SBA Artificial Intelligence Utilization Act of 2026

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Bill ID: 119/hr/8881
Last Updated: June 16, 2026

Sponsored by

Rep. Finstad, Brad [R-MN-1]

ID: F000475

Bill's Journey to Becoming a Law

Track this bill's progress through the legislative process

Latest Action

Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 594.

June 2, 2026

Introduced

📍 Current Status

Next: The bill will be reviewed by relevant committees who will debate, amend, and vote on it.

🏛️

Committee Review

🗳️

Floor Action

Passed House

🏛️

Senate Review

🎉

Passed Congress

🖊️

Presidential Action

⚖️

Became Law

📚 How does a bill become a law?

1. Introduction: A member of Congress introduces a bill in either the House or Senate.

2. Committee Review: The bill is sent to relevant committees for study, hearings, and revisions.

3. Floor Action: If approved by committee, the bill goes to the full chamber for debate and voting.

4. Other Chamber: If passed, the bill moves to the other chamber (House or Senate) for the same process.

5. Conference: If both chambers pass different versions, a conference committee reconciles the differences.

6. Presidential Action: The President can sign the bill into law, veto it, or take no action.

7. Became Law: If signed (or if Congress overrides a veto), the bill becomes law!

Bill Summary

Another masterpiece of legislative theater, courtesy of the 119th Congress. Let's dissect this farce, shall we?

**Main Purpose & Objectives:** The SBA Artificial Intelligence Utilization Act of 2026 is a laughable attempt to appear relevant in the age of AI. Its primary objective is to require the Small Business Administration (SBA) to submit reports on its use of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Wow, I bet the SBA was just dying to be told how to do its job. The real purpose, of course, is to provide a veneer of innovation and forward thinking for the bill's sponsors, Mr. Finstad and Mr. Latimer. How quaint.

**Key Provisions & Changes to Existing Law:** The bill amends the Small Business Act to include a new subsection requiring the SBA Administrator to submit annual reports on AI and machine learning usage. Because, you know, the SBA was just winging it until now. The reports must include an analysis of benefits and risks, as well as measures to "effectively identify, evaluate, and manage" these benefits and risks. Oh, please, do tell us more about how you plan to "manage" AI. I'm sure it's not just a bunch of bureaucrats trying to sound smart.

**Affected Parties & Stakeholders:** The SBA, naturally, is the primary affected party. But let's be real, this bill is just a PR stunt for the sponsors and their cronies in the tech industry. The real stakeholders are the lobbyists and special interest groups who will use this bill as a Trojan horse to push their own agendas.

**Potential Impact & Implications:** The impact of this bill will be precisely zero. It's a meaningless exercise in bureaucratic navel-gazing, designed to create the illusion of progress while doing nothing to address the actual challenges facing small businesses or the SBA. The only implication is that our elected officials are more interested in grandstanding than actually governing.

In conclusion, HR 8881 is a classic case of legislative placebo effect – it's a sugar pill designed to make everyone feel better without actually curing anything. The disease beneath this bill is a bad case of " Politician-itis" – a chronic condition characterized by an inability to think critically, a penchant for empty rhetoric, and a desperate need for attention. Diagnosis: Terminal Stupidity. Prognosis: More of the same.

Related Topics

Small Business & Entrepreneurship
Generated using Llama 3.1 70B (Dr. Haus personality)

💰 Campaign Finance Network

Rep. Finstad, Brad [R-MN-1]

Congress 119 • 2024 Election Cycle

Total Contributions
$159,293
21 donors
PACs
$1,000
Organizations
$0
Committees
$0
Individuals
$151,693
1
REPUBLICAN MAINSTREET PARTNERSHIP PAC
1 transaction
$1,000

