# 119-hr-7218: CHAT Act

119-hr-7218, CHAT Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Lawler, Michael [R-NY-17] (R-NY); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-07).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7218
- As of: 2026-10-07
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-7218
- Congress: 119
- Title: CHAT Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-01-22
- Sponsor: Rep. Lawler, Michael [R-NY-17] (R-NY)
- Cosponsors: 1
- Policy area: Commerce
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-10-07

## Summary

**Bold: age verification and parental safeguards for companion AI chatbots**. This bill would set rules for chatbots that act like companions, requiring age checks, parental controls, safety monitoring, and clear user disclosures that the bot is not a human.

## Cosponsors (1)

- Rep. Barrett, Tom [R-MI-7] (R-MI), 2026-10-05T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- New safety and account rules for minors: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would require people to create user accounts before using a companion chatbot. New accounts would need age information verified with a commercial method. Accounts that already exist on the law's start date would be frozen until the user provides verifiable age proof and is clas…
- FTC enforcement and safe harbor: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would let the Federal Trade Commission enforce the rules using its unfair-or-deceptive authority. The Commission would have to issue compliance guidance within 180 days after enactment. The bill would create a safe harbor for covered entities that (1) rely in good faith on user…
- Which chatbots and providers are covered: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would define a "companion AI chatbot" as software whose main purpose is to simulate friendship, companionship, or therapeutic talk. It would exclude customer-service bots, simple game-related bots, and basic voice assistants that do not build ongoing emotional relationships. Th…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-9237: Take Care of America’s Veterans Act
- 119-hr-6644: 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act
- 119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025
- 119-hr-4393: DIGNIDAD (Dignity) Act of 2025
- 119-hr-4317: PBM Reform Act of 2025
- 119-hr-1229: United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025

## Sources
- [119-hr-7218 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/7218)

## Related
- [119-hr-9237: Take Care of America’s Veterans Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9237)
- [119-hr-6644: 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-6644)
- [119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3151)
- [119-hr-4393: DIGNIDAD (Dignity) Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4393)
- [119-hr-4317: PBM Reform Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4317)
- [119-hr-1229: United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1229)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7218 (as of 2026-10-07).