Senate Commerce Committee Advances Kids鈥� Online Safety Legislation
August 05, 2026
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The Senate Commerce Committee today held a hearing and markup on a series of bills related to student data and privacy: the SCREEN Act (S 737); the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA, S 1748); Youth AI Privacy Act (S 4199); CHATBOT Act (S 4407); and Children鈥檚 Artificial Intelligence Toy Safety Act (S 5171). 萝卜AV视频has previously endorsed the KOSA Act; we are generally supportive of the CHATBOT Act but will hold formal endorsement until a full floor vote; and 萝卜AV视频has no explicit position on the other three bills at this time.
萝卜AV视频met with Commerce Committee members and other Senators engaged in related student data and privacy and online safety conversations before we knew the exact focus of the hearing. In those meetings we flagged our policy priorities for any legislation regarding student data/privacy:
- Congress must ensure that companies cannot deploy Al systems in schools without notice, district permission, meaningful safeguards, and accountability.
- Federal policy should require that companies give schools the same ability as parents to provide privacy and safety protections at school.
- Federal policy should ensure that existing protections for children are maintained as we discover more about the benefits and harms of this technology and states determine the best ways to ensure students鈥� safety.
- Federal legislation should establish a strong national policy floor, not a ceiling (We oppose pre-emption)
- Federal policy has a role to play in requiring safeguards around AI adoption and development. We oppose a moratorium around AI policy at the federal or state level.
We sent a letter, in coordination with the Public Interest Privacy Center (PIPC), to the committee ahead of today鈥檚 hearing reiterating these policy pillars. 萝卜AV视频is most closely following KOSA and the CHATBOT Act. The committee voted four of the bills out of the chamber鈥攁ll but the SCREEN Act鈥攕etting them on a path toward full floor consideration, possibly as early as September. The Senate versions of these bills鈥攊f they have an existing House counterparts鈥攊nclude significant substantive differences that make the path to final vote anything but certain. The Senate KOSA bill would require platforms to mitigate harm to children, increase protections on minors鈥� data and give the option to opt out of personalized algorithms; in contrast with its House companion, the Senate version does includes a 鈥渄uty of care鈥� provision that would legally compel tech platforms to design their products with minors鈥� safety in mind. KOSA passed the Senate two years ago鈥斅懿稟V视频endorsed it at the time鈥攂ut it died in the House after immense lobby pressure from Meta. Meta has indicated they won鈥檛 oppose KOSA if it included preemption, which was not part of today鈥檚 package. Senator Cruz has indicated he is interested in a separate hearing in September with related legislation that more closely mirrors the wide-ranging KIDS Act adopted by the House earlier this summer.
AASA's advocacy team will be paying close attention in August and September to see if any of these bills get floor time in the Senate, to see if Congress makes any inroads in reconciling difference between their versions, and how a second hearing on Student Privacy in September could play out. Stay tuned.
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