Tech bills of the week: Standardizing DHS communications; Nuclear power for space exploration; and more
Publish Date: 2026-06-12 15:49:00
Source Domain: www.nextgov.com
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The DHS CANDOR Act aims to improve the Department of Homeland Security’s public communications by establishing a comprehensive policy that includes social media training to prevent the spread of factual inaccuracies from official channels.
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Rep. Mike Kennedy proposed the Powering the Future of American Space Dominance Act to leverage nuclear power and propulsion technologies to support U.S. Moon-to-Mars missions through public-private partnerships with NASA that focus on advanced lunar power systems and nuclear reactors.
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The AI Environmental Impacts Act, reintroduced by Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Don Beyer, would require data centers managing AI workloads to report environmental and energy demand impacts to the EPA, creating standards for measuring these impacts.
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The Responsible Artificial Intelligence Defense Act seeks to introduce oversight over AI use in defense operations, ensuring human control and monitoring, particularly in high-risk areas like mass domestic surveillance and nuclear decisionmaking.
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The HALO Act, introduced by Sen. Adam Schiff, aims to provide more control over AI weapon use, mandating a clear chain of command, comprehensive reviews before deployment, and bans on using AI in domestic surveillance and nuclear weapon operations.
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Senators Todd Young, Mark Kelly, and Jim Banks proposed the Artificial Intelligence Data Authorization and Transparency Act to enhance labor market data collection on AI’s economic impact, requiring updates to existing surveys and annual reports from related government departments.
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Sen. John Cornyn introduced legislation to enhance counter-drone technologies, granting the U.S. Army authority to establish standards addressing threats from small, adversarial drones, improving detection, tracking, and interoperability between military forces.
