John Curtis

The Data Center Community Empowerment Act of 2026 requires the Secretary of Energy to create a new Data Center Community Assistance Program that provides technical help and information to state, local, and tribal governments considering data center projects in their areas. Within 180 days of enactment, the program must offer objective analysis on how data centers would affect electricity demand, water use, infrastructure needs, job creation, tax revenues, and other community impacts. The bill also requires the Secretary to develop a publicly available toolkit written in plain language for local officials, complete with model questions to ask developers, definitions of technical terms, case studies, and explanations of utility costs and cooling systems. When requested, the Secretary can independently review a data center developer's plans and analysis to verify the accuracy and reasonableness of their projections, though the department cannot make recommendations for or against any specific project. The legislation makes clear that the program is advisory only and does not give the federal government authority over local zoning or permitting decisions.

The Methane Monitoring Science Act of 2026 directs NASA to develop a federal strategy for monitoring and detecting methane emissions within 18 months of the bill's enactment. NASA must work with other relevant federal agencies to create a comprehensive science-based strategy that evaluates current and future methane detection technologies, including ground-based, airborne, and satellite systems, with a focus on identifying large methane emission events and strengthening U.S. energy security. The strategy will be designed to help NASA plan future research activities and enable state and local governments, academic institutions, industry groups like oil and natural gas companies, and other organizations to use methane monitoring data and information. The bill explicitly states that this monitoring strategy does not grant NASA or other agencies any new enforcement powers over methane emissions, nor can the data collected be used to enforce environmental regulations that don't already exist.

The Recycled Materials Attribution Act of 2026 would prohibit companies from making misleading claims about recycled content when advertising or selling products to consumers. The legislation specifically authorizes the use of "mass balance accounting," a method that tracks recycled materials through manufacturing supply chains, as a valid way to substantiate recycled content claims if certified by an independent third party. Within one year of enactment, the Federal Trade Commission would update its environmental marketing guidelines and issue new guidance to establish clear standards for accurate recycled content claims. The FTC would enforce violations as deceptive trade practices under existing law, and the bill would preempt any conflicting state or local regulations to create uniform national standards for recycled content labeling.

The STRIDE Act directs the Secretary of State to coordinate with countries that have significant semiconductor technology capabilities to establish multilateral protections against acquisition of critical semiconductor technology by China and other foreign adversaries. The legislation aims to align export controls on semiconductor manufacturing equipment, design tools, materials, and services across allied nations, establish joint monitoring and enforcement mechanisms to prevent circumvention, and create trusted supplier networks for semiconductor components. If the Secretary of State determines that a country is not implementing sufficient security measures to prevent semiconductor technology transfer to adversary nations, the bill requires notification to Congress and triggers a Commerce Department review process that may lead to expanded export controls and entity list designations. The Secretary of State must submit progress reports to Congress every 90 days detailing diplomatic engagement, progress toward multilateral coordination objectives, and the effectiveness of these efforts in preventing technology transfer. No specific funding authorization or timeline for implementation is included in the legislation.

This bill expands the federal tax credit for advanced manufacturing of critical minerals by adding eight new minerals to the program, including boron, copper, lead, potash, rhenium, silicon, silver, and uranium, as well as phosphate meeting certain purity standards. The legislation also allows companies that extract ore to claim tax credits for their extraction costs if the ore is refined into applicable critical minerals, provided the ore was extracted in the United States or is a type not commercially extracted domestically and comes from countries not designated as foreign concerns. Additionally, the bill removes a previous reduction in tax credits for metallurgical coal, treating it the same as other covered minerals. These changes take effect for minerals produced and sold after December 31, 2025, and are intended to support domestic critical mineral production and processing. The bill affects mining companies, mineral refiners, and manufacturers involved in producing these materials domestically.

The State-Sponsored Visa Pilot Program Act of 2026 creates a new nonimmigrant visa category allowing individual states to sponsor foreign workers for temporary residence in the United States. Under the program, states can admit aliens to work, invest capital, or contribute to economic development as determined by each state, with accompanying spouses and minor children also eligible. Each state can receive a baseline of 5,000 visas annually plus additional allocations based on population and economic growth, with visa numbers adjusted based on state compliance rates and economic indicators. Participants must pass security vetting, pay bonds (starting at $4,000 if more than 3 percent of a state's participants violate program terms), remain employed and resident in their sponsoring state, and cannot receive federal means-tested benefits. States must assess labor needs and wage data, investigate worker displacement complaints, and report annually to federal authorities. The bill includes provisions allowing certain aliens physically present in the United States since December 31, 2016 to apply for waivers of deportability grounds. The Department of Homeland Security must issue implementing regulations within 180 days, and the program takes effect the first fiscal year after enactment.

The MAP Roads Act establishes a federal grant program to help states digitize county road records and create publicly accessible online databases of road information. Under the program, the Transportation Secretary will distribute grants to states that can administer subgrants to their counties and maintain centralized road data repositories. County funds can be used to convert paper maps and outdated records into standardized digital formats, hire staff to assist with the conversion, and train personnel in data management. States receiving grants must publish the road data on public websites organized by road type, ensure the information is compatible with third-party mapping services, and update it at least annually. The bill authorizes $20 million annually for the program from 2026 through 2031, with the grant program ending on September 30, 2031, and requires participating states to submit annual progress reports on the number of road miles digitized and funding distributed to counties.

