National Fab Lab Network Act of 2026

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4934 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4934

  To establish the National Fab Lab Network, a nonprofit organization
     consisting of a national network of local digital fabrication
 facilities providing universal access to advanced manufacturing tools
   for workforce development, STEM education, developing inventions,
creating businesses, producing personalized products, mitigating risks,
                        and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 24, 2026

Mr. Van Hollen (for himself and Ms. Murkowski) introduced the following
 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce,
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

  To establish the National Fab Lab Network, a nonprofit organization
     consisting of a national network of local digital fabrication
 facilities providing universal access to advanced manufacturing tools
   for workforce development, STEM education, developing inventions,
creating businesses, producing personalized products, mitigating risks,
                        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 ``National Fab Lab Network Act of
2026''.

SEC. 2. 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 (CBA) 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.

SEC. 3. NATIONAL FAB LAB NETWORK.

    (a) Definition.--In this Act, 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.
    (b) Establishment.--There is hereby established a nonprofit
corporation to be known as the ``National Fab Lab Network'' (in this
Act 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 Act, and, to the extent consistent
with this Act, 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 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 Act,
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 Act. 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.
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