Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB434 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 434
5	5	To establish the Commercial Space Activity Advisory Committee, and for
6	6	other purposes.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	FEBRUARY5, 2025
9	9	Mr. P
10	10	ETERS(for himself and Mr. WICKER) introduced the following bill;
11	11	which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce,
12	12	Science, and Transportation
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To establish the Commercial Space Activity Advisory
15	15	Committee, and for other purposes.
16	16	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
17	17	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
18	18	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
19	19	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Space Commerce Advi-4
20	20	sory Committee Act’’. 5
21	21	SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
22	22	In this Act: 7
23	23	(1) S
24	24	ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 8
25	25	the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Of-9
26	26	fice of Space Commerce. 10
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29	29	•S 434 IS
30	30	(2) SPACE OBJECT.—The term ‘‘space ob-1
31	31	ject’’— 2
32	32	(A) means— 3
33	33	(i) a human-made object located in 4
34	34	outer space, including on the Moon or 5
35	35	other celestial bodies, with or without 6
36	36	human occupants, that was launched from 7
37	37	Earth, such as a satellite or a spacecraft, 8
38	38	including component parts of the object; 9
39	39	and 10
40	40	(ii) all items carried on such object 11
41	41	that are intended for use in outer space 12
42	42	outside of, and independent of, the oper-13
43	43	ation of such object; 14
44	44	(B) includes any human-made object that 15
45	45	is— 16
46	46	(i) manufactured or assembled in 17
47	47	outer space; and 18
48	48	(ii) intended for operations in outer 19
49	49	space other than, and independent of, the 20
50	50	operations of such object in which the 21
51	51	manufacturing or assembly occurred; and 22
52	52	(C) does not include— 23
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55	55	•S 434 IS
56	56	(i) an article aboard a space object 1
57	57	that is only intended for use inside the 2
58	58	space object; 3
59	59	(ii) an article manufactured or proc-4
60	60	essed in outer space that is a material; or 5
61	61	(iii) an article intended for use outside 6
62	62	a space object as part of the authorized op-7
63	63	erations of the space object. 8
64	64	(3) S
65	65	TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 9
66	66	the several States of the United States, the District 10
67	67	of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the 11
68	68	United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American 12
69	69	Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 13
70	70	Islands, and any other commonwealth, territory, or 14
71	71	possession of the United States. 15
72	72	(4) U
73	73	NITED STATES ENTITY .—The term 16
74	74	‘‘United States entity’’ means— 17
75	75	(A) an individual who is a national of the 18
76	76	United States (as defined in section 101(a) of 19
77	77	the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 20
78	78	1101(a))); and 21
79	79	(B) a nongovernmental entity organized or 22
80	80	existing under, and subject to, the laws of the 23
81	81	United States or a State. 24
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84	84	•S 434 IS
85	85	SEC. 3. COMMERCIAL SPACE ACTIVITY ADVISORY COM-1
86	86	MITTEE. 2
87	87	(a) E
88	88	STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 3
89	89	the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 4
90	90	establish a Commercial Space Activity Advisory Com-5
91	91	mittee (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Committee’’). 6
92	92	(b) M
93	93	EMBERSHIP.— 7
94	94	(1) I
95	95	N GENERAL.—The Committee shall be 8
96	96	composed of 15 members appointed by the Sec-9
97	97	retary. 10
98	98	(2) Q
99	99	UALIFICATIONS.— 11
100	100	(A) I
101	101	N GENERAL.—The Committee shall be 12
102	102	composed of representatives from a variety of 13
103	103	space policy, engineering, technical, science, 14
104	104	legal, and finance fields who have significant 15
105	105	experience in the commercial space industry. 16
106	106	(B) L
107	107	IMITATION.— 17
108	108	(i) I
109	109	N GENERAL.—Except as provided 18
110	110	in clause (i), the Secretary may not ap-19
111	111	point as a member of the Committee any 20
112	112	employee or official of the Federal Govern-21
113	113	ment. 22
114	114	(ii) E
115	115	XCEPTION.—The Secretary may 23
116	116	appoint as a member of the Committee a 24
117	117	special government employee (as defined in 25
118	118	section 202(a) of title 18, United States 26
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121	121	•S 434 IS
122	122	Code) who serves on 1 or more other Fed-1
123	123	eral advisory committees. 2
124	124	(3) T
125	125	ERM.—Each individual appointed as a 3
126	126	member of the Committee— 4
127	127	(A) shall be appointed for a term of 4 5
128	128	years; and 6
129	129	(B) during the 2-year period beginning on 7
130	130	the date on which such term ends, may not 8
131	131	serve as a member of the Committee. 9
132	132	(c) D
133	133	UTIES.—The duties of the Committee shall be— 10
134	134	(1) to advise on the status and recent develop-11
135	135	ments of nongovernmental space activities; 12
136	136	(2) to provide to the Secretary and Congress 13
137	137	recommendations on the manner in which the 14
138	138	United States may facilitate and promote a robust 15
139	139	and innovative commercial sector that is investing 16
140	140	in, developing, and operating space objects; 17
141	141	(3) to identify any challenge faced by the 18
142	142	United States commercial sector relating to— 19
143	143	(A) international obligations of the United 20
144	144	States relevant to commercial space sector ac-21
145	145	tivities in outer space; 22
146	146	(B) export controls that affect the com-23
147	147	mercial space sector; 24
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150	150	•S 434 IS
151	151	(C) harmful interference with commercial 1
152	152	space sector activities in outer space; and 2
153	153	(D) access to adequate, predictable, and 3
154	154	reliable radio frequency spectrum; 4
155	155	(4) to review existing best practices for United 5
156	156	States entities to avoid— 6
157	157	(A) the harmful contamination of the 7
158	158	Moon and other celestial bodies; and 8
159	159	(B) adverse changes in the environment of 9
160	160	the Earth resulting from the introduction of ex-10
161	161	traterrestrial matter; and 11
162	162	(5) to provide information, advice, and rec-12
163	163	ommendations on matters relating to— 13
164	164	(A) United States commercial space sector 14
165	165	activities in outer space; and 15
166	166	(B) other commercial space sector activi-16
167	167	ties, as the Committee considers necessary. 17
168	168	(d) T
169	169	ERMINATION.—The Committee shall terminate 18
170	170	on the date that is 10 years after the date on which the 19
171	171	Committee is established. 20
172	172	Æ
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