BEST Facilitation Act
Official title: To pilot the use of image technician positions in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations.
Have a question about what this bill does? Ask in plain English; the answer is drawn from the bill's actual text and official record, and it'll tell you when something isn't in the text rather than guess.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement.
Border Enforcement, Security, and Trade Facilitation Act of 2025 or the BEST Facilitation Act
This bill establishes a pilot program for positions within U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to review inspection images of vehicles and cargo entering or exiting the United States.
Specifically, the bill establishes the position of image technician 1 within the CBP Office of Field Operations. An image technician must (1) review nonintrusive inspection images of vehicles and cargo entering or exiting the United States; (2) assess whether such vehicles and cargo contain contraband, illicit drugs, weapons, or persons seeking to unlawfully enter the United States; and (3) refer suspicious vehicles and cargo for further inspection by a CBP officer. These reviews must take place at one of five regional command centers established pursuant to this pilot program.
The bill also establishes the position of image technician 2 with additional responsibilities, including receiving and reporting intelligence to the National Targeting Center about techniques used by malign actors to transport contraband, illicit drugs, weapons, and persons seeking to unlawfully enter the United States.
Image technicians must be supervised by a supervisory CBP officer.
The bill establishes annual training requirements for both positions, including training on privacy and civil liberties and how to analyze inspection images.
This pilot program ends five years after the date of enactment of this bill. Individuals employed as image technicians at the end of the pilot program may transfer to comparable positions within CBP or the Department of Homeland Security.
- Introduced in House Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML
- AMERICAN TRUCKING ASSOCIATIONS
- UNION PACIFIC CORPORATION
- NATIONAL TREASURY EMPLOYEES UNION
- BNSF RAILWAY COMPANY
- AMERICAN TRUCKING ASSOCIATIONS
- NATIONAL TREASURY EMPLOYEES UNION
Bodies those filers lobbied
- HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
- SENATE
- Homeland Security, Dept of (DHS)
- Office of Management & Budget (OMB)
- White House Office
- Transportation, Dept of (DOT)
- Labor, Dept of (DOL)
- Surface Transportation Board (STB)
Cite this page
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 1294: BEST Facilitation Act. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-1294/
"H.R. 1294: BEST Facilitation Act." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-1294/.
H.R. 1294, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-1294/.
[H.R. 1294: BEST Facilitation Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-1294/)