Before you vote › Federal bills
H.R. 8250: Parents Decide Act
119th Congress · introduced 2026-04-13 · Commerce · Latest: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
federal
Official title
Parents Decide Act
Plain summary
Parents Decide Act This bill establishes age-verification requirements for providers of operating systems, which includes software that supports the basic functions of a computer, mobile device, or other general purpose computing device. First, operating system providers must require users to provide their date of birth to set up an account on, and use, the operating system. If the user is under 18 years old, the operating system must require a parent or legal guardian to verify the user's date of birth. Additionally, operating system providers must develop a system to allow app developers to access information necessary to verify the date of birth of a user of the developer's app. The bill provides for enforcement of these requirements by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC also must issue regulations on how operating system providers can (1) verify the date of birth of a parent or legal guardian and carry out requirements for verifying the ages of users, (2) secure data collected through the verification process, and (3) ensure parents or legal guardians have control over what users who are under 18 years old are able to access on a device. The FTC must brief Congress on the rulemaking process and report on how operating system providers carry out the requirements of the bill.
Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.
What a vote does
A “Yea” vote
If it passes both chambers and is signed, it becomes law.
A “Nay” vote
If it is not passed, current law stays as it is.
PSI Sci description of the legislative step (not an opinion).
What does this mean? (plain words)
AI explanation – may be wrong, check the official text
No AI explanation yet. It takes up to a minute to write and is then saved for everyone.
Limited to a few requests an hour per person.
The strongest published arguments
Arguments for (supporters)
Needs sources: no published arguments on this side yet. We only show items backed by a published source. Suggest one.
Arguments against (opponents)
Needs sources: no published arguments on this side yet. We only show items backed by a published source. Suggest one.
Alternatives
Needs sources: no published alternatives yet (for example a different bill, a law instead of an amendment, or keeping current law). We only show items backed by a published source. Suggest one.
Officials and money
Sponsor: Rep. Gottheimer, Josh [D-NJ-5] · 2 cosponsors
Money: No cost estimate published yet. No linked contracts or vendors yet.
Words on this page, explained (1)
- Bill
- A proposed law. It becomes law only if it passes the legislature and is signed by the president or governor (or a veto is overridden).
Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.
Sources
- Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House)
- Congress.gov
- Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-119hr8250.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/119/hr>
Record fed-us-cong119-hr8250 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong119 · updated 2026-11-03 by psicol fed-bills