Commerce Department creates a space industry advisory board.
S. 434 — Space Commerce Advisory Committee Act · Filed by Gary Peters (D-MI) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 5, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
The bill sets up a 15-member committee in the Department of Commerce. The committee will give advice about the commercial space industry. Members will come from space companies, finance, law, and schools—not from the government. The committee will advise on how to help U.S. space companies compete. It will also advise on spectrum access and protecting the environment in space. The committee will end after 10 years.
Who it affects
Space companies, finance firms, law firms, and schools will have members on the committee. The committee will help shape government rules about commercial space activity.
One thing to notice
The committee will have private-sector experts, not federal employees. Space company voices will have a big role in advising the government.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Republicans.
- Feb 5, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Feb 5, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation”
- Jun 25, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of…”
- Aug 6, 2026 — Passed the Senate · Congress.gov: “Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent. (text: CR S4493-4494)”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- commercial space industry — Companies that do space work for profit, like launching rockets or operating satellites.
- spectrum access — Permission to use radio frequencies for communication in space and on Earth.
- private-sector experts — People who work for companies and have special knowledge about a topic.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (3,620 characters) on Aug 7, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,206 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-17.
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