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HR 8981 119th Congress

SCALE Biology Act

To establish in the National Institute of Standards and Technology a program of measurement research for engineering biology, biomanufacturing, and biometrology, and for other purposes.

Official Title as Introduced Congress.gov

Introduced May 21, 2026 Latest action Jul 21, 2026 Sponsor: Rep. McClain Delaney, April [D-MD-6] Science, Technology, Communications
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Source: Congress.govUpdated 2026-11-05 00:08:42 UTC.

Source-linked procedural record

Bill journey

7 dated records

This is a chronology, not a progress score. Politically.com does not classify stages or infer what comes next. Records sharing a date are grouped because not every source field supplies a time.

Congress.gov Recently refreshed U.S. Senate XML Latest available (refresh delayed)
Introduction 1 One supplied introduction date.
Official actions 5 5 dated action records.
Committees 1 1 undated relationship.
Amendments 0 No record is cached.
Text versions 1 1 dated, 0 without a supplied date.
House roll calls 0 No exact legislation-key match in the House-vote cache.
Senate roll calls 0 No exact document-key match in the Senate-vote cache.
Related measures 1 1 undated relationship.
Linked law 0 No linked law record is cached; this does not predict outcome.

  1. Official action Congress.gov

    Referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

    IntroReferral · House floor actions · Code H11100

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    Official action Congress.gov

    Introduced in House

    IntroReferral · Library of Congress · Code Intro-H

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    Official action Congress.gov

    Introduced in House

    IntroReferral · Library of Congress · Code 1000

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    Text version Congress.gov

    Introduced in House

    A dated text-version record is available.

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  2. Official action Congress.gov

    Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute (Amended) by Voice Vote.

    Committee · House committee actions · Code H19000

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    Official action Congress.gov

    Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held

    Committee · House committee actions · Code H15001

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View the complete bill journey as an accessible table
Every dated cached record linked to HR 8981. Same-date row order does not assert procedural sequence.
Date and timeRecordOfficial detailSource
IntroductionIntroduced Introduced in the House. Congress.gov
Official actionReferred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. No additional detail supplied.IntroReferral · House floor actions · Code H11100 Congress.gov
Official actionIntroduced in House No additional detail supplied.IntroReferral · Library of Congress · Code Intro-H Congress.gov
Official actionIntroduced in House No additional detail supplied.IntroReferral · Library of Congress · Code 1000 Congress.gov
Text versionIntroduced in House A dated text-version record is available. Congress.gov
Official actionOrdered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute (Amended) by Voice Vote. No additional detail supplied.Committee · House committee actions · Code H19000 Congress.gov
Official actionCommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held No additional detail supplied.Committee · House committee actions · Code H15001 Congress.gov

House roll calls join only on matching Congress, legislation type, and number. Senate roll calls join only on matching source-supplied document type and number, not question text. Committee and related-measure relationships have no date in their relationship records and therefore are counted above but never placed on the chronology.

Congressional Research Service

CRS summary

Introduced in House May 21, 2026

Standards and Calibration for American Leadership in Engineering Biology Act or the SCALE Biology ActThis bill establishes a biometrology laboratory program within the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and expands NIST’s role in related research and support activities. Biometrology applies the science of measurement to the study of living organisms. Biometrology is used in many disciplines, including biomanufacturing, engineering biology, and biotechnology. Current law requires NIST to support biometrology research and related activities.The bill directs NIST to establish a biometrology laboratory program to enable innovation, improve biological data, and support the safe and responsible development and application of biological technologies.The bill expands NIST’s existing biometrology-related activities to includeestablishing common terminology and definitions related to engineering biology, biomanufacturing, biotechnology, and the bioeconomy;supporting external research that advances biometrology and related disciplines; andidentifying areas where technical standards and other governance mechanisms are needed.In carrying out these activities, NIST must coordinate with other federal agencies and specified federal programs as appropriate.The bill also directs NIST to support the development of specialized engineering biology facilities (i.e., foundries) in partnership with industry and other specified stakeholders. (Engineering biology involves the synthetic programming of cellular systems. NIST currently operates a Living Measurement Systems Foundry, which supports biometrology and engineering biology research and testing.)The bill also explicitly authorizes NIST to conduct research to support the development of voluntary, consensus-based technical standards, best practices, and other resources for engineering biology, biomanufacturing, biotechnology, and biometrology.

Official documents

Text versions