Loss of AI Moratorium Means No Guardrails Against Costly State AI Laws, Says Center for Data Innovation
WASHINGTON—In response to the U.S. Senate vote to remove the 10-year moratorium on state AI laws from the reconciliation bill, the Center for Data Innovation released the following statement from Director Daniel Castro:
Today’s Senate vote to strip the 10-year moratorium on state AI laws from the Republican spending bill is a major setback for U.S. leadership in AI.
The United States is in a global race with countries like China, which are pursuing coordinated national strategies to dominate AI. For America to compete and win, it must harness its talent, data, and innovation—not shackle its AI companies with a patchwork of conflicting state regulations.
A national moratorium on state AI laws wouldn’t eliminate oversight; it would give Congress the space to craft a single, consistent framework that protects consumers while enabling innovation. Allowing 50 different sets of rules only increases costs, confusion, and compliance burdens for companies building the future.
If the goal of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” is to spur economic growth, then pausing the deluge of state AI legislation should have been a key part of it. Once the dust settles on the current votes, Congress should revisit this proposal as a standalone measure.
Castro has previously written about why Congress should replace conflicting state AI laws with a national framework, which you can read here.
He has also examined how a 10-year pause on state AI laws would protect federal IT modernization, which you can read here.
Contact: Nicole Hinojosa, [email protected]
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The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational institute focusing on the intersection of technological innovation and public policy. Recognized by its peers in the think tank community as the global center of excellence for science and technology policy, ITIF’s mission is to formulate and promote policy solutions that accelerate innovation and boost productivity to spur growth, opportunity, and progress.
