A Moratorium on State AI Regulation Would Boost U.S. AI Competitiveness

WASHINGTON—In light of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s markup of the budget reconciliation text today and the House GOP’s proposal to block state AI regulations for the next 10 years, the Center for Data Innovation released the following statement from Senior Policy Manager Hodan Omaar:

The most powerful AI policy Congress could enact right now is restraint: A moratorium on state-level AI laws would prevent regulatory fragmentation and create a clear runway for American innovation to take flight.

With over a thousand AI-related bills introduced across the states this year alone, the United States is hurtling toward a fragmented web of conflicting rules that create uncertainty, raise costs, and stifle innovation. Fifty states improvising their own AI regimes is not federalism at its best; it’s fragmentation at its worst. A temporary halt gives Congress room to do what only it can: Set national direction before the patchwork becomes permanent.

Congress should make clear that choosing this path is not an abdication of U.S. leadership on AI governance, but a strategic decision to rely on existing laws and regulations that are flexible enough to govern AI effectively while avoiding a premature rush into unnecessary new rules for a still-nascent technology.

The United States needs to not only succeed in halting EU-style regulation at home but also demonstrate a credible alternative to the EU’s framework on the global stage, to prevent other countries from adopting rules that ultimately disadvantage U.S. AI innovators. A pause should therefore be understood—and communicated—not as part of U.S. efforts to govern AI with light-touch regulation that supports innovation at home and American leadership abroad.

Contact: Nicole Hinojosa, [email protected]