Criminal Law Library BlogOctober 16, 2026 – Cost Estimate.
As ordered reported by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on September 16, 2026
Articles Posted in Legislative History
CBO’s Recent Publications and Work in Progress as September 30, 2026
“Over the past three months, the Congressional Budget Office has produced a variety of budget and economic analyses, cost estimates, and analytical products, thus fulfilling its core mission of supporting Congress during each stage of the legislative process. This newsletter is a companion to CBO’s Recent Publications and Work in Progress as of September 30, 2026, which offers a summary of recent publications and those scheduled to be released in the coming months.
CBO also regularly publishes presentations and budget and economic data, which can be found on the agency’s website, as well as models and code, which are posted on the agency’s Github page.To learn more about CBO, see An Introduction to the Congressional Budget Office.”
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Two GUARD ACTS: Protecting the Young and the Old in an Age of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Fraud
Abstract
Two different pieces of pending federal legislation share the acronym GUARD Act, but they address technological risks at opposite ends of the age spectrum. The Guidelines for User Age-verification and Responsible Dialogue Act of 2026 (S. 3062) would seek to protect minors from potentially harmful interactions with artificial intelligence chatbots and companions through age verification, access restrictions, disclosures, and other safeguards. The separate Guarding Unprotected Aging Retirees from Deception Act (H.R. 2978/S. 2544) would strengthen law enforcement capabilities to investigate increasingly sophisticated financial fraud affecting older Americans, including schemes involving artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency. Neither proposal has yet been enacted into federal law. Examining the two measures together highlights both their potential benefits and their possible unintended consequences, including questions involving privacy, cybersecurity, parental authority, access to beneficial AI technologies, digital inclusion, and civil liberties. Their contrasting approaches also raise a broader question likely to become increasingly important as artificial intelligence permeates everyday life: How can society protect people who may be particularly vulnerable to emerging technologies without unnecessarily limiting their ability to benefit from those same technologies?
Introduction
The GPO Modernization Act of 2026: What it Could Mean for Libraries and Public Access to Information
Introduction
This proposed legislation is more consequential for libraries and government-information professionals than its title might initially suggest. It is not simply an internal GPO housekeeping bill; it would substantially rewrite the statutory framework governing the Federal Depository Library Program, digital preservation, permanent public access, cataloging, and the National Collection. In this post the strongest emphasis is on permanent public access, preservation of born digital government information, the modernization of the FDLP, and the implications for law librarians and researchers. Those features distinguish this bill from what might otherwise appear to readers to be a largely administrative modernization of GPO.
H.R. 9342, the GPO Modernization Act of 2026, was introduced on June 18, 2026, by Representative Stephanie Bice of Oklahoma. Its stated purpose is “[t]o revise certain authorities of the Government Publishing Office, and for other purposes.” The bill was referred to the House Committee on House Administration and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
H.R. 3087 Civil Rights Cold Case Archives Records Collection: From CBO
H.R. 3087, Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Reauthorization Act of 2026
Cost Estimate from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), August 6, 2026.
Overview of Document:
Understanding Budget Reconciliation: How Congress Fast Tracks Major Fiscal Legislation
Budget reconciliation is a special congressional procedure created by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 that allows Congress to consider legislation affecting federal spending, revenues (taxes), and the debt limit under expedited procedures. Most notably, reconciliation bills can pass the Senate with a simple majority vote rather than the 60 votes normally needed to overcome a filibuster. As a result, reconciliation has become one of the most important tools for enacting major fiscal policy changes. The following is an overview of the congressional budget reconciliation process and a discussion of its importance to librarians, researchers, and the general public.
What Is Reconciliation?
Reconciliation is designed to align existing laws with the fiscal goals established in a congressional budget resolution. It can be used to:
Legislation Enacted in the First Session of the 119th Congress That Affects Mandatory Spending or Revenues
A Congressional Budget Office Report, March 19, 2026.
CBO estimates that the effects on direct spending and revenues of laws enacted in the first session of the 119th Congress will reduce outlays and decrease revenues from 2025 to 2034, which will increase the deficit by $3.5 trillion
SUMMARY:
Overview of Two VERDICT Columns by Marci A. Hamilton on the Epstein Files*
Two recent opinion columns published on Justia Verdict – Legal Analysis and Commentary from Justia examine the legal, political, and moral implications of the continuing disclosures surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein investigations. Written by Professor Marci A. Hamilton of the University of Pennsylvania and founder of CHILD USA, the essays present a forceful argument that accountability for systemic abuse requires sustained legal pressure and public transparency. The views expressed are those of the author and do not represent the official position of Justia.
1. “The Three Avenues to Justice in the Epstein Cases” (Feb. 24, 2026)
In The Three Avenues to Justice in the Epstein Cases, Professor Hamilton argues that meaningful accountability is likely to emerge through three principal legal pathways rather than through federal prosecutorial initiative alone.
H.R. 1 (119th Cong.): Summary of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” *
On July 4, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed into law H.R. 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted as Pub. L. No. 119–21, 139 Stat. ___ (2025). Passed through the budget reconciliation process under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, this comprehensive legislation represents a central pillar of the Trump administration’s second-term domestic agenda. It enacts sweeping reforms to the federal tax code, restructures discretionary and entitlement spending. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act does not suspend the debt ceiling through FY 2027. Instead, it raises the debt limit by a specific $5 trillion—an amount projected to sustain federal borrowing for roughly one to two years [i.e., until 2026–27, depending on fiscal trends].
Legislative History and Process
H.R. 1 advanced through Congress under budget reconciliation procedures, thereby circumventing the Senate filibuster and requiring only a simple majority for passage. This expedited pathway allowed the bill’s tax and spending provisions to be consolidated into a single legislative package and enacted swiftly along party lines.