This bill requires the Federal Trade Commission to have at least three of its five commissioners present and voting before taking major policy actions. The legislation applies to a broad range of FTC activities, including starting or completing rulemaking procedures, adopting or changing policy statements and enforcement guidance, and issuing industry guides. The bill affects the FTC's ability to act unilaterally on regulatory matters and applies to all laws the agency enforces, such as consumer protection and antitrust rules. The measure takes effect on January 20, 2029, giving the agency time to adjust its procedures before the new quorum requirement kicks in.

This is a ceremonial Senate resolution recognizing the 179th anniversary of when members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. The resolution honors the pioneers who made the journey westward starting in 1846, traveling over 1,300 miles by wagon and foot while enduring extreme hardship, disease, and loss of life to establish new communities. The resolution acknowledges their contributions to settling the American West, establishing over 500 communities and helping other westward-bound travelers through the resources and infrastructure they built. It also recognizes Pioneer Day, an annual Utah state holiday that has been celebrated since 1849 to commemorate this arrival. The resolution calls on all Americans to reflect on the pioneers' virtues of resilience, self-reliance, and faith as part of the broader American story.

The PATH Act modifies how the federal government evaluates whether transit projects deserve federal funding through the fixed guideway capital investment grants program. Currently, the law uses specific formulas to predict how many people will ride new transit systems, but this bill allows transit agencies to use more flexible forecasting methods that account for population density, population growth rates, and local development plans. The legislation is designed to help high-growth communities demonstrate that new transit projects are economically justified, potentially making it easier for rapidly expanding areas to qualify for federal transit grants. The bill affects transit agencies and communities seeking federal funding for rail and bus rapid transit projects. No specific funding amounts or implementation timelines are specified in the legislation.

The Wildfire Emissions Prevention Act of 2026 amends the Clean Air Act to make it easier for prescribed fires, including cultural burning practiced by Indian tribes, to be classified as "exceptional events" that don't count against a state's air quality compliance record. The bill directs the EPA to revise its regulations within roughly 15 months of enactment to reduce the burden on states seeking this designation and to clarify when prescribed fires qualify, while also setting a one-year deadline for the agency to act on state petitions, after which unaddressed petitions are automatically approved. It affects state and tribal air pollution agencies, land managers, and forestry officials by streamlining the process for using controlled burns as a wildfire-prevention tool without triggering air quality violations. The legislation also establishes a new "Smoke Ready Communities" grant program, allowing the EPA to award competitive funding to states, tribes, and other eligible entities to protect community and school buildings from wildfire smoke, with the federal government typically covering up to 90 percent of costs (or more in economically distressed areas), capped at 25 percent of annual funds going to any single state. Overall, the bill aims to encourage more prescribed burning as a wildfire-mitigation strategy while helping communities prepare for smoke exposure, contingent on future appropriations for the grant program.

The SAFE KIDS Act requires artificial intelligence chatbot providers to implement comprehensive safety measures to protect children under 18 from harmful content and exploitation. Providers must conduct risk assessments before launching chatbots to children, implement age verification technology, create crisis response protocols for users expressing suicidal ideation or self-harm, and publish public safety policies. The bill mandates parental controls allowing parents to monitor usage, restrict features, set time limits, and receive notifications if their child is at risk. Critically, the law prohibits targeted advertising to children and bans the sale or sharing of children's personal information without parental consent. Providers must also submit to annual independent audits conducted by qualified professionals to verify compliance with safety requirements. The Federal Trade Commission enforces the law through civil penalties of up to $1,000 per violation per user, or $10,000 for willful violations involving sexual exploitation or false reporting, and can seek injunctions. The act takes effect 180 days after enactment.

The BANNED in Latin America Act directs the Secretary of State to develop and submit a comprehensive strategy to Congress within 180 days of enactment for countering Iranian and Hezbollah influence operations across Latin America. The strategy must address efforts to disrupt propaganda networks, including Hezbollah's Al Mayadeen Español broadcasting platform, and expose Iran's Al Mustafa International University network, which the bill identifies as a vehicle for radicalization and recruitment. It also requires plans to counter Iranian and Hezbollah involvement in drug and contraband smuggling, money laundering, illicit resource exploitation such as gold mining in Venezuela, and document fraud schemes involving fake passports and identification. This legislation primarily affects U.S. State Department operations and intelligence-sharing efforts with Latin American governments, aiming to curb what lawmakers view as growing security threats from Iranian and Hezbollah networks in the region. The strategy must be submitted in unclassified form, though it may include a classified annex for sensitive details.

This bill designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 111 South Tremont Street in Tremonton, Utah, as the "Sorensen-Estrada Post Office".

The TECH Act would expand access to federal education grants for technical schools by allowing qualified vocational institutions to compete for the same federal funding as traditional two-year and four-year colleges. The bill specifically targets four federal grant programs: the Strengthening Institutions Program, the Federal TRIO Program, the CCAMPIS child care program under the Department of Education, and the Labor Department's Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants Program. Qualified technical schools would need to offer either eligible career pathway programs or short-term job training programs (150 to 600 clock hours) in critical sectors like healthcare, manufacturing, transportation, and infrastructure. Within 180 days of enactment, the Departments of Education and Labor must modify their grant eligibility rules and issue guidance on how to distribute funds fairly across technical schools and traditional institutions to build workforce pipelines in aging industries. The bill includes a 60-day approval process for schools seeking to establish program eligibility and requires certification from state boards.