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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9477 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 9477
To require certain artificial intelligence model developers to submit
reports to the Secretary of Commerce, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 25, 2026
Mr. Moran introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require certain artificial intelligence model developers to submit
reports to the Secretary of Commerce, and for other purposes.
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 ``AI Incident Reporting Act''.
SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT TO REPORT AI INCIDENTS.
(a) Designation of Covered Models; Guidelines and Regulations.--
(1) Designation of covered models and entities.--Not later
than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this section,
the Secretary, in consultation with, as appropriate, the heads
of relevant agencies as determined by the Secretary, artificial
intelligence model developers, other relevant private-sector
entities, academic, technical, cybersecurity, national
security, and public safety experts, and such other outside
experts as the Secretary determines to be appropriate, shall
promulgate regulations that--
(A) establish capability or other thresholds that
determine which artificial intelligence models and
model developers could pose significant risks to the
national security of the United States or to public
safety; and
(B) designate such developers as covered model
developers and such models as covered models for
purposes of this section.
(2) Coordination.--The Secretary may coordinate with the
heads of other agencies, as determined appropriate by the
Secretary, to identify reportable activity and to receive,
analyze, and act upon reports submitted under this section.
(3) Guidelines and regulations.--
(A) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall
issue guidelines for covered model developers to be in
compliance with the requirements of this Act and may
promulgate regulations as are necessary to carry out
this Act.
(B) Requirements for regulations.--In establishing
regulations and requirements under this subsection, the
Secretary shall ensure, to the maximum extent
practicable, that the regulations and requirements--
(i) clearly describe the categories of
information that must be reported under this
section;
(ii) minimize unnecessary ambiguity,
duplication, and undue reporting burden; and
(iii) establish clear, secure, and
straightforward mechanisms for submission of
reports.
(C) Thresholds.--In establishing thresholds under
paragraph (1), the Secretary shall give particular
weight to whether a model has the capability to engage
in, or presents a significant risk of, reportable
activity described in subsection (b)(2).
(b) Reporting Requirement.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 7 days after the date on
which a covered model developer knows, or reasonably believes,
that reportable activity described in paragraph (2) has
occurred related to a covered model, the developer shall submit
to the Secretary a report that contains a detailed description
of the activity.
(2) Reportable activity.--For purposes of this section,
reportable activity is any of the following:
(A) Behavior expressing that the model is
attempting to evade human oversight, deceive evaluators
or operators, circumvent safeguards, resist shutdown or
modification, obtain unauthorized access to tools,
systems, or privileges, or otherwise undermine the
ability of human operators to reliably control the
model, but does not include behavior elicited solely
through an evaluation designed to elicit such behavior,
in which the model is not in production deployment and
the behavior is not indicative of analogous behavior in
deployment.
(B) Unauthorized access to, theft of, or attempted
theft of model weights that the developer reasonably
assesses had a credible prospect of obtaining, evidence
that model weights have been exfiltrated or materially
compromised, or behavior suggesting that a model is
autonomously attempting to exfiltrate model weights
without authorization or otherwise facilitate
unauthorized transfer of model weights or related model
artifacts outside of a testing environment.
(C) Capabilities that could materially enable or
accelerate offensive cyber operations against important
software, widely used digital infrastructure,
industrial systems, or critical infrastructure,
including through the discovery, exploitation,
chaining, weaponization, or operationalization of
vulnerabilities at a scale, speed, or level of
sophistication that could pose serious risks to the
national security of the United States or to public
safety.
(D) Evidence that a covered model, when unprompted,
has demonstrated the ability to materially accelerate
or automate the research, development, evaluation,
engineering, or improvement of advanced artificial
intelligence systems, including in ways that could
significantly compress timelines for the development or
deployment of more capable systems, where the model
developer knows, or reasonably believes, that such
developments could have serious implications for the
national security of the United States or for public
safety.
