A coalition of more than 140 organizations urged House leaders to reject a proposal in the House’s tax and spending bill that would block states from regulating artificial intelligence (AI) models for the next 10 years.
In a letter sent Monday to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and congressional members, the organizations said the 10-year moratorium on state AI regulation would remove accountability for developing technology.
“This moratorium would mean that even if a company deliberately designs an algorithm that causes foreseeable harm — regardless of how intentional or egregious the misconduct or how devastating the consequences — the company making that bad tech would be unaccountable to lawmakers and the public,” the letter stated.
Signers of the letter included tech workers, civil society groups, academic institutions, and artists. Among those are Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, progressive consumer rights watchdog nonprofit Public Citizen and Alphabet Workers Union, the labor representatives for workers at Google’s parent company.
The provision, included in President Trump’s “one, big beautiful” bill, would bar states from enforcing laws or regulations governing AI models, systems or automated decision systems.
The proposal includes some exemptions for laws that intend to “remove legal impediments” or “facilitate the deployment or operation” of AI systems, as well as those that seek to “streamline licensing, permitting, routing, zoning, procurement or reporting procedures.”
State laws that do not impose any substantive design, performance, data-handling, documentation, civil liability, taxation, fee, or other requirement” on AI systems would also be allowed under the proposal.
The House Budget Committee voted to advance the sweeping tax bill on Sunday, though the broader bill still needs to face a vote with the full chamber.
The letter’s signatories argue states’ actions on AI so far have attempted to protect residents from “the risks posed by unregulated or inadequately governed AI technologies.”
“As we have learned during other periods of rapid technological advancement, like the industrial revolution and the creation of the automobile, protecting people from being harmed by new technologies, including by holding companies accountable when they cause harm, ultimately spurs innovation and adoption of new technologies,” the letter stated.
“In other words, we will only reap the benefits of AI if people have a reason to trust it.”
It comes amid a broader debate over federal preemption for AI regulation, which several AI industry heads have pushed for as state laws create a patchwork of rules to follow.
Those in support of allowing states to regulate often point to Congress’s lack of passed bills on the emerging technology.
“Congress’s inability to enact comprehensive legislation enshrining AI protections leaves millions of Americans more vulnerable to existing threats described above such as discrimination and all of us exposed to the unpredictable safety risks posed by this nascent industry,” the letter stated.
The provision, however, may face hurdles as the larger bill awaits a vote from the full House. If passed, it still needs to pass the Senate, where some members have expressed concerns that procedural rules could get in the way.
Some are pointing to the Byrd Rule, which prohibits the inclusion of “extraneous matters” in a reconciliation bill that does not relate to budgetary issues.
