Rural and Municipal Utility Cybersecurity Act

Key Points

• This bill provides $250 million over five years to help small and rural electric companies protect their power grids from hackers. The money will be used for new software, hardware, and expert help to stop cyberattacks before they cause blackouts.
• The program focuses on helping local utility companies that do not have a lot of money or staff dedicated to digital security. It also helps utilities that are critical to national defense or the main U.S. power system.
• Small power companies, like rural cooperatives and city-owned utilities, can apply for these grants. Even some smaller private companies that serve fewer customers are eligible for the funding.
• Any information these companies share with the government about their security weaknesses will be kept private. This means the public cannot see these sensitive details through open records requests, which helps keep the grid safer from bad actors.

Impact Analysis

Govbase has not yet run an impact analysis on this legislation.