(E) Capabilities that could materially enable or
accelerate the development, acquisition, or use of
chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or
explosive weapons by providing uplift to actors that
would not otherwise possess such capabilities at a
scale, speed, or level of sophistication that could
pose serious risks to the national security of the
United States or to public safety.
(F) Any circumstance in which an incident or harm
of a type described in subparagraph (A), (B), (C), (D),
or (E) was reasonably likely to occur and would have
posed a serious risk to the national security of the
United States or to public safety, but was prevented
only because of circumstances unrelated to the
safeguards, controls, or mitigations of the developer,
such as the conduct of a third party, the absence of
capability or intent on the part of a user, or other
fortuity.
(G) Any other capability, incident, or combination
of circumstances that the Secretary determines, by
rulemaking, appropriate relating to serious harm to the
national security of the United States or to public
safety.
(c) Timing, Form, and Contents of Reports.--
(1) Initial report.--The Secretary shall require--
(A) a covered model developer to submit an initial
report within such period as the Secretary determines
appropriate and not later than the 7-day period
described in subsection (b)(1); and
(B) expedited reporting for any reportable activity
described in subsection (b)(2) that presents any
imminent or ongoing risk of serious harm.
(2) Supplemental reports.--The Secretary shall require a
covered model developer to submit supplemental reports as
additional material information, relating to the reportable
activity and steps that are being taken to mitigate the risks
of the incident, becomes available.
(3) Required contents.--Each report submitted under this
subsection shall include, as applicable and to the extent known
at the time of submission, the following:
(A) A description of the relevant incident,
behavior, or capability.
(B) The date on which, or approximate period during
which, the covered model developer discovered the
relevant information.
(C) Any known or suspected threat actor, attack
vector, system vulnerability, safeguard failure, or
other relevant causal or contextual information.
(D) Any known or reasonably suspected implication
for the national security of the United States or for
public safety.
(E) Such other information as the Secretary
determines appropriate.
(4) Congressional reporting.--Not later than 48 hours after
receipt of any report submitted under subsection (b) that
presents an imminent or ongoing risk of serious harm, and not
later than 30 days after receiving any report submitted under
paragraph (2), the Secretary shall inform the following
individuals of each such report:
(A) The Speaker of the House of Representatives.
(B) The Minority Leader of the House of
Representatives.
(C) The Chair of the Committee on Science, Space,
and Technology of the House of Representatives.
(D) The Chair of the Committee on Energy and
Commerce of the House of Representatives.
(E) The Chair of the Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence of the House of Representatives.
(F) The Majority Leader of the Senate.
(G) The Minority Leader of the Senate.
(H) The Chair of the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation of the Senate.
(I) The Chair of the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources of the Senate.
(J) The Chair of the Select Committee on
Intelligence of the Senate.
(d) Protection and Use of Information.--
(1) Protection of sensitive information.--Not later than
180 days after the date of the enactment of this section, the
Secretary shall establish procedures to appropriately protect
from unauthorized disclosure any sensitive, classified,
controlled, or security-relevant information submitted under
this section, consistent with applicable law.
(2) Exemption from disclosure.--Information submitted to
the Secretary under this section is exempt from disclosure
under paragraph (3)(B) of section 552(b) of title 5, United
States Code, and may not be disclosed under any State or local
law that requires disclosure of information or records.
(3) No waiver of privilege or protection.--The submission
of information under this section is not a waiver of any
applicable privilege or legal protection, including trade
secret protection and any attorney-client and work product
privilege.
(4) Restrictions on use.--
(A) Civil actions and administrative proceedings.--
A report submitted under this section, and any
communication or material created for the sole purpose
of preparing or submitting such a report, may not be
received in evidence, subjected to discovery, or
otherwise used in any civil or criminal action or
administrative proceeding against the covered model
developer that submitted the report, communications, or
material.
(B) Federal, state, or local government.--
Information submitted under this section may not be
used by any Federal, State, or local government to
regulate, or to bring an enforcement action against,
the covered model developer.
