Overview

• The House-approved tax and spending package embeds a ten-year ban on all state and local AI regulations alongside $500 million in federal AI and automation funding.
• Senate leadership is weighing a rewrite of the AI moratorium amid concerns it breaches budget reconciliation rules overseen by the parliamentarian.
• Senators Marsha Blackburn and Josh Hawley have challenged the clause, arguing it undermines state authority to address AI harms like deepfakes and algorithmic bias.
• State attorneys general and California lawmakers warned that the ban would nullify existing safeguards including Tennessee’s ELVIS Act and California’s AI medical disclosure law.
• A mid-May poll by Echelon Insights for Common Sense Media shows 59 percent of voters oppose the proposed moratorium on state AI regulation.