I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3274 
To establish the National Fab Lab Network, a nonprofit organization con-
sisting of a national network of local digital fabrication facilities providing 
universal access to advanced manufacturing tools for workforce develop-
ment, STEM education, developing inventions, creating businesses, pro-
ducing personalized products, mitigating risks, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 17, 2021 
Mr. FOSTER (for himself and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition 
to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con-
cerned 
A BILL 
To establish the National Fab Lab Network, a nonprofit 
organization consisting of a national network of local 
digital fabrication facilities providing universal access to 
advanced manufacturing tools for workforce development, 
STEM education, developing inventions, creating busi-
nesses, producing personalized products, mitigating risks, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Fab Lab Net-
work Act of 2021’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Scientific discoveries and technical innova-
tions are critical to the economic and national secu-
rity of the United States. 
(2) Maintaining the leadership of the United 
States in science, technology, engineering, and math-
ematics will require a diverse population with the 
skills, interest, and access to tools required to ad-
vance these fields. 
(3) Just as earlier digital revolutions in commu-
nications and computation provided individuals with 
the internet and personal computers, a digital revo-
lution in fabrication will allow anyone to make al-
most anything, anywhere. 
(4) These creations include elements of a typ-
ical household basket of goods (furnishings, apparel, 
food production equipment, shelter, transportation, 
education and communication, recreation, and other 
goods and services), personal technology, means for 
personal expression, the production of digital fab-
rication machinery, community design, and manufac-
turing capability. 
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(5) The Center for Bits and Atoms of the Mas-
sachusetts Institute of Technology (CBA) has con-
tributed significantly to the advancement of these 
goals through its work in creating and advancing 
digital fabrication facilities, or ‘‘fab labs’’ in the 
United States and abroad. 
(6) Such digital fabrication facilities may in-
clude MakerSpaces, Hackerspaces, and other cre-
ative spaces that use digital fabrication as a plat-
form for education, innovation, entrepreneurship, 
personal expression, public access, and social impact. 
(7) Such digital fabrication facilities provide a 
model for a new kind of national laboratory that op-
erates as a network, linking local facilities for ad-
vanced manufacturing, providing universal access, 
cultivating new literacies, and empowering commu-
nities. 
(8) The nonprofit Fab Foundation was estab-
lished to support the growth of the international net-
work of digital fabrication facilities, to amplify the 
educational, entrepreneurial, and social impacts of 
digital fabrication facilities, and to support the de-
velopment of regional capacity building organizations 
to broaden impact as well as address local, regional, 
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and global challenges through the use of digital fab-
rication technologies. 
(9) A coordinated array of national public-pri-
vate partnerships will be the most effective way to 
accelerate the provision of universal access to this 
infrastructure for workforce development, science, 
technology, engineering, and mathematics education, 
developing inventions, creating businesses, producing 
personalized products, and mitigating risks. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF FAB LAB. 
In this Act, the term ‘‘fab lab’’ means a facility 
that— 
(1) contains the range of capabilities required 
to create form and function from digital designs, in-
cluding— 
(A) computer-controlled machines for addi-
tive and subtractive fabrication processes; 
(B) tools and components for manufac-
turing and programming electronic circuits; 
(C) materials and methods for short-run 
production; and 
(D) workflows for three-dimensional design 
and digitization; and 
(2) is committed to supporting education, inno-
vation, entrepreneurship, personal expression, self- 
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(C) to create businesses and jobs; 
(D) to fulfill personal, professional, and 
community needs; 
(E) to create value and mitigate harm; 
(F) to increase self-sufficiency for individ-
uals, households, and communities; 
(G) to reduce dependency on global supply 
chains; and 
(H) to align workforce development with 
new and emerging jobs. 
(5) To provide a platform for education, re-
search, and for catalyzing new methods in science, 
technology, engineering, and mathematics education, 
and introducing digital fabrication as an essential 
new literacy. 
(6) To create new ways of educating the work-
force that will enable workers to compete in a 21st 
century global marketplace. 
(b) ACTIVITIES.—To attain the goals described in 
subsection (a), the corporation shall carry out activities, 
including the following: 
(1) Seeking, initially, to establish a minimum of 
one fab lab in each Congressional District. 
(2) Seeking to establish additional labs within 
the network created under subsection (a)(2), in re-
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sponse to local demand, and to provide guidelines for 
their sustainable operation. 
(3) Linking fab labs into a national network, 
and promoting further expansion of fab labs across 
the United States. 
(4) Serving as a resource to assist diverse pub-
lic and private stakeholders with the effective oper-
ation of fab labs, and the training of fab lab leaders 
and mentors. 
(5) Maintaining a national registry of fab labs. 
(6) Providing standards and protocols for con-
necting fab labs regionally, nationally, and globally. 
(7) Assisting fab labs in producing fab labs. 
SEC. 6. MEMBERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION. 
Except as provided in this Act, eligibility for member-
ship in the corporation and the rights and privileges of 
members shall be in accordance with the laws governing 
tax exempt organizations in the District of Columbia. 
