Week of August 5, 2024
State of Play: August recess is upon us and so is the annual mass exodus from Washington. The Senate wrapped up its work for the Summer last week, passing major children’s online privacy legislation. The House has already been gone for a week. August will be dominated by Presidential politics - Vice President Harris’ VP pick, the Democratic Convention in Chicago, and the debate over whether there will be another debate. Congress has a long list of thighs to do when it returns in September, which we preview below. In the meantime, the Franklin Square Tech Weekly will be on hiatus for the recess. If there is breaking news in tech policy, we will be sure to keep you up-to-date on all the latest, and we will be back in September.
Three Things to Watch In Tech:
KOSPA Moves to the House…. Will It Pass?: As expected, the Senate passed children’s online privacy legislation last week with a bipartisan vote of 91-3. The legislation, now deemed the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act (KOSPA), is a combination of both the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children and Teen’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0). The legislation now moves to the House where it is anyone's guess as to how Members proceed. It is likely, however, that House Members continue to work on the House version of KOSA, which has yet to be marked up at the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Another possibility is for the Senate-passed version to be taken up and passed by the House or included in an end-of-year, lame duck package. Regardless of the vehicle, the House is likely to act in some capacity on children’s online safety this year.
Senate Commerce Markup: Last week’s markup listed 33 bills on its agenda, but focused on 8 bipartisan AI bills. All 33 passed the committee. Some AI bills we are following closely include S. 4769, Validation and Evaluation for Trustworthy (VET) Artificial Intelligence Act, S. 4178, Future of Artificial Intelligence Innovation Act of 2024, and S. 4569, TAKE IT DOWN Act. Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA) stressed that Congress needs to help drive AI innovation to compete with China by empowering the federal government to set standards for AI through entities such as NIST. Ranking Member Ted Cruz (R-TX), noted that while he allowed several AI bills to pass out of committee, he will not support those bills on the Senate floor without additional changes. Cruz argued that the committee followed the example set by the EU of heavy-handed AI regulation that would hinder American innovation and favor big tech companies over smaller competitors.
Congress’ September To-Do List: Congress faces a long list of to-dos when they return to Washington after Labor Day with just three weeks before breaking again for the October campaign season. The House adjourned early for the August recess because of gridlock on a number of funding measures, and a continuing resolution to keep the federal government open seems inevitable. They will also have to pass an extension of the Farm Bill and work to finalize the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), with the Senate unlikely to act on its own version of the NDAA prior to a final conference report.
What's Happening This Week:
Tech Hearings
Congressional recess.
Tech Events
The Government Executive Media Group - Virtual Discussion titled “Modernize Your Government Agency with Low-Code” - Wednesday, August 7 at 2:00 PM EST
The Johns Hopkins University - Media Briefing on "What every reporter in D.C. should know about AI" - Friday, August 9 at 9:00 AM EST
