S. 4098

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4098 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4098

To establish standards and guidelines to make open Government data 
assets artificial intelligence-ready, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

March 16, 2026

Mr. Budd (for himself and Mr. Kim) introduced the following bill; which 
was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To establish standards and guidelines to make open Government data 
assets artificial intelligence-ready, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Artificial Intelligence-Ready Data 
Act''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES TO MAKE OPEN 
GOVERNMENT DATA ASSETS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE-READY.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 
271 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 37. STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES TO MAKE OPEN GOVERNMENT DATA ASSETS 
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE-READY.

``(a) In General.--The Director shall, in consultation with the 
Secretary of Commerce, the Director of the Office of Science and 
Technology Policy, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, 
and the head of any other Federal agency the Director considers 
appropriate, develop standards and guidelines to assist Federal 
agencies with making open Government data assets (as defined in section 
3502 of title 44, United States Code) artificial intelligence-ready.
``(b) Requirements.--
``(1) Adaptability and interoperability.--In developing the 
standards and guidelines under subsection (a), the Director 
shall set baseline standards and guidelines for all Federal 
agencies that, to the greatest extent practicable, allow for 
the heads of the agencies to adapt and extend such standards 
and guidelines to meet the needs of agency-specific missions.
``(2) Elements.--The standards and guidelines required by 
subsection (a) shall--
``(A) recommend improvements to the availability 
and utility of open Government data assets for the 
development of artificial intelligence (as defined in 
section 5002 of the National Artificial Intelligence 
Initiative Act of 2020 (15 U.S.C. 9401)) by private or 
public sector entities, including--
``(i) for the training of artificial 
intelligence models or systems;
``(ii) best practices for data quality, 
data stewardship, metadata, and documentation; 
and
``(iii) ways to manage intellectual 
property concerns when Federal data is combined 
with proprietary data;
``(B) identify, or recommend methods for 
identifying, other data assets (as defined in section 
3502 of title 44, United States Code) generated or 
maintained by Federal agencies that should be made 
available for the development of artificial 
intelligence; and
``(C) recommend measurements for evaluating the 
effectiveness of Federal agency action pertaining to 
subparagraphs (A) and (B).
``(3) Artificial intelligence-ready requirements for open 
government data assets.--The standards and guidelines developed 
under subsection (a) shall require open Government data assets 
to be, to the greatest extent practicable--
``(A) artificial intelligence-ready, defined based 
on the needs of artificial intelligence developers and 
information provided by persons engaged with artificial 
intelligence that is received through the notice and 
comment procedure outlined in subsection (c);
``(B) available for download--
``(i) on a publicly accessible website or 
other convenient method;
``(ii) by web-scraping; or
``(iii) by any other method the Director 
considers practicable and beneficial;
``(C) accurate as of the date of the publication of 
the open Government data asset;
``(D) human-readable;
``(E) in an open and machine-readable format, 
accompanied by publicly available software tools that 
can decode or process the data; and
``(F) secure and protective of individual privacy.
``(c) Public Notice and Opportunity for Comment.--
``(1) In general.--In developing the standards and 
guidelines under subsection (a), and in considering revisions 
to the standards and guidelines under subsection (d), the 
Director shall--
``(A) publish in the Federal Register--
``(i) proposed standards and guidelines; 
and
``(ii) a request for feedback, including on 
the recommendations described in subsection 
(b)(2);
``(B) provide the public with an opportunity to 
comment for a period of not less than 60 days;
``(C) ensure public comments are available for 
public inspection; and
``(D) demonstrate consideration of the public 
comments received under this paragraph in the 
development of the standards and guidelines under 
subsection (a) or the revision of the standards and 
guidelines under subsection (d).
``(2) Timeline for publication.--The Director shall 
publish--
``(A) the standards and guidelines developed under 
subsection (a) in the Federal Register not later than 1 
year after the date of the enactment of this section; 
and
``(B) any revision to the standards and guidelines 
under subsection (d), or a notice that public comment 
had been considered and proposed revisions are not 
beneficial or necessary, in the Federal Register not 
later than 60 days after the Director has completed the 
review required by that subsection.
``(d) Updates to the Standards and Guidelines.--Not later than 2 
years after the date on which the Director submits the standards and 
guidelines to the Director of the Office of Science and Technology 
Policy under subsection (e) and not less frequently than once every 2 
years thereafter, the Director shall consider, in accordance with the 
notice and comment procedures under subsection (c), revisions to the 
standards and guidelines required by subsection (a) to improve the 
utility of the standards and guidelines.
``(e) Submission to the Director of the Office of Science and 
Technology Policy.--The Director shall submit the standards and 
guidelines developed under subsection (a), and any revision of the 
standards and guidelines under subsection (d), to the President for 
issuing requirements in accordance with section 701 of the National 
Science and Technology Policy, Organization, and Priorities Act of 
1976.''.

SEC. 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES TO MAKE OPEN 
GOVERNMENT DATA ASSETS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE-READY.

The National Science and Technology Policy, Organization, and 
Priorities Act of 1976 (42 U.S.C. 6611 et seq.) is amended by adding at 
the end the following:

``TITLE VII--IMPLEMENTATION OF STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES TO MAKE OPEN 
GOVERNMENT DATA ASSETS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE-READY

``SEC. 701. IMPLEMENTATION OF STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES BY FEDERAL 
AGENCIES.

``(a) In General.--Upon receiving the standards and guidelines from 
the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology 
pursuant to section 37(e) of the National Institute of Standards and 
Technology Act, the President, acting through the Director of the 
Office of Science and Technology Policy, in consultation with the 
Director of the Office of Management and Budget, shall issue a 
requirement that the head of each Federal agency adopt such standards 
and guidelines.
``(b) Agency Requirement.--Upon the President, acting through the 
Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, issuing a 
requirement to the head of a Federal agency under subsection (a), the 
head of such agency shall--
``(1) adopt and adhere to the standards and guidelines 
issued by the Director of the Office of Science and Technology 
Policy;
``(2) ensure that any agency-specific adaptations of the 
standards and guidelines remain interoperable with the data 
systems of other Federal agencies to support interagency 
collaboration; and
``(3) ensure that major information technology and high-
performance computing acquisitions explicitly account for any 
requirement contained in the standards and guidelines.''.

SEC. 4. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING READINESS OF 
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION DATA 
ASSETS FOR OPERATIONAL FORECASTING.

(a) In General.--After the adoption by the Under Secretary of 
Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere (in this section referred to as the 
``Under Secretary'') of the standards and guidelines described in 
section 701 of the National Science and Technology Policy, 
Organization, and Priorities Act of 1976, as added by section 3, the 
Under Secretary shall ensure the data assets of the National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration (in this section referred to as the 
``Administration'') support the integration of artificial intelligence 
and machine learning into the operational forecasting activities of the 
Administration, specifically for--
(1) model analyses, forecasts, and reanalyses;
(2) in-situ and conventional observations;
(3) satellite datasets; and
(4) environmental observations that are critical for 
forecasting.
(b) Annual Briefings.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
adoption described in subsection (a), and annually thereafter for 5 
years, the Under Secretary shall brief the Committee on Commerce, 
Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Science, 
Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives on the progress 
made by the Under Secretary in implementing subsection (a).
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