National Commission on Robotics Act

This Act may be cited as the “National Commission on Robotics Act”.

(a) Establishment.—

(1) In general.— Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish an independent commission to be known as the “Commission on American Leadership in Robotics” (in this section referred to as the “Commission”).

(2) Purpose.— The Commission shall—

(A) examine robotics as it pertains to interstate and foreign commerce, economic competitiveness, and national security; and

(B) make recommendations relating thereto to the appropriate congressional committees.

(b) Membership.—

(1) Number and appointment.— The Commission shall be composed of 18 members appointed as follows:

(A) Three members appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

(B) Three members appointed by the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives.

(C) Three members appointed by the Majority Leader of the Senate.

(D) Three members appointed by the Minority Leader of the Senate.

(E) Six members appointed by the President of the United States.

(2) Deadline for appointment.— Members shall be appointed to the Commission by not later than 45 days after the date on which the Commission is established under subsection (a).

(3) Effect of lack of appointment by appointment date.— If one or more appointments under paragraph (1) are not made by the appointment date specified in paragraph (2), the authority to make such appointment or appointments shall expire, and the number of members of the Commission shall be reduced to the number of appointments made to the Commission as of that date.

(4) Qualifications.— Members of the Commission shall be individuals who are recognized experts and have appropriate professional experience in matters relating to any of the following:

(A) Robotics.

(B) Applications, or potential applications, of robotics by the private sector or public sector.

(C) Impacts of robotics on economic competitiveness, including economics, international trade, or supply chain analysis.

(c) Chair and vice chair.—

(1) Chair.— The Majority Leader of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall jointly designate one member of the Commission to serve as Chair of the Commission.

(2) Vice chair.— The Minority Leader of the Senate and the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives shall jointly designate one member of the Commission to serve as Vice Chair of the Commission.

(d) Period of appointment and vacancies.—

(1) Period of appointment.— Members shall be appointed for the life of the Commission.

(2) Vacancies.— A vacancy in the Commission shall not affect its powers and shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment was made.

(e) Scope and duties.—

(1) In general.— The Commission shall carry out a review of advances in robotics.

(2) Considerations.— In carrying out the review under paragraph (1), the Commission shall consider the methods, means, and policies necessary to advance the development of robotics by the United States to comprehensively address the economic competitiveness and national security needs of the United States.

(3) Scope of the review.— In conducting the review under paragraph (1), the Commission shall consider the following:

(A) The competitiveness of the United States in robotics, including matters related to the domestic marketplace for robotics and private sector and public sector applications of robotics in the United States.

(B) Means and methods for the United States to assert and maintain a technological advantage in robotics, specifically in the deployment of robotics in industrial, retail, and commercial sectors in the United States.

(C) International developments and trends, including foreign actions and policies to advance robotics.

(D) Means by which to foster greater emphasis and investments in robotics to stimulate strategic partnerships in robotics with industry, the public, and academic institutions, to the extent that such efforts have material application related to economic competitiveness and manufacturing.

(E) Workforce incentives and programs to attract and recruit leading talent in robotics, including in associated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, to the extent that such efforts relate to economic competitiveness in robotics.

(F) The global and domestic supply chain for robotics, including any supply chain risks or dependencies, and policies to increase the manufacturing of robotics in the United States.

(G) Any other matters the Commission determines appropriate related to robotics.

(f) Commission report and recommendations.—

(1) Interim report.— Not later than one year after the date on which the Commission is established under subsection (a), the Commission shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees and the President an interim report on the status of the review by the Commission under subsection (e), including a discussion of any interim recommendations.

(2) Final report.— Not later than two years after the date on which the Commission is established under subsection (a), the Commission shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees and the President a final report on the findings of the Commission and such recommendations as the Commission may have for action by Congress and the Federal Government.

(g) Government cooperation.—

(1) Cooperation.— In carrying out its duties under this section, the Commission shall receive the full and timely cooperation of the Secretary and the heads of other relevant Federal departments and agencies in providing the Commission with analysis, briefings, and other information necessary for the fulfillment of such duties.

(2) Liaison.— The Secretary shall designate at least one officer or employee of the Department to serve as a liaison officer between the Secretary and the Commission.

(3) Detailees authorized.— The Secretary and the heads of other relevant Federal departments and agencies may provide, and the Commission may accept and employ, personnel detailed from the Department and such other Federal departments and agencies, as the case may be, without reimbursement.

(4) Facilitation of certain services.—

(A) Independent, nongovernmental institute.— Not later than 45 days after the date on which the Commission is established under subsection (a), the Secretary may make available to the Commission the services of an independent, nongovernmental institute described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and exempt from tax under section 501(a) of such Code, that has recognized credentials and expertise in economic competitiveness and technology in order to facilitate the discharge of the duties of the Commission under this section.