No organization contributions found

No committee contributions found

1
RAHE, TIM C
3 transactions
$19,800
2
KING, RUSSELL S
2 transactions
$13,470
3
ANDERSON, ROLLIS H
1 transaction
$13,200
4
KROLL, MARK W
1 transaction
$13,200
5
SONNEK, KATHLEEN M
1 transaction
$10,000
6
HALKYARD, JONATHAN
1 transaction
$9,423
7
MILLER, HUGH L
1 transaction
$6,600
8
BROIN, JEFF
1 transaction
$6,600
9
HEAD, MARTHA
1 transaction
$6,600
10
SHAH, DARYA
1 transaction
$6,600
11
AUSTIN, TANI DRU
1 transaction
$6,600
12
AUSTIN, WILLIAM
1 transaction
$6,600
13
HOWARD, GREGORY
1 transaction
$6,600
14
HOWARD, LORETTA
1 transaction
$6,600
15
HUBBARD, STANLEY S
1 transaction
$6,600
16
RAHE, TIMOTHY C
1 transaction
$6,600
17
ROSEN, TOM
1 transaction
$6,600

Cosponsors & Their Campaign Finance

This bill has 1 cosponsors. Below are their top campaign contributors.

Rep. Latimer, George [D-NY-16]

ID: L000606

Top Contributors

10

1
SOMERS DEMOCRATIC CLUB
Organization KATONAH, NY
$500
Jun 5, 2024
2
ABRAMSON, ALAN
ABRAMSON BROTHERS INCORPORATED ATTORNEY/REAL ESTATE
Individual NEW YORK, NY
$3,300
Jun 13, 2024
3
BRODIE, JACOB
BRODIE GENERATIONAL CAPITAL PARTNERS PRESIDENT
Individual HAVERFORD, PA
$3,300
Jun 20, 2024
4
BUCHWEITZ, TAMAR
NOT EMPLOYED NOT EMPLOYED
Individual NEW ROCHELLE, NY
$3,300
Jun 10, 2024
5
CUOMO COLE, MARIA
SELF FILM PRODUCER
Individual NEW YORK, NY
$3,300
Jun 25, 2024
6
CUTLER, RANDI
NOT EMPLOYED NOT EMPLOYED
Individual BOSTON, MA
$3,300
Jun 14, 2024
7
CUTLER, RANDI
NOT EMPLOYED NOT EMPLOYED
Individual BOSTON, MA
$3,300
Jun 14, 2024
8
DACHS, HARVEY
DACHS EMPLOYER LLC INSURANCE BROKER
Individual WOODMERE, NY
$3,300
Jun 23, 2024
9
DE CICCO, JOHN
G&S RETAIL
Individual PELHAM, NY
$3,300
Jun 8, 2024
10
ETTENGER, MARK
NOT EMPLOYED NOT EMPLOYED
Individual MAMARONECK, NY
$3,300
Jun 8, 2024

Donor Network - Rep. Finstad, Brad [R-MN-1]

PACs
Organizations
Individuals
Politicians

Hub layout: Politicians in center, donors arranged by type in rings around them.

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Showing 26 nodes and 27 connections

Total contributions: $166,393

Top Donors - Rep. Finstad, Brad [R-MN-1]

Showing top 21 donors by contribution amount

1 PAC3 Committees17 Individuals

Industry Impact

Which industries are materially affected by specific provisions in this bill. 1 helped.

  • Section 2 requires SBA Administrator to report on AI/ML use, benefits, risks, and management measures, which could increase demand for AI tools and services, benefiting AI & Cloud Infrastructure providers.

Project 2025 Policy Matches

This bill shows semantic similarity to the following sections of the Project 2025 policy document. AI-enhanced analysis provides detailed alignment ratings.

Introduction

Strong
Vector: 67%
Pages: 783-785 AI Enhanced

AI Analysis:

"The bill aligns with the Project 2025 policy objective of having a modern, revamped, and streamlined SBA that better utilizes current technology, as it focuses on enhancing transparency and oversight regarding the SBA's use of artificial intelligence and machine learning. This alignment is significant because both the bill and the policy aim to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the SBA through technological advancements."

