PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Jul 30, 2010
National Fab Lab Network Act of 2010 - Establishes the National Fab Lab Network (NFLN), as a non-profit entity, to facilitate the construction of a network of connected labs.
Defines "Fab Lab" or "Fabrication Laboratory" to mean a facility containing a variety of manufacturing and other fabrication tools operable by digital input as well as the software and computers required to design and operate those tools. States that these labs serve a broad range of purposes, but each allow for how members of the local community, businesses, and academic or educational purposes can be pursued with the lab's resources.
Authorizes and empowers the NFLN to receive real or personal property and to hold it absolutely or in trust, and to invest, reinvest, and manage it, and to apply such property and the income arising therefrom to the objects of its creation and according to the instructions of its donors.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Sets forth the functions of the NFLN.
Requires the NFLN to: (1) facilitate the construction of a new type of information and digital fabrication infrastructure; and (2) promote the goals of greater science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, workforce development in manufacturing and product design, increased innovation in the private sector, as well as scientific and academic discovery through the use of distributed digital fabrication tools.
Permits acceptance by the NFLN of donations from private individuals, corporations, government agencies, or other organizations.
People & committees
Rep. Foster, Bill [D-IL-14] · D–IL
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation.
Referred to House Science and Technology
Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Science and Technology, 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 House Energy and Commerce
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Aug 14, 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.6003 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.6003 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.6003 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.6003 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.