State and Local

For policymakers to bolster the global competitiveness and innovation capacity of their regions, they must first understand their regions’ strengths and weaknesses. This report—by 11 think tanks from the Global Trade and Innovation Policy Alliance (GTIPA)—benchmarks 213 regions of 13 transatlantic countries using 14 commonly available innovation indicators.

Data centers can deliver substantial tax revenue, jobs, infrastructure investment, and lower utility costs when communities adopt policies that capture their benefits while managing local impacts.

Montgomery County’s new data center moratorium will do little for the environment, but plenty to weaken growth, deter investment, and undermine the infrastructure powering AI.

The Commission should thoughtfully consider AT&T’s petition because it could catalyze the retirement of outdated copper networks, accelerate network modernization, and advance the transition to a modern, all-IP communications ecosystem.

Technology exists, and policy instruments are available, to develop a new, state-led model of water governance for data centers and other large industrial users. What’s missing is institutional coordination, regulatory specificity, and a set of standardized mechanisms and metrics.

Rather than creating a new funding program for the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, Congress should incorporate its funding into the reauthorization of the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program. This approach would preserve critical cybersecurity services while improving coordination between the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Center for Internet Security.

Alex Ambrose speaks about wearable AI in emergency response on the panel "Governance, Oversight, and Accountability in Technology Enabled Emergency Management," hosted by the NALEO Institute on Technology and AI in Emergency Management.

Cities that are successfully scaling AI are investing in workforce upskilling alongside governance and technology deployment. Case studies from Washington, DC, San Jose, Seattle, and Cleveland show that employee training and AI literacy are critical to turning pilot projects into lasting improvements in public service delivery.

Five states—Utah, Connecticut, Ohio, Texas, and North Carolina—are showing how centralized AI sandboxes, oversight frameworks, and clear evaluation metrics can help governments move beyond isolated pilot programs and scale AI tools to deliver measurable improvements in public services.

Critics say the SECURE Data Act is a unified Republican effort. Yet its core provisions mirror privacy protections passed by Democratic and Republican majorities in 21 states. So, while it would preempt state laws, it also draws heavily from those laws, reflecting a bipartisan, multistate consensus on how to protect consumers while enabling innovation.