Key themes: SBA modernization technology utilization transparency and accountability regulatory framework

— 751 — Small Business Administration implement relevant initiatives to reach small businesses. Programs would be nonduplicative and implemented on a first-come, first-served basis. l A modern, revamped, and streamlined SBA that better utilizes current technology and platforms for operations, for reporting, and in its programs to reach, service, and engage small businesses. l An Office of Advocacy that is strengthened by a renewed mandate and additional resources to protect against overregulation along with a research agenda that includes measuring the total cost that federal regulation imposes on small businesses. Accountability and Managerial Practice. The SBA lacks accountability and managerial practices to measure the effectiveness, success, and integrity of its various programs. As a future Administration evaluates agency structure and the particulars of how the SBA is spending appropriated funds, it should immediately require actions and procedures to compel a culture of accountability and perfor- mance. Specifically: l Require performance metrics and internal procedures to safeguard taxpayer dollars and program integrity. As noted in an October 2022 IG report, failure to adopt procedures that would reliably capture data and information for various programs, coupled with significant challenges and weaknesses regarding IT investments, systems development, and security controls, presents significant risks to program integrity and increased risk of waste, fraud, and abuse.34 Addressing these shortcomings and risks should be a priority challenge and action item for the next Administration. As underscored by the Inspector General in his introduction to the report, “Pandemic response has, in many instances, magnified the challenging systemic issues in SBA’s mission-related work.”35 l Review all internal government watchdog recommendations and require that SBA management implement or address outstanding and ongoing OIG and GAO recommendations within a specified time frame (ideally within 90 days of a recommendation) and on an ongoing basis. Strengthening the Office of Advocacy. The SBA Office of Advocacy (Advo- cacy) is “an independent office” within the SBA.36 It accounts for about one one-thousandth of SBA spending and 0.75 percent of SBA personnel. Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, both under its current authority and with suggested — 752 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise reforms, the Office of Advocacy could be a powerful weapon against the adminis- trative state’s regulatory extremism. l Amend the RFA so that all agencies are required to provide a copy of any proposed rule (other than bona fide emergency rules) along with initial regulatory flexibility analysis to the Office of Advocacy at least 60 days before a notice of proposed rulemaking is submitted for publication in the Federal Register. The Office of Advocacy would submit comments to agencies within 30 days, and each agency would have to consider these comments, make changes in the proposed rule based on those comments, or explain in a revised regulatory flexibility analysis why it chose not to change the proposed rule. The Office of Advocacy’s pre-proposing comments would be published on the agencies’ and its own websites. RFA economic analysis should be expanded to include indirect costs along with direct costs. In addition, the next Administration should require other agencies to seek Advocacy’s input. Currently, other agencies deny Advocacy the ability to enforce their duty to consider the effect of regulations on small entities by construing their regulations as not having significant economic impact, which would otherwise serve as a trigger for Advocacy’s input. Congress should presumptively exempt small businesses from new agency rules to force agencies to seek Advocacy’s input and permit new rules to apply to small businesses only with Advocacy signoff under specified criteria. l Increase the Office of Advocacy’s budget by at least 50 percent ($4.6 million). This would allow Advocacy to hire approximately 25 attorneys, economists, and scientists and enhance its role in the regulatory process. l Explicitly direct federal agencies to comply with the RFA. This would be similar to the approach adopted by President Trump in his January and February 2017 executive orders directing agencies to relieve the cost and burden of regulation on business.37 Advocacy should organize regional roundtables, onsite small-business visits, and an online platform to hear directly from small businesses and entities as it did from June 2017 through September 2018.38 This activity produced 26 letters to federal agencies and highlighted specific regulations that need reform and how Congress had addressed the most burdensome rules through the Congressional Review Act.39

About These Correlations

Policy matches are calculated using a hybrid approach: initial candidates are found using semantic similarity between bill summaries and Project 2025 policy text, then an AI model (Llama 3.1 70B) provides detailed alignment ratings and analysis. Ratings range from 1 (minimal alignment) to 5 (very strong alignment). This analysis does not imply direct causation or intent.

Full Policy Text

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