,i  #aafth ,,congress  #ast ,session    
,h4 ,r4 #dcfh  ,,in ,,the ,,house ,,of  
,,representatives  ,september #ag1      
#bjai,mr4 ,takano introduced the        
following bill2 which was referred to   
the ,committee on the ,judiciary1 and in
 addition to the ,committee on ,science1
 ,space1 and ,technology1 for a period  
to be subsequently determined by the    
,speaker1 in each case for consideration
 of such provisions as fall within the  
jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
,a ,,bill  ,to prohibit the use of trade
 secrets privileges to prevent defense  
access to evidence in criminal          
proceedings1 provide for the            
establishment of ,computational         
,forensic ,algorithm ,standards1 and for
 other purposes4  #a4 ,short title ,this
 ,act may be cited as the ,justice in   
,forensic ,algorithms ,act of #bjai4    
#b4 ,computational ,forensic ,algorithm 
,standards  7a7 ,in general ,not later  
than #a year after the date of enactment
 of this ,act1 the ,director of the     

,national ,institute of ,standards and  
,technology shall establish a program to
 provide for creation and maintenance of
 standards for the development and use  
of computational forensic software1 to  
be known as the ,computational ,forensic
 ,algorithm ,standards1 consistent with 
the following3  7#a7 ,standards shall   
include an assessment for the potential 
for disparate impact1 on the basis of   
race1 ethnicity1 socioeconomic status1  
gender1 and other demographic features1 
in the development and use of the       
computational forensic software4  7#b7  
,standards shall address-- 7,a7 7i7 the 
underlying scientific principles and    
methods implemented in computational    
forensic software2 and  7ii7 if1 in the 
case of a particular method1 there are  
insufficient studies supporting its use1
 what studies the ,director has         
conducted to do so1 and the results of  
such studies2  7,b7 requirements for    
testing the software including the      
conditions under which it needs to be   

tested1 types of testing data to be     
used1 testing environments1 testing     
methodologies1 and system performance   
statistics required to be reported      
including--  7i7 accuracy1 including    
false positive and false negative error 
rates2  7ii7 precision2  7iii7          
reproducibility2  7iv7 robustness2 and  
7v7 sensitivity2  7,c7 requirements for 
publicly available documentation by     
developers of computational forensic    
software of the purpose and function of 
the software1 the development process1  
including source and description of     
training data1 and internal testing     
methodology and results1 including      
source and description of testing data2 
7,d7 requirements for laboratories and  
any other entities using computational  
forensic software to validate it for    
use1 including to specify the conditions
 under which the lab has validated it   
for their use1 requirements for what    
information needs to be included in a   
public report on the lab or other       

entity's validation1 and requirements   
for internal validation updates when    
there are material changes to the       
software2 and  7,e7 requirements for    
reports provided to defendants by       
prosecution produced documenting the use
 and results of computational forensic  
software in individual cases4  7#c7     
,standards shall be issued as a         
rulemaking under section #eec of title  
#e1 ,united ,states ,code4  7#d7 ,the   
,director shall consult with outside    
experts in forensic science1 bioethics1 
algorithmic discrimination1 data        
privacy1 racial justice1 criminal       
justice reform1 exonerations1 and other 
relevant areas of expertise identified  
through public input4  7b7 ,protection  
of trade secrets ,the ,federal ,rules of
 ,evidence are amended by adding at the 
end of article ,v the following3  ,rule 
#ejc4 ,protection of trade secrets in a 
criminal proceeding ,in any criminal    
case1 trade secrets protections do not  
apply when defendants would otherwise be

 entitled to obtain evidence4  4  7c7   
,requirements for ,federal use of       
forensic algorithms ,any ,federal law   
enforcement agency or crime laboratory  
providing services to a ,federal agency 
using computational forensic software   
may use only software that has been     
tested under the ,national ,institute of
 ,standards and ,technology's           
,computational ,forensic ,algorithm     
,testing ,program and shall conduct an  
internal validation according to the    
requirements outlined in the            
,computational ,forensic ,algorithm     
,standards and make the results publicly
 available4 ,the internal validation    
shall be updated when there is a        
material change in the software that    
triggers a retesting by the             
,computational ,forensic ,algorithm     
,testing ,program4  7d7 ,requirements   
for testing ,the ,director of the       
,national ,institute of ,standards and  
,technology shall establish a           
,computational ,forensic ,algorithm     

