[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 106 (Wednesday, June 24, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3473-S3474]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 6347. Mr. VAN HOLLEN submitted an amendment intended to be
proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, to authorize appropriations for
fiscal year 2027 for military activities of the Department of Defense,
for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department
of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal
year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as
follows:
At the appropriate place in title X, insert the following:
SEC. 10____. NATIONAL FAB LAB NETWORK.
(a) 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) These creations include elements of a typical household
basket of goods (furnishings, apparel, food production
equipment, shelter, transportation, education and
communication, recreation, and other goods and services),
personal technology, means for personal expression, the
production of digital fabrication machinery, community
design, and manufacturing capability.
(5) The Center for Bits and Atoms of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology has contributed significantly to the
advancement of these goals through its work in creating and
advancing digital fabrication facilities, or ``fab labs'' in
the United States and abroad.
(6) Such digital fabrication facilities may include
MakerSpaces, Hackerspaces, and other creative spaces that use
digital fabrication as a platform for education, innovation,
entrepreneurship, personal expression, public access, and
social impact.
(7) Such digital fabrication facilities provide a model for
a new kind of national laboratory that operates as a network,
linking local facilities for advanced manufacturing,
providing universal access, cultivating new literacies, and
empowering communities.
(8) The nonprofit Fab Foundation was established to support
the growth of the international network of digital
fabrication facilities, to amplify the educational,
entrepreneurial, and social impacts of digital fabrication
facilities, and to support the development of regional
capacity building organizations to broaden impact as well as
address local, regional, and global challenges through the
use of digital fabrication technologies.
(9) A coordinated array of national public-private
partnerships will be the most effective way to accelerate the
provision of universal access to this infrastructure for
workforce development, science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics education, developing inventions, creating
businesses, producing personalized products, and mitigating
risks.
(b) Establishment.--There is hereby established a nonprofit
corporation to be known as the ``National Fab Lab Network''
(in this section referred to as the ``corporation''), which
shall not be an agency or establishment of the United States
Government. The corporation shall be subject to the
provisions of this section, and, to the extent consistent
with this section, to the District of Columbia Nonprofit
Corporation Act (D.C. Code, section 29-501 et seq.).
(c) Goals and Activities.--
(1) Goals.--The goals of the corporation are as follows:
(A) To provide universal access to digital fabrication.
(B) To foster current and future fab labs.
(C) To create a national network of connected local fab
labs to empower individuals and communities in the United
States.
(D) To foster the use of distributed digital fabrication
tools--
(i) to promote science, technology, engineering and math
skills;
(ii) to increase invention and innovation;
(iii) to create businesses and jobs;
(iv) to fulfill personal, professional, and community
needs;
(v) to create value and mitigate harm;
(vi) to increase self-sufficiency for individuals,
households, and communities; and
(vii) to align workforce development with new and emerging
jobs.
(E) To provide a platform for education and research, to
catalyze new methods in
[[Page S3474]]
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education,
and to introduce digital fabrication as an essential new
literacy.
(F) To create new ways of educating the workforce that will
enable workers to compete in a 21st century global
marketplace.
(2) Activities.--To attain the goals described in paragraph
(1), the corporation shall carry out activities, including
the following:
(A) Seek to establish a minimum of one fab lab in each
congressional district, prioritizing underserved communities.
(B) Seek to establish additional fab labs within the
network created under paragraph (1)(C), in response to local
demand, and provide guidelines for their sustainable
operation.
(C) Link fab labs into a national network and promote
further expansion of fab labs across the United States.
(D) Serve as a resource to assist diverse public and
private stakeholders with the effective operation of fab labs
and the training of fab lab leaders and mentors.
(E) Maintain a national registry of fab labs.
(F) Provide standards and protocols for connecting fab labs
regionally, nationally, and globally.
(G) Assist existing fab labs in producing additional fab
labs.
(d) Membership and Organization.--Except as provided in
this section, eligibility for membership in the corporation
and the rights and privileges of members shall be in
accordance with the laws governing tax exempt organizations
in the District of Columbia.
(e) Governing Body.--
(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2),
directors, officers, and other staff of the corporation, and
their powers and duties, shall be in accordance with the laws
governing tax exempt organizations in the District of
Columbia.
(2) Board membership.--
(A) Composition.--The board of the corporation shall be
composed of not fewer than 7 members and not more than 15
members.
(B) Representation.--
(i) In general.--The membership of the board of the
corporation shall collectively represent the diversity of fab
labs.
