govern16 ance Plan of the agency under subsection (b), and 

17 each year thereafter, update the Governance Plan 

18 pursuant to any change in the factors described in 

19 (a)(1); 

20 (2) solicit public feedback during the develop21 ment of the Governance Plan in the form of public 

22 hearings and online submission of comments; and 

23 (3) make available each Governance Plan cen24 trally available in a machine-readable format at a 


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1 publicly available online portal on the website of the 

2 agency. 

3 (d) CENTRAL ONLINE GOVERNANCE PLANS POR4 TAL.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall 

6 maintain a single public interface online to compile 

7 published agency Governance Plans in accordance 

8 with subsection (c). 

9 (2) SUBMISSION OF LINKS.—The Administrator 

10 and the Director shall ensure that agencies can sub11 mit links, with appropriate descriptive metadata, to 

12 the public Governance Plans for publication and 

13 public availability on the interface described in para14 graph (1). 

15 SEC. 5. ADVISORY BOARD. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall establish 

17 an advisory board to advise the Administrator on issues 

18 that are relevant to the mission and duties of the AI CoE 

19 and to inform the priorities and projects worked on by 

20 the AI CoE. 

21 (b) COMPOSITION.— 

22 (1) CHAIR.—The Director shall serve as Chair 

23 of the Board. 

24 (2) OTHER MEMBERS.—The Board shall be 

25 composed of the following members: 


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1 (A) One designee from each of the fol2 lowing: 

3 (i) The Office of Science and Tech4 nology Policy. 

5 (ii) The Department of Commerce. 

6 (B) Six designees from agencies not listed 

7 in subparagraph (A), who shall be designated 

8 by the Chair of the Board once every 12 

9 months. 

10 (C) Eight members designated by the 

11 Chair of the Board once every 6 months, of 

12 whom— 

13 (i) four shall be representatives of rel14 evant industries; 

15 (ii) two shall be representatives of in16 stitutions of higher education; and 

17 (iii) two shall be representatives of 

18 public interest groups representing privacy, 

19 civil liberties, and civil rights issues. 

20 (3) QUALIFICATIONS.—Each member of the 

21 Board designated under subparagraph (B) or (C) of 

22 paragraph (2) shall have demonstrated experience 

23 and expertise in the field of artificial intelligence. 

24 (c) MEETINGS.—The Board shall meet not less fre25 quently than once every 12 months. 


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1 (d) ANNUAL LIST.—Each year, the Board shall pub2 lish on a publicly available website a list of areas of im3 provement within the Federal Government that would ben4 efit from additional technical or technical policy expertise. 

5 (e) COMPENSATION.—Members of the Board shall 

6 serve on the Board without compensation, except that 

7 members of the Board may be allowed travel expenses, in8 cluding per diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates authorized 

9 for employees of agencies under subchapter I of chapter 

10 57 of title 5, United States Code, while away from their 

11 homes or regular places of business in the performance 

12 of services for the Board. 

13 (f) DURATION.—Section 14 of the Federal Advisory 

14 Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the 

15 Board. 

16 SEC. 6. UPDATE OF OCCUPATIONAL SERIES FOR ARTIFI17 CIAL INTELLIGENCE. 

18 Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 

19 of this Act, and in accordance with chapter 51 of title 5, 

20 United States Code, the Director of the Office of Per21 sonnel Management shall— 

22 (1) identify key skills and competencies needed 

23 for positions related to artificial intelligence; and 

24 (2) establish an occupational series, or update 

25 and improve an existing occupational job series, to 


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1 include positions the primary duties of which relate 

2 to artificial intelligence. 

3 SEC. 7. SUNSET. 

4 Sections 3 and 5 of this Act shall cease to be effective 

5 on the date that is 5 years after the date of enactment 

6 of this Act. 

Æ 


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