[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6003 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6003

  To provide for the establishment of the National Fab Lab Network to 
     build out a network of community based, networked Fabrication 
 Laboratories across the United States to foster a new generation with 
scientific and engineering skills and to provide a workforce capable of 
   producing world class individualized and traditional manufactured 
                                 goods.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 30, 2010

  Mr. Foster introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on 
 Science and Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined by 
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To provide for the establishment of the National Fab Lab Network to 
     build out a network of community based, networked Fabrication 
 Laboratories across the United States to foster a new generation with 
scientific and engineering skills and to provide a workforce capable of 
   producing world class individualized and traditional manufactured 
                                 goods.

    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 ``National Fab Lab Network Act of 
2010''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The United States is the world leader in scientific 
        research, discovery, and innovation.
            (2) There exists a strong social and economic incentive to 
        create the fewest barriers to entry for those interested in 
        furthering education, discovery, invention, and innovation in 
        the scientific, technological, engineering, and mathematical 
        fields.
            (3) The United States has a strong strategic interest in 
        promoting a robust, well trained, highly capable, and 
        geographically diverse manufacturing base.
            (4) MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms has contributed 
        significantly to the advancement of these goals through its 
        work in creating and advancing Fabrication Laboratories (Fab 
        Labs) in the United States and abroad.
            (5) A new kind of national infrastructure will be required 
        in order to adequately take advantage of leading edge digital 
        fabrication technologies to secure the United States' leading 
        position in scientific fields and to promote a robust 
        manufacturing base.
            (6) A focused, dedicated national effort will be required 
        in order to ensure the creation of such an infrastructure takes 
        place as quickly and effectively as possible.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL FAB LAB NETWORK.

    (a) Establishment.--The National Fab Lab Network incorporated by 
this Act (hereinafter in this section referred to as the ``NFLN'') is 
hereby authorized and empowered to receive either real or personal 
property and to hold the same absolutely or in trust, and to invest, 
reinvest, and manage the same in accordance with the provisions of its 
constitution and to apply said property and the income arising 
therefrom to the objects of its creation and according to the 
instructions of its donors.
    (b) In General.--The National Fab Lab Network (NFLN) shall exist as 
a nonprofit entity whose purpose is to facilitate the piece by piece 
construction of an actual network of connected labs. The NFLN itself 
shall not represent an overseeing, regulating, or coordinating body of 
this distributed network, but will merely exist to facilitate its 
construction.
    (c) Definitions.--In this section, the term ``Fabrication 
Laboratory'' also referred to as a ``Fab Lab'' means a facility 
containing a variety of manufacturing and other fabrication tools 
operable by means of digital input as well as the software and 
computers required to design for and operate those tools. These labs 
serve a broad range of purposes, but each allow for clear guidelines 
for how members of the local community, local businesses, and academic 
or educational purposes can be pursued with the labs' resources 
consistent with a charter to be established by the NFLN.
    (d) Functions.--The functions of the NFLN shall be the following:
            (1) To serve as the coordinating body for all efforts to 
        create a coordinated, collaborative network of Fab Labs in the 
        United States.
            (2) To serve as the first point of contact for 
        organizations interested in constructing and operating a Fab 
        Lab and to maintain a first-come first-serve wait list of those 
        organizations.
            (3) To work out to the satisfaction of NFLN staff and board 
        members the ability of interested organizations to successfully 
        host a Fab Lab. In particular, the staff and board members of 
        the NFLN shall examine the ability of the organization to 
        supply a physical location for the lab, their financial ability 
        to pay for sufficient staff to operate the lab and train its 
        users, an ability to engage the local community or other 
        sufficient user base, and an awareness of those long term 
        obligations.
            (4) To match those organizations who meet with the NFLN's 
        approval for those criteria specified in paragraph (3) with 
        available sources of funding and individuals with personal 
        experience in establishing and operating Labs in other 
        organizations so as to expedite the process of making new Labs 
        operational. In general, the NFLN should not bring to this 
        stage or continue to engage with those organizations that do 
        not meet the NFLN's approval on those criteria described in 
        paragraph (3).
            (5) To advertise or perform other outreach activities to 
        those organizations that might have interest in or otherwise 
        benefit from creating a Fab Lab, and to notify those 
        organizations of the specific purposes the NFLN can perform.
    (e) Purposes.--In carrying out its functions, the NFLN's purposes 
and goals shall be--
            (1) to facilitate the construction of a new type of 
        information and digital fabrication infrastructure; 
        specifically, in all its actions to facilitate and encourage 
        the construction of a decentralized network of connected Fab 
        Labs;
            (2) to promote the goals of greater science, technology, 
        engineering, and math education, workforce development in the 
        areas of manufacturing and product design, increased innovation 
        and invention in the private sector, as well as scientific and 
        academic discovery through the use of distributed digital 
        fabrication tools; and
            (3) to seek to establish at least one Fab Lab per every 
        700,000 individuals in the United States in the first ten years 
        of its operation.
    (f) Funding.--The NFLN may accept donations from private 
individuals, corporations, government agencies, or other organizations.
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