Bills Introduced – 9-26-25
Yesterday, with the House meeting in pro forma session, there were 63 bills introduced. One of those bills may receive additional coverage in this blog:
HR 5566 To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act to reauthorize certain programs for water infrastructure resilience and sustainability, and for other purposes. Carbajal, Salud O. [Rep.-D-CA-24]
Water Systems Authorization
I can find no bills in the 118th Congress that would look to be similar to HR 5566. I will be watching this bill for languages and definitions that would include coverage of water system cybersecurity issues within the scope of the bill.
Space Geek Legislation
I would like to mention one bill under my limited Space Geek coverage in this blog:
HR 5602 To streamline the application of regulations relating to commercial space launch and reentry requirements and licensing of private remote sensing space systems, and for other purposes. Pfluger, August [Rep.-R-TX-11]
It looks like HR 5602 will be similar to S 3966, the Licensing Aerospace Units to New Commercial Heights (LAUNCH) Act of 2024, that was introduced by Sen Cornyn in March of 2024. No action was taken on that bill in the 118th Congress. Cornyn reintroduced the bill as S 1961, in January of this year. This may be a companion bill to S 1961.
MIP Legislation
I would like to mention in passing one bill that will not receive additional coverage in this blog:
HR 5584 To improve educational efforts related to artificial intelligence literacy at the K through 12 level, and for other purposes. Kean, Thomas H. [Rep.-R-NJ-7]
It looks like HR 5584 will be similar to HR 9211, the Literacy in Future Technologies Artificial Intelligence Act, that was introduced by Kean in July of 2024. The bill was ordered reported favorably by the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee in September of last year. No report was published and no further action was taken on the bill.
While it is apparent that AI use is becoming more ubiquitous, I am not sure that this should be added to the curriculum for K-6 education institutions. There is a limited amount of time available in those settings, and we have already removed great swaths of the ‘traditional’ subjects that used to form the core of that curriculum. While I do not want to sound like a ‘good-ole-days’ curmudgeon, I think that we need to have a larger discussion about what should be included in those baseload educational requirements, coming to grips with what minimal intellectual tools are necessary to learn the skills necessary to thrive in today’s world.