Review - HR 7696 Introduced – Grid Scale Testbed

Back in February, Resident Commissioner Hernandez (D,PR) introduced HR 7696, the AI Cyber Grid Protection Resilient Development Act of 2026. The bill would require CISA and DHS to establish a grant program to develop secure artificial intelligence (AI) cyber-physical testbeds to simulate grid-scale cyberattacks and train AI models safely. The bill would authorize $100 million per year through 2030 to fund the program. 

Moving Forward  

Hernandez is a member of the House Homeland Security Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there may be sufficient influence to see the bill considered by the Committee. There will be substantial opposition to the amount of new funding authorized by this bill. More importantly, the Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will probably oppose this bill because it does not include that Committee in the consideration of what is at base an energy program. This is especially true since the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in conjunction with DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER), is already funding the Mjölnir AI Testbed which is already addressing these issues. 

For more information on the provisions of this bill, including a commentary suggesting cybersecurity requirements for the cyber-physical testbeds, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-7696-introduced-grid-scale-testbed - subscription required.