Tech Bills of the Week: Civil rights offices for AI; Expanding veterans' education; and Curtailing ICE’s biometric use
In the first edition of Tech Bills of the Week, Nextgov/FCW reviewed three newly introduced measures: one seeking to establish civil rights offices in federal agencies to mitigate AI bias, another looking to rein in ICE’s use of a biometric scanning app and a third attempting to expand veterans’ access to education training courses focused on emerging capabilities.
Creating civil rights offices in federal agencies to manage AI use
House and Senate Democrats are reupping an effort to require that all federal agencies using artificial intelligence technologies establish an office of civil rights to address concerns about algorithmic biases and discrimination posed by the emerging capabilities.
The legislation — sponsored by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., in the upper chamber and Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., in the lower chamber — would also mandate that the offices report on their efforts to Congress and provide lawmakers with policy recommendations. Markey previously introduced the Senate measure in December 2023; Lee introduced a companion bill in the House in November 2024.
“From housing to health care to public services, AI is increasingly being used to make consequential decisions, diagnoses, recommendations, and predictions that can significantly alter our lives,” Markey said in a statement. “As the risks of bias and discrimination in AI systems become more apparent, the federal government must lead by example and protect marginalized communities that face the greatest consequences when AI goes wrong.”
The White House, however, has a different understanding of what constitutes AI bias, with the Trump administration directing federal agencies in December to ensure their AI tools do not “manipulate responses in favor of ideological dogmas.” That request came after President Donald Trump issued an executive order in July 2025 directing agencies to remove “woke AI” from use.
Expanding veterans’ education training program to include emerging tech
Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Ariz., introduced legislation that would add emerging technologies, including AI, to the education opportunities available to veterans through a popular training program.
The Veteran Employment Through Technology Education Courses — or VET TEC — program was extended as part of vet-focused legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden in January 2025. The program, which has been renewed through the end of September 2027, provides roughly 4,000 eligible veterans each year with financial assistance to take technology-focused education training courses through approved providers without having to use their GI Bill benefits.
Hamadeh’s office said his bill would enable VA and relevant partners “to identify emerging technology career fields that veterans can enter using their VA education benefits,” as well as fast-track VET TEC program approvals for specific emerging tech training opportunities.
“This bill will go far to eliminate the excuse used by high tech companies that veterans are not qualified to do the work, so H-1B Visa workers are necessary,” Hamadeh said in a statement, adding that “this bill is not a handout; veterans have EARNED these benefits in addition to the GI Bill.”
Curtailing ICE’s use of facial recognition verification tools
The top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee introduced a bill to curtail Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s use of a facial recognition app to verify the identities of individuals and their citizenship status.
The measure, spearheaded by Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., takes aim at ICE agents using the Mobile Fortify app and other similar tools to check biometric information, like fingerprints and facial recognition, in order to determine the citizenship status of individuals. The bill remedies this by limiting the use of Mobile Fortify and similar apps to only verifying identities at U.S. ports of entry, in addition to protecting individuals’ right to privacy by destroying collected biometric data within 12 hours of collection.
“ICE’s use of Mobile Fortify to determine a person’s legal status is an outrageous affront to the civil rights and civil liberties of U.S. citizens and immigrants alike,” Thompson said in a statement. “DHS should not be conducting surveillance by experimenting with Americans’ faces and fingerprints in the field — especially with unproven and biased technology. It is time to put an end to its widespread use.”
]]>