Sponsor
Eleanor Holmes Norton
Representative · D-DC
Representative · D-DC
The bill creates a bipartisan expert Commission to recommend ways to balance public access and security at federal facilities—offering potential safety, design, and efficiency gains—while raising risks of increased surveillance, added costs and administrative burdens, and concentrated or politicized influence that could restrict civil liberties.
A bipartisan 21‑member expert commission will study and recommend policies to balance public access, free expression, and security at federal public facilities, giving structured, expert input to lawmakers.
Federal workplace safety and public access (including First Amendment activities) could be improved through Commission recommendations that seek to protect both safety and civic freedoms.
The Commission could identify less intrusive security technologies and design approaches that maintain safety while reducing visible barriers and protecting pedestrian-friendly urban design.
Commission recommendations could lead to expanded surveillance, increased screenings, or stricter access controls that limit privacy, public access to federal spaces, and First Amendment activities for visitors and protesters.
Implementing security upgrades, new technologies, noncompetitive consultant pay, and other follow-on actions could impose direct costs on taxpayers beyond the Commission's authorization (and the Act authorizes $10M over two years but implementation could cost more).
Concentrating the Chair designation with the President and certain appointment rules risks politicizing leadership and undermining the Commission's perceived neutrality.
Based on analysis of 9 sections of legislative text.
Creates a 21-member commission to study how to balance open public access to federal sites with security and deliver recommendations within two years.
Official title: To establish the United States Commission on an Open Society with Security.
Introduced June 22, 2026 by Eleanor Holmes Norton · Last progress June 22, 2026
Creates a temporary 21-member federal commission to study how the United States can preserve open public access to federal buildings, properties, and sites while strengthening security against terrorism and other threats. The commission will gather evidence, hold hearings, access classified and unclassified agency information as needed, and must deliver a final report with findings and recommendations to the President within two years; the President must transmit the report to Congress within six months. The Commission is funded at $5 million for FY2027 and $5 million for FY2028 and terminates 90 days after submitting its final report.