# 119-hr-8250: Parents Decide Act

119-hr-8250, Parents Decide Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Gottheimer, Josh [D-NJ-5] (D-NJ); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-09-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-8250
- As of: 2026-09-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-8250
- Congress: 119
- Title: Parents Decide Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-04-13
- Sponsor: Rep. Gottheimer, Josh [D-NJ-5] (D-NJ)
- Cosponsors: 2
- Policy area: Commerce
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-09-21

## Summary

**Requires age verification on device operating systems.** The Parents Decide Act would make operating system providers collect users' dates of birth and require parental verification for anyone under 18, while directing the Federal Trade Commission to write rules and enforce violations as unfair or deceptive practices. - Families: Parents of users under 18 would have to verify a child's date of birth and would be given tools to control what that child can access on shared or personal devices. - App developers: Apps would be allowed to access the age-related information an operating system collects so developers can verify user age, but that access must meet the bill's data protection standards. - Operating system providers: Providers would need to require a date of birth to set up or use an account, build verification systems, follow FTC regulations, and could rely on a safe harbor if they meet the law's requirements. The Federal Trade Commission would have 180 days to propose regulations and must report to Congress within 18 months.

## Cosponsors (2)

- Rep. Stefanik, Elise M. [R-NY-21] (R-NY), 2026-04-13T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Fitzpatrick, Brian K. [R-PA-1] (R-PA), 2026-04-22T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Parents control minors' device access: mixed, high. If enacted, operating system providers would have to collect a user's date of birth when setting up an account. For users under 18, a parent or legal guardian would have to verify that birth date. OS providers would have to let app developers access only the information needed to verify an app user…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025
- 119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025
- 119-hr-1229: United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025
- 119-hr-3077: Agriculture Resilience Act of 2025
- 119-hr-4206: CONNECT for Health Act of 2025
- 119-hr-6766: Essential Caregivers Act of 2025

## Sources
- [119-hr-8250 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/8250)

## Related
- [119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3151)
- [119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4669)
- [119-hr-1229: United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1229)
- [119-hr-3077: Agriculture Resilience Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3077)
- [119-hr-4206: CONNECT for Health Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4206)
- [119-hr-6766: Essential Caregivers Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-6766)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-8250 (as of 2026-09-21).