HR 7491 119th Congress House Crime and Law Enforcement

Effective Assistance of Counsel in the Digital Era Act

Introduced: February 11, 2026 Introduced by: Dean, Madeleine Democratic · Pennsylvania See on congress.gov

Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps

Introduced

In committee

Reported out

Passed House

Passed Senate

To President

Became law

Feb 11, 2026

Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Feb 11, 2026

Introduced in House

Ask about this bill AI · grounded in the bill text

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.

AI answers can be imperfect; always confirm against the full bill text.

Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Effective Assistance of Counsel in the Digital Era Act

This bill prohibits the Department of Justice from monitoring the contents of a privileged electronic communication between an incarcerated person and his or her legal representative.

What's happening now February 11, 2026

Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Bill text 1 version

Introduced in House Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

Committees of jurisdiction 1

Judiciary Committee
House of Representatives

Lobbying activity 1

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION
for AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION · District of Columbia · 1st Quarter (Jan 1 - Mar 31) 2026

Cosponsors 3

Bacon, Don

Nebraska · Feb 11, 2026

Jeffries, Hakeem S.

New York · Feb 11, 2026

Lee, Laurel M.

Florida · Feb 11, 2026

Cite this page click to expand

APA

U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 7491: Effective Assistance of Counsel in the Digital Era Act. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-7491/

MLA

"H.R. 7491: Effective Assistance of Counsel in the Digital Era Act." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-7491/.

Bluebook (legal)

H.R. 7491, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-7491/.

Markdown link

[H.R. 7491: Effective Assistance of Counsel in the Digital Era Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-7491/)