Sponsors (2)
The bill offers federal funding, standards, technical assistance, and workforce support to accelerate smart‑city deployments and protect resident data, but it increases taxpayer costs, can impose matching/reporting burdens and administrative requirements on cash‑strapped localities, and carries privacy, security, and market‑concentration risks that may advantage larger firms over smaller communities and vendors.
State and local governments (especially cities and utilities) will get federally coordinated standards, best practices, and interoperability guidance that lower integration costs and reduce vendor lock‑in for smart city systems.
Rural, small, medium, Tribal, and other under-resourced local governments will have access to direct federal grants and funded pilot programs that lower upfront technology costs and make projects affordable.
Residents (including people with disabilities and minority communities) and local governments will benefit from required cybersecurity and privacy guidance, working groups, and tools that reduce the risk of data breaches and service disruptions.
All taxpayers will fund multi-year new federal spending (grants, pilot programs, administration) that increases the federal budget footprint without guaranteed returns to every community.
Residents and communities face increased privacy and data‑exposure risks because broad definitions, expanded data collection, and requirements to publish datasets or project information could reveal sensitive personal or infrastructure data if safeguards fail.
Cash-strapped local, rural, and Tribal governments may be unable to meet non‑Federal cost‑share, reporting, and performance requirements, which could limit their ability to participate and widen disparities.
Based on analysis of 12 sections of legislative text.
Creates federal coordination, grants, standards work, a workforce assessment, and an international trade program to support and scale smart city/community technologies.
Introduced July 23, 2025 by Suzan K. Delbene · Last progress July 23, 2025
Creates a federal coordination and support framework to help cities and communities deploy "smart" technologies that improve services, safety, mobility, energy use, and disaster resilience while protecting data and privacy. The bill sets up an interagency council, requires a workforce needs assessment, funds regional demonstration grants (with federal cost‑share), drives standards and testing through NIST, and funds international trade and cooperation to promote U.S. smart city solutions. Prioritizes equitable distribution of benefits to small, rural, and Tribal communities, requires public, interoperable data and royalty‑free outputs from federally funded demonstrations, and includes cybersecurity and privacy protections and public guidance for local governments and states.