(B) Federally funded research and development center.— On request of the Commission, the Secretary shall make available to the Commission the services of a federally funded research and development center that is covered by a sponsoring agreement of the Department in order to enhance the efforts of the Commission to discharge its duties under this section.

(5) Other services.—

(A) In general.— The Secretary may provide to the Commission, on a nonreimbursable basis, such administrative services, funds, staff, facilities, and other support services as are necessary for the discharge of the duties of the Commission under this section.

(B) Other agencies.— In addition to any support provided under subparagraph (A), the heads of other relevant Federal departments and agencies may provide to the Commission such services, funds, facilities, staff, and other support as such heads determine advisable and as may be authorized by law.

(h) Staff.—

(1) Status as Federal employees.— Notwithstanding the requirements of section 2105 of title 5, United States Code, including the required supervision under subsection (a)(3) of such section, a member of the Commission shall be considered to be a Federal employee.

(2) Executive director.— The Commission shall appoint and fix the rate of basic pay for an Executive Director in accordance with section 3161(d) of title 5, United States Code.

(3) Pay.— The Executive Director, with the approval of the Commission, may appoint and fix the rate of basic pay for additional personnel as staff of the Commission in accordance with section 3161(d) of title 5, United States Code.

(i) Personal services.—

(1) Authority to procure.— The Commission may—

(A) procure the services of experts or consultants (or of organizations of experts or consultants) in accordance with the provisions of section 3109 of title 5, United States Code; and

(B) pay in connection with such services travel expenses of individuals, including transportation and per diem in lieu of subsistence, while such individuals are traveling from their homes or places of business to duty stations.

(2) Maximum daily pay rates.— The daily rate paid an expert or consultant procured pursuant to paragraph (1) may not exceed the daily rate paid a person occupying a position at level IV of the Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5, United States Code.

(j) Authority To accept gifts.—

(1) In general.— The Commission may accept, use, and dispose of gifts or donations of services, goods, and property from non-Federal entities for the purposes of aiding and facilitating the work of the Commission.

(2) Exclusion of money.— The authority under paragraph (1) does not extend to gifts of money.

(3) Documentation and conflicts.— Gifts accepted under the authority under paragraph (1) shall be documented, and conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflicts of interest shall be avoided.

(4) Application of rules.— Subject to the authority in this section, members of the Commission shall otherwise comply with rules set forth by the Select Committee on Ethics of the Senate and the Committee on Ethics of the House of Representatives governing employees of the Senate and the House of Representatives, respectively.

(k) Legislative advisory committee.— The Commission shall operate as a legislative advisory committee.

(l) Contracting authority.— The Commission may acquire such administrative supplies and equipment as necessary for Commission use to the extent funds are available.

(m) Use of Federal Government information.— The Commission may secure directly from any Federal department or agency such information as the Commission considers necessary to discharge its duties. Upon such request of the Chair of the Commission, the head of such Federal department or agency shall furnish such information to the Commission.

(n) Postal services.— The Commission may use the United States mail in the same manner and under the same conditions as Federal departments and agencies.

(o) Space for use of Commission.—

(1) In general.— Not later than 30 days after the date on which the Commission is established under subsection (a), the Administrator of General Services, in consultation with the Commission, shall identify and make available suitable excess space within the Federal space inventory to house the operations of the Commission.

(2) Lease.— If the Administrator is not able to make suitable excess space available within the 30-day period under paragraph (1), the Commission may lease space to the extent funds are available.

(p) Removal of members.—

(1) In general.— A member may be removed from the Commission for cause by the individual serving in the position responsible for the original appointment of such member under subsection (b)(1), if notice has first been provided to such member of the cause for such removal and such removal is voted and agreed upon by 3/4 of the members serving.

(2) Vacancy.— A vacancy created by removal under paragraph (1) shall not affect the powers of the Commission, and shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment was made.

(q) Termination.— The Commission shall terminate 18 months after the date on which the Commission submits the final report required under subsection (f)(2).

(r) Definitions.— In this section:

(1) Appropriate congressional committees.— The term appropriate congressional committees means the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives.

(2) Department.— The term Department means the Department of Commerce.

(3) Robotics.— The term robotics includes each of the following:

(A) Programmable multifunctional mechanical devices designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through variable programmed motions to perform a variety of tasks.

(B) Programmed actuated mechanisms with a degree of autonomy to perform locomotion, manipulation, or positioning.

(C) Automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulators, programmable in three or more axes, which can be either fixed in place or fixed to a mobile platform for use in automation applications in an industrial environment.

(D) Machines that—

(i) can sense their environment;

(ii) have the capacity to process the information they sense; and

(iii) are organized to act directly upon their environment.

(E) Mechanical devices that are capable of locomotion, navigation, or movement on the ground, and operate at a distance from one or more operators or supervisors based on commands or in response to sensor data, or through any combination thereof, and that may also be referred to as “unmanned ground vehicle systems”.

(4) Secretary.— The term Secretary means the Secretary of Commerce.