,testing ,program1 whose activities     
include the following3  7#a7 ,testing   
individual software programs using the  
testing requirements established in the 
,computational ,forensic ,algorithm     
,standards4  7#b7 ,using realistic      
sample testing data similar to what     
would be used by law enforcement in     
criminal investigations in performing   
such testing1 including incomplete and  
contaminated samples4  7#c7 ,using      
testing data that represents diversity  
of racial1 ethnic1 and gender identities
 and intersections of these identities  
in performing such testing4  7#d7 ,using
 testing data that tests the limits of  
the software and demonstrates the       
boundaries of reliability described in  
the performance measures defined in the 
,computational ,forensic ,algorithm     
,standards in performing such testing4  
7#e7 ,publishing the results of testing 
the software online including results   
under conditions specified in the       
standards and across diversity of       

racial1 ethnic1 and gender identities   
and intersections of these identities in
 a publicly available format4  7e7      
,testing frequency ,retesting shall be  
conducted when a material change is made
 to the software that impacts its       
performance and may affect its outputs4 
,the ,director shall establish          
requirements for determining whether    
changes are material or nonmaterial4    
7f7 ,discovery in criminal cases ,rule  
#af of the ,federal ,rules of ,criminal 
,procedure is amended-- 7#a7 in         
subdivision 7a77#a71 by adding at the   
end the following3  7,h7 ,use of        
,computational ,forensic ,software4 ,any
 results or reports resulting from      
analysis by computational forensic      
software shall be provided to the       
defendant1 and the defendant shall be   
accorded access to an executable copy of
 the version of the computational       
forensic software1 as well as earlier   
versions of the software1 necessary     
instructions for use and interpretation 

of the results1 and relevant files and  
data1 used for analysis in the case and 
suitable for testing purposes4 ,such a  
report on the results shall include--   
7i7 the name of the company that        
developed the software2  7ii7 the name  
of the lab where test was run2  7iii7   
the version of the software that was    
used2  7iv7 the dates of the most recent
 changes to the software and record of  
changes made1 including any bugs found  
in the software and what was done to    
address those bugs2  7v7 documentation  
of procedures followed based on         
procedures outlined in internal         
validation2  7vi7 documentation of      
conditions under which software was used
 relative to the conditions under which 
software was tested2 and  7vii7 any     
other information specified by the      
,director of the ,national ,institute of
 ,standards and ,technology in the      
,computational ,forensic ,algorithm     
,standards4  4  7g7 ,inadmissibility of 
certain evidence ,the ,federal ,rules of

 ,evidence are amended by adding at the 
end of article ,i the following3  ,rule 
#ajg4 ,inadmissibility of certain       
evidence that is the result of analysis 
by computational forensic software ,in  
any criminal case1 evidence that is the 
result of analysis by computational     
forensic software is admissible only    
if--  7#a7 the computational forensic   
software used has been submitted to the 
,computational ,forensic ,algorithm     
,testing ,program of the ,director of   
the ,national ,institute of ,standards  
and ,technology and there have been no  
material changes to that software since 
it was last tested2 and  7#b7 the       
developers and users of the             
computational forensic software agree to
 waive any and all legal claims against 
the defense or any member of its team   
for the purposes of the defense         
analyzing or testing the computational  
forensic software4  4  7h7 ,definitions 
,in this ,act3 7#a7 ,computational      
forensic software ,the term             

computational forensic software means   
software that relies on an automated or 
semiautomated computational process1    
including one derived from machine      
learning1 statistics1 or other data     
processing or artificial intelligence   
techniques1 to process1 analyze1 or     
interpret evidence4  7#b7 material      
change ,the term material change means  
an update to computational forensic     
software that may affect the performance
 measures defined in the ,computational 
,forensic ,algorithm ,standards or the  
use or output of the software4  7#c7    
nonmaterial change ,the term nonmaterial
 change means an update to computational
 forensic software that does not affect 
the performance measures1 use1 or output
 of the software4