State and Local

There are many technology policy issues where states have created a patchwork of regulation that impose duplicative costs on businesses, cause confusion for consumers, and act as a drain on the U.S. economy. In order to address these issues, federal preemption would streamline regulation and decrease costs and confusion.

Lawmakers in Montana, New Hampshire, and Idaho are advancing “right to compute” laws to protect individuals and businesses from limits on their ability to use computational tools and AI systems.

States are starting to reveal how they’ll spend their $42 billion in BEAD broadband funds—and the early results show both promise and pitfalls. Some states are driving down costs and saving billions for adoption and affordability, while others risk burning through their budgets on expensive deployments. The stakes are high: BEAD will only succeed if it closes the digital divide on both access and affordability.

Without federal preemption on AI regulations, states are rushing to impose audits, transparency mandates, and sector-specific obligations—often with overlapping or conflicting rules that extend beyond state borders.

Philadelphia’s recent trash crisis highlights the need for a smarter approach to city services—one that uses low-cost AI tools to improve sanitation, reduce costs, and free up resources to better support the city’s workers.

Over the last year, Missouri has seen a 200 percent increase in the number of broadband crimes.

Congress’ decision to reject a federal moratorium on state-level AI regulation is a missed opportunity. Without a pause, the United States continues to face a patchwork of state laws that confuses consumers, burdens businesses, and slows innovation.

Canada has zero entries among the world’s top 50 science and tech clusters. Waterloo is the best candidate for elevation. To make that happen, the federal and Ontario governments should create an incentive: Tech start-ups based in Waterloo, as well as firms outside Canada that relocate meaningful R&D and innovation production to the region, will pay no tax for a decade.

The Senate's decision to remove the 10-year AI moratorium is a major setback for U.S. leadership in AI. The vote isn’t surprising given the criticism of the moratorium, but those critiques are misguided, and here's why.

California’s outdated broadband laws are forcing providers to waste resources on obsolete copper lines, slowing progress and hurting consumers.