(C) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this
paragraph may--
(i) limit the use of such information by
the Secretary or any other agency to respond
to, mitigate, or prevent a risk to the national
security of the United States or to public
safety;
(ii) limit use of a report, or information
in the report, to determine compliance with or
enforce the requirements of this section; or
(iii) affect the liability of any person
for the underlying incident, conduct, or
capability described in a report in which such
liability can be established on the basis of
information obtained independently of the
report.
(5) Information sharing within government.--The Secretary
may share information submitted under this section with other
agencies, including an element of the intelligence community
and law enforcement agencies, where appropriate and consistent
with applicable law. Any information shared under this
paragraph is subject to the protections and use restrictions of
this subsection for the agency that receives the information.
(e) Good-Faith Reporting.--In issuing guidelines and regulations
under this section, the Secretary shall, to the maximum extent
practicable, design reporting requirements to facilitate timely
reporting of material incidents, including for a case in which relevant
facts are incomplete at the time of initial disclosure, and shall
permit supplemental reporting as additional material information
becomes available.
(f) Enforcement.--
(1) Authority of the secretary.--To enforce this section,
the Secretary may--
(A) issue orders, regulations, and guidance;
(B) require, inspect, and obtain books, records,
reports, audit materials, and other information that
the Secretary determines to be relevant or material to
determine compliance with, or violations of, this
section, from any developer or other person subject to
this section;
(C) administer oaths or affirmations and, by
subpoena, require any person to appear, testify, and
produce books, records, reports, audit materials, and
other materials relevant or material to determine
compliance with, or violations of, this section, from
any developer or other person subject to this section;
(D) conduct investigations within the United States
and, consistent with applicable law, outside the United
States;
(E) require corrective action, including the
production of omitted records or materials; and
(F) refer a matter to the Attorney General for
appropriate civil action, including to recover a civil
penalty assessed under paragraph (2) that remains
unpaid, to enjoin a violation of this section, or to
compel compliance with an order or subpoena issued
under this subsection.
(2) Civil penalties.--
(A) In general.--After notice and an opportunity
for a hearing, the Secretary may assess a civil penalty
for a violation of this section in an amount not to
exceed $2,000,000. Each day of a continuing violation
shall constitute a separate offense.
(B) Factors.--In determining the amount of a civil
penalty under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall
consider the nature, circumstances, extent, gravity,
and duration of the violation, the degree of
culpability, any history of prior violation, any good
faith effort to comply, any other mitigating factor,
and such other matters as justice may require.
(g) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Agency.--The term ``agency'' has the meaning given that
term in section 551 of title 5, United States Code.
(2) Artificial intelligence.--The term ``artificial
intelligence'' includes the following:
(A) Any artificial system that performs tasks under
varying and unpredictable circumstances without
significant human oversight, or that can learn from
experience and improve performance when exposed to data
sets.
(B) An artificial system developed in computer
software, physical hardware, or other context that
solves tasks requiring human-like perception,
cognition, planning, learning, communication, or
physical action.
(C) An artificial system designed to think or act
like a human, including cognitive architectures and
neural networks.
(D) A set of techniques, including machine
learning, that is designed to approximate a cognitive
task.
(E) An artificial system designed to act
rationally, including an intelligent software agent or
embodied robot that achieves goals using perception,
planning, reasoning, learning, communicating, decision
making, and acting.
(3) Covered model.--The term ``covered model'' means a
model designated by the Secretary under subsection (a)(1).
(4) Covered model developer.--The term ``covered model
developer'' means any person or entity that--
(A) develops or trains a covered model; or
(B) substantially modifies a covered model,
including through fine-tuning or other modification of
the weights of the model, in a manner that the
Secretary determines causes the model to meet a
threshold established under subsection (a)(1).
(5) Model weights.--The term ``model weights'' means the
parameters, numerical values, or other internal artifacts of an
artificial intelligence model that are sufficient to reproduce,
substantially reproduce, or enable the operational use of the
model.
(6) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Commerce.
(7) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the several
States, the District of Columbia, each commonwealth, territory,
or possession of the United States, and each federally
recognized Indian Tribe.
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