# 119-hr-8492: Public Safety UAS Readiness Act

119-hr-8492, Public Safety UAS Readiness Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Subramanyam, Suhas [D-VA-10] (D-VA); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-09-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-8492
- 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-8492
- Congress: 119
- Title: Public Safety UAS Readiness Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-04-23
- Sponsor: Rep. Subramanyam, Suhas [D-VA-10] (D-VA)
- Cosponsors: 2
- Policy area: Transportation and Public Works
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-09-21

## Summary

**Grants to train unmanned aircraft system (UAS) pilots for public safety missions** create a federal program to fund training, instructor development, and equipment for fire, EMS, and law enforcement UAS teams. The program ties training to FAA rules and national safety standards to standardize skills and safety practices across agencies. - Public safety agencies and first responders get grant support to build UAS training programs, buy compliant UAS equipment, and cover reasonable administrative costs. Training covers FAA regulations, airspace basics, risk management, flight execution, data collection, and public safety mission profiles. - Training organizations and instructors must use or license curriculum through a national nonprofit public safety training entity and can get funds to develop and validate public safety UAS instructors for regional service. Recipients must report on personnel trained, instructor certifications, instructor involvement, and UAS deployments. - Underserved regions, high-risk operations, and multi-agency or regional training collaborations are prioritized for awards to expand capacity where it is lacking. *Authorizes $10 million per year for fiscal years 2026 through 2029, totaling $40 million in new federal spending, which increases federal spending and would likely increase the deficit absent offsets.*

## Cosponsors (2)

- Rep. Bresnahan, Robert P. [R-PA-8] (R-PA), 2026-04-23T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Van Drew, Jefferson [R-NJ-2] (R-NJ), 2026-07-15T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Drone training grants for public safety: benefit, low. This bill would create a Department of Transportation grant program, run by the FAA Administrator, to fund public safety drone pilot training. It would authorize $10,000,000 per year for each fiscal year 2026 through 2029. Eligible applicants would include government or nonprofit fire, EMS, and law…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-4317: PBM Reform Act of 2025
- 119-hr-1229: United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025
- 119-hr-2086: Rights for the TSA Workforce Act
- 119-hr-7977: Energy Bills Relief Act
- 119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025
- 119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025

## Sources
- [119-hr-8492 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/8492)

## Related
- [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)
- [119-hr-2086: Rights for the TSA Workforce Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2086)
- [119-hr-7977: Energy Bills Relief Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7977)
- [119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4669)
- [119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3151)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-8492 (as of 2026-09-21).