(ii) Requirement.--At a minimum, the board of the
corporation shall be composed of members from geographic
regions across the United States, Tribal communities,
educational and research institutions, libraries, nonprofit
and commercial organizations, diverse demographic groups, and
the Fab Foundation.
(iii) Individual representation.--An individual member of
the board of the corporation may represent more than one
board role and additional roles may be added to reflect the
diversity of the fab lab ecosystem.
(C) Selection.--The initial board of the corporation shall
be chosen, in consultation with representatives from the Fab
Foundation and in accordance with subparagraph (B)(i), as
follows:
(i) Two shall be appointed by the majority leader of the
Senate.
(ii) Two shall be appointed by the minority leader of the
Senate.
(iii) Two shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of
Representatives.
(iv) Two shall be appointed by the minority leader of the
House of Representatives.
(f) Powers.--The corporation may--
(1) coordinate the creation of a national network of local
fab labs in the United States;
(2) issue guidelines for the sustainable operation of fab
labs;
(3) issue standards and guidelines for fab labs;
(4) serve as a resource for organizations and communities
seeking to create fab labs by providing information,
assessing suitability, advising on the lab lifecycle, and
maintaining descriptions of prospective and operating sites;
(5) accept funds from private individuals, organizations,
government agencies, or other organizations;
(6) distribute funds to other organizations to establish
and operate fab labs as members of the corporation;
(7) facilitate communication between other organizations
seeking to join the corporation with operational entities
that can source and install fab labs, provide training,
assist with operations, account for spending, and assess
impact;
(8) communicate the benefits available through membership
in the corporation to communities and the public;
(9) facilitate and participate in synergistic programs,
including workforce training, job creation, researching the
enabling technology and broader impacts of such programs, and
the production of civic infrastructure;
(10) develop processes and methods to mitigate risks
associated with digital fabrication;
(11) develop and amend a constitution and bylaws for the
management of its property and the regulation of its affairs;
(12) choose directors, officers, trustees, managers,
employees, and agents as the activities of the corporation
require;
(13) make contracts;
(14) acquire, own, lease, encumber, and transfer property
as necessary or convenient to carry out the purposes of the
corporation;
(15) borrow money, issue instruments of indebtedness, and
secure its obligations by granting security interests in its
property;
(16) charge and collect membership dues and subscription
fees; and
(17) sue and be sued.
(g) Exclusive Right to Name, Term, Seals, Emblems, and
Badges.--The corporation and its participating digital
fabrication labs have the exclusive right to use--
(1) the name ``National Fab Lab Network''; and
(2) any seals, emblems, and badges the corporation adopts.
(h) Restrictions.--
(1) Stock and dividends.--The corporation may not issue
securities of any kind or declare or pay a dividend.
(2) Distribution of income or assets.--The income or assets
of the corporation may not inure to the benefit of, or be
distributed to, a director, officer, or member during the
life of the corporation under this section. This paragraph
does not prevent the payment of reasonable compensation to an
officer or reimbursement for actual necessary expenses in
amounts approved by the board of the corporation.
(3) Loans.--The corporation may not make a loan to a
director, officer, or employee.
(4) Claim of governmental approval or authority.--The
corporation may not claim congressional approval or the
authority of the United States Government for any of its
activities, but may recognize establishment of the
corporation pursuant to subsection (b) of this section.
(i) Records and Inspection.--
(1) Records.--The corporation shall keep--
(A) correct and complete records of account;
(B) minutes of the proceedings of its members, the board of
the corporation, and committees having any of the authority
of the board; and
(C) at its principal office, a record of the names and
addresses of its members entitled to vote.
(2) Inspections.--A member entitled to vote, or an agent or
attorney of the member, may inspect the records of the
corporation for any proper purpose, at any reasonable time.
(j) Annual Report.--Not later than one year after the date
of the enactment of this Act, and not less frequently than
annually thereafter, the corporation shall submit to the
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the
Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of
the House of Representatives a report on the activities of
the corporation during the prior fiscal year.
(k) Definition.--In this section, the term ``fab lab''
means a facility that--
(1) contains the range of capabilities required to create
form and function from digital designs, including--
(A) computer-controlled machines for additive and
subtractive fabrication processes;
(B) tools and components for manufacturing and programming
electronic circuits;
(C) materials and methods for short-run production; and
(D) workflows for three-dimensional design and
digitization; and
(2) is committed to supporting education, innovation,
entrepreneurship, personal expression, self-sufficiency, and
social impact for its community through digital fabrication.
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