[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1289 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1289

To provide a Federal charter to the Fab Foundation for the National Fab 
Lab Network, a national network of local digital fabrication facilities 
providing community access to advanced manufacturing tools for learning 
   skills, developing inventions, creating businesses, and producing 
                         personalized products.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 20, 2013

Mr. Foster (for himself, Mr. Hultgren, Mr. Massie, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. 
Capuano, Mr. Carney, Mr. Cicilline, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Danny K. Davis of 
   Illinois, Mr. Loebsack, Ms. McCollum, Mr. Peters of Michigan, Mr. 
 Pocan, Mr. Rush, Ms. Schakowsky, and Ms. Shea-Porter) introduced the 
  following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide a Federal charter to the Fab Foundation for the National Fab 
Lab Network, a national network of local digital fabrication facilities 
providing community access to advanced manufacturing tools for learning 
   skills, developing inventions, creating businesses, and producing 
                         personalized products.

    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 
2013''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Scientific discoveries and technical innovations are 
        critical to the economic and national security of the United 
        States.
            (2) Maintaining the leadership of the United States in 
        science, technology, engineering, and mathematics will require 
        a diverse population with the skills, interest, and access to 
        tools required to advance these fields.
            (3) Just as earlier digital revolutions in communications 
        and computation provided individuals with the Internet and 
        personal computers, a digital revolution in fabrication will 
        allow anyone to make almost anything, anywhere.
            (4) The Center for Bits and Atoms of the Massachusetts 
        Institute of Technology (CBA) has contributed significantly to 
        the advancement of these goals through its work in creating and 
        advancing digital fab labs in the United States and abroad.
            (5) CBA's fab labs provide a model for a new kind of 
        national laboratory that links local facilities for advanced 
        manufacturing to expand access and empower communities.
            (6) A coordinated national public-private partnership will 
        be the most effective way to accelerate the provision of this 
        infrastructure for learning skills, developing inventions, 
        creating businesses, and producing personalized products.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL FAB LAB NETWORK.

    (a) Federal Charter.--The Fab Foundation is hereby granted a 
Federal charter as the National Fab Lab Network (in this Act referred 
to as the ``NFLN''). The NFLN shall exist as a nonprofit entity whose 
purpose is to facilitate the creation of a national network of local 
fab labs, and to serve as a resource to assist stakeholders with their 
effective operation.
    (b) Membership and Organization.--Eligibility for membership in the 
NFLN and the rights and privileges of members are as provided in the 
constitution and bylaws of the NFLN. Directors, officers, and other 
staff of the NFLN, and their powers and duties are as provided in the 
bylaws of the NFLN.
    (c) Functions.--The functions of the NFLN shall be the following:
            (1) To serve as the coordinating body for the creation of a 
        national network of local fab labs in the United States.
            (2) To provide a first point of contact for organizations 
        and communities seeking to create fab labs, providing 
        information, assessing suitability, advising on the lab 
        lifecycle, and maintaining descriptions of prospective and 
        operating sites.
            (3) To link funders and sites with operational entities 
        that can source and install fab labs, provide training, assist 
        with operations, account for spending, and assess impact.
            (4) To perform outreach for individuals and communities on 
        the benefits available through the NFLN.
            (5) To facilitate use of the NFLN in synergistic programs, 
        such as workforce training, job creation, research broader 
        impacts, and the production of civic infrastructure.
            (6) To offer transparency in the management, governance, 
        and operation of the NFLN.
    (d) Purposes.--In carrying out its functions, the NFLN's purposes 
and goals shall be--
            (1) to create a national network of connected local fab 
        labs to empower individuals and communities in the United 
        States;
            (2) to foster the use of distributed digital fabrication 
        tools to promote science, technology, engineering and math 
        skills, increase invention and innovation, create businesses 
        and jobs, and fulfill needs; 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, corresponding to availability in all 435 
        Congressional districts.
    (e) Definitions.--In this section, the term ``fab lab'' shall refer 
to a facility equipped with an integrated suite of fabrication tools to 
convert digital designs into functional physical things, and scanning 
tools to convert physical things into digital designs, as exemplified 
by CBA's fab labs. These labs shall be available for a range of 
individual and collaborative educational, commercial, creative, and 
social purposes, with the NFLN to provide guidelines for their 
sustainable operation.
    (f) Funding.--The NFLN may accept funds from private individuals, 
corporations, government agencies, or other organizations.
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