NIST makes free AI guides for small businesses

What it does

The bill tells NIST to make free guides about artificial intelligence. The guides will include rules, best practices, and real examples. Small businesses can use these guides to learn about AI. The Small Business Administration will share the guides. NIST must update the guides every two years. NIST must tell Congress in four years how they work.

Who it affects

Small businesses get free help learning about AI. They would not have to pay for private experts.

One thing to notice

The guides are voluntary, so small businesses do not have to use them.

From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.

Where it stands

4 cosponsors: 4 Democrats.

• Jun 3, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Jun 3, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology”
• Jun 11, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
• Jun 11, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 35 - 0”
• Feb 23, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H2244)”
• Feb 23, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Babin moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

3 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 4 reports from Mar 2026 to Jun 2026.

Those reports show $2,210,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 5 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.

More groups named this bill than 61% of bills with any report.

Mike Collins, who sponsored the bill, received $541,500 from PACs for the 2026 election.

• Intuit, Inc. and Affiliates (formerly Intuit, Inc.) — $2,100,000 in 2 reports
• Intuit, Inc. and Affiliates — $60,000 in 1 report
• Intuit, Inc. and Affiliates (formerly Intuit, Inc.) — $50,000 in 1 report

Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.

Words to know

• artificial intelligence — Computer software that learns and makes decisions like a person.
• NIST — The National Institute of Standards and Technology, a U.S. government agency.
• best practices — The smartest or most proven ways to do something.
• lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
• PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
• sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.