SEC. 7. GOVERNING BODY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 
(b), directors, officers, and other staff of the corporation, 
and their powers and duties, shall be in accordance with 
the laws governing tax exempt organizations in the Dis-
trict of Columbia. 
(b) BOARD MEMBERSHIP.— 
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(1) COMPOSITION.—The board of the corpora-
tion shall be composed of not fewer than 7 members 
and not more than 15 members. 
(2) REPRESENTATION.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—The membership of the 
board of the corporation shall collectively rep-
resent the diversity of fab labs. 
(B) REQUIREMENT.—At a minimum, the 
board of the corporation shall be composed of 
members from geographic regions across the 
United States, Tribal communities, educational 
and research institutions, libraries, nonprofit 
and commercial organizations, diverse demo-
graphic groups, and the Fab Foundation. 
(C) INDIVIDUAL
REPRESENTATION.—An 
individual member of the board of the corpora-
tion may represent more than one board role 
and additional roles may be added to reflect the 
diversity of the fab lab ecosystem. 
(3) SELECTION.—The initial board of the cor-
poration shall be chosen, in consultation with the 
Fab Foundation and in accordance with paragraph 
(2)(A), as follows: 
(A) Two shall be appointed by the majority 
leader of the Senate. 
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(B) Two shall be appointed by the minority 
leader of the Senate. 
(C) Two shall be appointed by the Speaker 
of the House of Representatives. 
(D) Two shall be appointed by the minor-
ity leader of the House of Representatives. 
SEC. 8. POWERS. 
The corporation may— 
(1) coordinate the creation of a national net-
work of local fab labs in the United States; 
(2) issue guidelines for the sustainable oper-
ation of fab labs; 
(3) issue standards and guidelines for fab labs; 
(4) serve as a resource for organizations and 
communities seeking to create fab labs by providing 
information, assessing suitability, advising on the lab 
lifecycle, and maintaining descriptions of prospective 
and operating sites; 
(5) accept funds from private individuals, orga-
nizations, government agencies, or other organiza-
tions; 
(6) distribute funds to other organizations to 
establish and operate fab labs as members of the 
corporation; 
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(7) facilitate communication between other or-
ganizations seeking to join the corporation with 
operational entities that can source and install fab 
labs, provide training, assist with operations, ac-
count for spending, and assess impact; 
(8) communicate the benefits available through 
membership in the corporation to communities and 
the public; 
(9) facilitate and participate in synergistic pro-
grams, including workforce training, job creation, re-
searching the enabling technology and broader im-
pacts of such programs, and the production of civic 
infrastructure; 
(10) develop processes and methods to mitigate 
risks associated with digital fabrication; 
(11) amend a constitution and bylaws for the 
management of its property and the regulation of its 
affairs; 
(12) choose directors, officers, trustees, man-
agers, employees, and agents as the activities of the 
corporation require; 
(13) make contracts; 
(14) acquire, own, lease, encumber, and trans-
fer property as necessary or convenient to carry out 
the purposes of the corporation; 
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(15) borrow money, issue instruments of indebt-
edness, and secure its obligations by granting secu-
rity interests in its property; 
(16) charge and collect membership dues and 
subscription fees; and 
(17) sue and be sued. 
SEC. 9. EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO NAME, TERM, SEALS, EM-
BLEMS, AND BADGES. 
The corporation and its participating digital fabrica-
tion labs have the exclusive right to use— 
(1) the name ‘‘National Fab Lab Network’’; 
and 
(2) any seals, emblems, and badges the corpora-
tion adopts. 
SEC. 10. RESTRICTIONS. 
(a) STOCK AND DIVIDENDS.—The corporation may 
not issue securities of any kind or declare or pay a divi-
dend. 
(b) DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME OR ASSETS.—The in-
come or assets of the corporation may not inure to the 
benefit of, or be distributed to, a director, officer, or mem-
ber during the life of the corporation under this Act. This 
subsection does not prevent the payment of reasonable 
compensation to an officer or reimbursement for actual 
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necessary expenses in amounts approved by the board of 
directors. 
(c) LOANS.—The corporation may not make a loan 
to a director, officer, or employee. 
(d) CLAIM OF GOVERNMENTAL APPROVAL OR AU-
THORITY.—The corporation may not claim congressional 
approval or the authority of the United States Govern-
ment for any of its activities, but may recognize establish-
ment of the corporation pursuant to section 4 of this Act. 
SEC. 11. RECORDS AND INSPECTION. 
(a) RECORDS.—The corporation shall keep— 
(1) correct and complete records of account; 
(2) minutes of the proceedings of its members, 
board of directors, and committees having any of the 
authority of its board of directors; and 
(3) at its principal office, a record of the names 
and addresses of its members entitled to vote. 
(b) INSPECTIONS.—A member entitled to vote, or an 
agent or attorney of the member, may inspect the records 
of the corporation for any proper purpose, at any reason-
able time. 
SEC. 12. ANNUAL REPORT. 
Not less frequently than once each year, the corpora-
tion shall submit to Congress, including specifically to the 
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 
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the Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and 
Technology of the House of Representatives, a report on 
the activities of the corporation during the prior fiscal 
year. 
Æ 
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