Tucked into H.R. 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” is a ten-year moratorium that would ban states from regulating “artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems” (Section 43201).

We need you to write to your Senators and urge them to oppose this provision. We also encourage you to call your Senators (see below for more info).

What's wrong with the moratorium on state regulation of AI?

The AI moratorium is a costly, vague, and burdensome ban that threatens to undo protections against data brokers, facial recognition technology, and algorithmic discrimination.

In the absence of comprehensive federal privacy law, we need state laws to fill the void and protect our privacy and safety from invasive, data-driven technologies.

State privacy laws vary widely, but all of them to some extent regulate “automated decision systems."

The moratorium defines automated decision systems so broadly that it applies to most uses of a computer that employs data analytics.  

Therefore, the moratorium would kill surveillance oversight ordinances, bans or limitations on facial recognition technology (FRT), and regulations of police surveillance technology (e.g. ShotSpotter). Furthermore, new laws making their way through state legislatures, like the Massachusetts Data Privacy Act, could be stopped.

State laws strengthen our privacy by curbing the collection, sharing, and selling of our most intimate and personal information - geolocation information, medical records, financial information, political beliefs. Some states and localities have even implemented FRT bans - an important step toward preserving our privacy and safety against new and potentially inaccurate biometric surveillance tools.

State laws are important because they allow us to experiment with the best approach for regulating emerging technologies. The last federal comprehensive data privacy act to be introduced, the ADPPA, was introduced in 2022, did not advance during the 117th Congress, and remains pending with no further legislative action taken. Federal comprehensive privacy law is a long way down the road to restoring the fourth, so we need states to protect us in the meantime.

We cannot allow the moratorium to preempt state privacy laws. The floodgates will be opened for police and government officials to deploy surveillance technologies as they see fit, in turn trampling on our Fourth Amendment right to be free from warrantless searches and seizures.

Please contact your senators and tell them to OPPOSE the Ban on state ai regulation!

You make even more of an impact when you contact your Senator's office directly via phone. They need to hear directly from constituents.

You find your Senator and their contact information here: https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm.  

To help guide your calls, we've put together a set of brief talking points you can use to explain your opposition to the AI moratorium.

1. The moratorium could weaken provisions in state privacy laws that protect people from having their sensitive data processed by AI for training or other purposes.

2. The moratorium would terminate surveillance oversight ordinances, bans or limitations on facial recognition technology (FRT), and regulations of police surveillance technology (e.g. ShotSpotter) that incorporates AI (existing and future laws).

3. The moratorium would prevent regulation of government used AI systems, like crime prediction technology, automated unchecked watchlisting, and other travel screening technologies.

4. The moratorium would prevent unfettered collection and analysis of our sensitive personal information (i.e., geolocation, medical, financial, etc,) by the government using AI tools that are ubiquitous across agencies and police departments.