Sponsor
Valerie Foushee
Representative · D-NC
Representative · D-NC
The bill provides targeted federal funding to modernize state and local IT and boost cybersecurity and AI transparency—improving public services and oversight—while adding multi-year federal spending and leaving room for uneven allocation, potential capture by larger jurisdictions, and compliance costs.
State and local governments receive dedicated federal funding ($500M per year for FY2027–2030) to modernize IT systems, improving service reliability and efficiency for residents.
Local governments receive most of the money (at least 70% of each State grant must go to political subdivisions), directing resources toward cities and counties that deliver day-to-day services.
Funds can be used to strengthen cybersecurity and privacy protections (including NIST-aligned security and post-quantum transitions), reducing risk of breaches that harm residents and government operations.
Taxpayers and the federal budget must fund an ongoing $500M per year commitment through FY2030, increasing federal spending obligations.
Significant discretion given to the Assistant Secretary and states over allocations and covered-mandate definitions could produce uneven, politicized, or unpredictable grant distributions.
Lack of explicit grant caps or matching requirements risks wealthier or larger states and jurisdictions capturing disproportionate shares of funding absent strong oversight.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a federal grant program to help states and localities modernize government technology, prioritize cybersecurity and AI, and fund staff, training, and systems upgrades with 70% of grants flowing to localities.
Official title: To direct the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to establish a grant program to modernize the technology of State and local governments, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 20, 2026 by Valerie Foushee · Last progress May 20, 2026
Creates a federal grant program to help states and local governments modernize their technology, strengthen cybersecurity, adopt AI and other emerging tools, and train or hire staff. The program must be set up within one year, distributes funds to states with half by population and half by state-determined need, and requires at least 70% of each state grant to flow to political subdivisions for local projects. Requires a statewide survey of government technology and planning within one year and lets the Assistant Secretary set criteria and require a small remedial set-aside (up to 15%) for noncompliant states; no specific dollar amounts or federal matching requirements are set in the statute.