PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Jul 27, 2017
Public Library Innovation Space Act
This bill requires the National Museum and Library Services Board to carry out a program for making competitive grants to eligible partnerships (composed of a public library and an economic development corporation, a local government, a state government, an elementary or secondary school, a museum, an institution of higher education, a nonprofit organization, a corporation, and/or other entities identified by the Board) to establish makerspaces at public libraries.
A makerspace is a facility (which may be at a fixed location or a mobile unit) that is open to the public and provides individuals with access to: (1) tools, technology, and educational resources designed to enable such individuals to create physical goods, including prototypes; and (2) educational opportunities, including vocational training and assistance with early-stage business ventures.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
A partnership must contribute, for the activities for which the grant was awarded, nonfederal matching funds equal to the grant amount.
Each eligible partnership that receives a grant may not use its grant funds, or the matching funds contributed by it, for construction activities at a public library that would provide extra square footage to house a makerspace.
People & committees
Rep. Luján, Ben Ray [D-NM-3] · D–NM
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Aug 11, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze H.R.3496 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine H.R.3496 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine H.R.3496 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine H.R.3496 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.