Sponsors (3)
Official title: To amend the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to reauthorize the Rural and Municipal Utility Advanced Cybersecurity Grant and Technical Assistance Program, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 27, 2026 by Mariannette Miller-Meeks · Last progress July 13, 2026
The bill provides targeted federal funding and assistance to strengthen cybersecurity at rural, municipal, and small utilities—improving sector resilience—while reducing transparency through FOIA exemptions, risking uneven allocation of support, and imposing modest federal budget costs.
Owners and operators of rural, municipal, and other small utilities receive $250 million (FY2027–2031) plus technical assistance to deploy advanced cybersecurity tools, enabling sustained, sector-wide improvements in protection against cyberattacks.
The program prioritizes small or resource-limited utilities for assistance, increasing support to rural and underserved communities that otherwise lack cybersecurity capacity.
Creates incentives for sharing cyber threat information among utilities and governments, which can speed detection and coordinated responses across the sector.
Information shared through the program is exempted from FOIA and similar disclosure laws, reducing public transparency about cyber risks and government actions.
Federal funding and program priorities may be directed toward utilities tied to bulk‑power or defense‑critical assets, leaving other noncritical or smaller utilities with less support and potentially widening protection gaps.
The $250 million cost is paid from federal appropriations, creating budgetary tradeoffs that may require offsets or limit funding for other priorities.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Expands and funds a grant and technical assistance program to improve cybersecurity at rural and municipal utilities, authorizing $250M for FY2027–FY2031.
Authorizes and funds a grant and technical assistance program to strengthen cybersecurity at rural and municipal utilities and other eligible local electric providers. It revises definitions, clarifies program priorities, allows competitive and noncompetitive awards, protects shared information from public disclosure, and provides $250 million for fiscal years 2027–2031 to carry out the program. The bill updates statutory references for bulk-power protections, adopts a definition of cybersecurity threat from the Homeland Security Act, adds a definition for defense critical electric infrastructure, and directs outreach and priority consideration for smaller utilities, owners of bulk-power–critical assets, and owners/operators of defense-critical electric infrastructure.