National Institute for Standards and Technology assistance

(a) In general The National Institute of Standards and Technology (hereinafter in this section referred to as NIST) shall— (1) develop best practices for law enforcement agencies to evaluate the accuracy and fairness of their facial recognition systems; (2) develop and offer an ongoing benchmark facial recognition test for law enforcement that— (A) conducts evaluations of actual algorithms used by law enforcement agencies; (B) uses the types of probe images, including in terms of quality, actually used by law enforcement agencies in its testing; (C) evaluates algorithms on larger databases that reflect the size of databases actually used by law enforcement; and (D) evaluates whether the accuracy of a facial recognition algorithm varies on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, or age and assessments of bias in facial recognition systems; (3) develop an operational testing protocol that independent testers and law enforcement agencies may implement for annual operational testing to determine— (A) the accuracy of the facial recognition system; (B) the impact of human reviewers on facial recognition system accuracy; and (C) whether the accuracy of the facial recognition system varies significantly on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, or age; and (4) study and develop training standards for human operators reviewing the results of facial recognition searches to ensure accuracy and prevent bias. (b) Authorization of appropriations There is authorized to be appropriated to the National Institute of Standards and Technology to carry out subsection (a) $5,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2026 through 2029.