What the One Big Beautiful Bill Act Means for the Security Industry

SIA Analysis on Key Industry Priorities Included in H.R. 1

On July 4, 2025, President Trump officially signed his One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) into law. The final version adds $5 trillion to the debt ceiling, permanently extends most of the tax rate structure enacted under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and includes funding for the administration’s border and national security agenda, among many other provisions.

The Security Industry Association (SIA) government relations team successfully advocated for several key tax priorities that were included in the final version of the bill among other priorities and funding. For a look at highlighted items of interest to the security industry, please see our breakdown here.

Homeland Security

Reflecting the administration’s border priorities, the bill sets aside over $130 billion in additional spending over the next years for homeland security priorities, with funds designated for border infrastructure and security technologies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel and detention capacity, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants and presidential protection measures.

Border Infrastructure and Security

The measure appropriates $46.5 billion for border infrastructure and wall system construction, including barriers, access roads, surveillance technology and ground preparation. It also sets aside additional funds for the following border-security related activities.

• $6 billion for border security technology, including artificial intelligence-powered inspection equipment, biometric systems and anti-drug trafficking measures
• $10 billion to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for a new “State Border Security Reinforcement Fund”
• $10 billion for DHS border security mission support and cost reimbursement activities
• $12 billion for CBP personnel hiring/training, retention bonuses, vehicles, and facilities
• $45 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention capacity for single adults and family residential centers

FEMA Security Grants

The final measure appropriates $2.575 billion for state and local security grants, including $500 million for drone detection systems, $625 million for 2026 FIFA World Cup security, $1 billion for 2028 Olympics security and $450 million for Operation Stonegarden. It also appropriates $300 million for FEMA to reimburse state and local law enforcement costs for protecting presidential residences designated by the U.S. Secret Service.

Immigration and Law Enforcement Funding (Judiciary)

OBBBA included nearly $45 billion for immigration and law enforcement activities that fall under the Judiciary Committee jurisdiction, in the following general pots:

• $2 billion for DHS immigration enforcement activities, including personnel, transportation, background checks and family unity measures
• $29.85 billion for ICE hiring, training, bonuses, transportation, technology and enforcement operations including state and local partnerships
• $750 million for Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers for training
• $3.33 billion for U.S. Department of Justice immigration matters, including hiring immigration judges, drug trafficking prosecution and technology investments
• $3.5 billion for state and local grants to locate, apprehend and prosecute criminal aliens and related law enforcement activities
• $5 billion for the Federal Bureau of Prisons to house immigration-related detainees and construct/upgrade detention facilities
• $500 million for Secret Service personnel, training, equipment and protective operations

Tax and Workforce Development

The legislation included all five of SIA’s 2025 tax and workforce development priorities, which included restoring and expanding two essential progrowth business tax policies from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), reinstituting immediate research and development (R&D) deductions for businesses, adjusting the interest deductions of adjusted taxable income to include amortization and depreciation and expanded eligible uses for 529 plans.

TCJA Extensions

• Tax rates for pass-through entities: The TCJA created a deduction which allows taxpayers to exclude up to 20 percent of their pass-through business income from federal income tax. OBBBA makes that deduction permanent.
• 100% bonus depreciation: A temporary provision of the TCJA allowed 100% expensing for business property. OBBBA makes the provision permanent. Many businesses rely on such expensing provisions to reduce the overall cost of building improvements, including upgrades to security and life safety systems.

Immediate R&D Deduction

The law currently requires that businesses amortize research and development expenditures over five years (15 years for foreign R&D). OBBBA makes permanent immediate expensing for domestic R&D expenditures while maintaining the 15 amortization for foreign R&D costs. Immediate expending of such expenses, which now returns, had been heavily relied upon by many small businesses, including startups in the security industry.

Modifications to Adjusted Taxable Income (ATI)

Since January 2022, interest deductions under section 163(j) have been limited to 30% of earnings before interest and tax (EBIT). OBBBA permanently adds back depreciation and amortization to the calculation, restoring the EBITDA-based interest deduction; however, other provisions in the legislation make less favorable adjustments to the 163(j) calculation, requiring that the limitation be applied before elective interest capitalization and excluding international gross-ups from ATI calculations.  

Expansion of 529 Eligible Uses

OBBA includes language from the Freedom to Invest in Tomorrow’s Workforce proposal, which allows tax-exempt distributions from 529 savings plans to be used for additional qualified higher education expenses associated with postsecondary credential programs – many of which are important to security industry workforce development efforts. SIA advocated for this change for several years as part of the Professional Certification Coalition.

Artificial Intelligence and State Regulations

While there was a lot of conversation around a proposed “pause” on state-level enactment of artificial intelligence legislation, that provision was ultimately not included, as a deal between key legislators was yanked out of the bill at the last minute. Ultimately, the inclusion of the measure in both the House and Senate draft versions of the legislation, despite its last-minute removal, shows that there is significant support in Congress for taking action to protect interstate commerce by avoiding a confusing and potentially conflicting patchwork of broad state laws on AI. SIA is continuing to advocate for a comprehensive and preemptive federal framework that allows society to continue to harness the benefits of AI for enhancing safety and security.

Other Provisions and Funding

U.S. Department of Defense

The Armed Services Committees set aside several pots of interest to the security industry, including

• $1.3 billion for development, production, and integration of various counterdrone programs
• $100 million for the development of shared secure facilities for the defense industrial base
• $90 million for APEX Accelerators, the Mentor-Protege Program and cybersecurity support to small non-traditional contractors
• $20 million for defense cybersecurity programs of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
• $1 billion for DOD support of border and counterdrug operations.

Federal Aviation Administration

The bill includes $500 million for runway safety technologies, runway lighting systems and airport surface surveillance technologies and for implementing measures to reduce the likelihood of dangerous runway incidents.

Office of Refugee Resettlement

OBBBA appropriates $300 million to this office for sponsor vetting and safety measures for unaccompanied undocumented children, which includes funding for identity verification used in background checks on potential sponsors and adult residents, and data systems improvement and information sharing to evaluate sponsor suitability and detect child labor or trafficking risks.