Transparent Automated Governance Act (119th Congress)
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Transparent Automated Governance (TAG) Act
United States — federal
Proposed legislation
S. 5648, 119th Congress[1]
Introduced September 30, 2026; referred to Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.[1]
Not in force. Proposed implementation deadlines depend on enactment and OMB guidance.[2]
October 22, 2026 — official status and complete introduced bill.
The Transparent Automated Governance Act (TAG Act) is a federal bill introduced by Senator Gary Peters, with Senator James Lankford as an original cosponsor, on September 30, 2026. It was read twice and referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; that remains the latest action in the official record.[1]
Scope
Section 2 covers federal agencies as defined in 44 U.S.C. §3502. Its definition of an automated system addresses AI outputs that substantially influence critical decisions and excludes paper workflows and specified deterministic processes without predictive, generative or learning capabilities. Critical decisions include determinations affecting education, employment, utilities, transportation, public assistance, finance, immigration, healthcare, housing and federal agreements, with authority for OMB to identify additional consequential services.[2]
Inventories, notices and appeals
Section 3 would direct OMB to issue a directive within 90 days of enactment requiring public agency inventories by 180 days after enactment. OMB guidance would address privacy and civil rights, plain-language notice when AI contributes to critical decisions, appeals and timely recourse after adverse decisions, opportunities for independent human review and information about decision processes. It would also address performance metrics, public input before new public-facing deployments and ongoing feedback.[2]
Public-facing AI and procurement
Separate guidance would address chatbots, translation systems, automated voice agents and similar services. It would include initial and repeated notices of AI interaction, escalation to a human, notices about personal information, public performance metrics and model procurement terms covering agency data rights, testing, security, documentation, training-data limitations and incident reporting.[2]
The bill would prohibit contractor use of covered contract data for advertising or unrelated individual profiles, conditioning access to agency services or benefits on a private commercial account, and combining interactions with an agency AI system with a user’s commercial or personal account data. For interactive systems, an individual could request a complete machine-readable transcript or recording; after identity verification, delivery would be required within three business days. A direct download or email option would also be required at the end of an interaction.[2]
Implementation and sunset
OMB would publish preliminary guidance within 180 days after enactment for at least 30 days of public comment. Agencies would implement guidance and later updates within 180 days of issuance. The Comptroller General would review compliance within two years after enactment and periodically thereafter. Section 5 would end the Act’s force ten years after OMB issues the guidance. These are proposed obligations, not current requirements created by this bill.[2]