Federal Preemption (for AI)

Extracted Attributes

• Concept Type

  Regulatory Framework

• Primary Goal

  Establish a unified national AI strategy

• Areas of Debate

  Timeliness of regulation, appropriate federal agency, adaptability to rapidly evolving technology, roles of state governments and courts

• Industry Support

  Strongly advocated by Big Tech companies and industry-funded groups

• Key Justification

  Technological Supremacy

• Underlying Factor

  AI's heavy reliance on electricity production

• Proposed Mechanism

  Express preemption, creating uniform national standards for AI

Timeline

• The 10-year AI Regulation Moratorium for states was removed from the draft federal budget bill by the U.S. Senate, a critical event that prompted increased advocacy for federal preemption for AI. (Source: related_documents, web_search_results)

  2025-07-01

Regulation of AI in the United States

Discussions on regulation of artificial intelligence in the United States have included topics such as the timeliness of regulating AI, the nature of the federal regulatory framework to govern and promote AI, including what agency should lead, the regulatory and governing powers of that agency, and how to update regulations in the face of rapidly changing technology, as well as the roles of state governments and courts.

Web Search Results

• 1000 AI Bills: Time for Congress to Get Serious About Preemption

  Under express preemption, as previously detailed here by Ball and Rozenshtein, Congress would create a uniform national standard for AI, making explicit that federal law preempts contradictory state and local AI rules. Federal preemption legislation should make it clear this is being done both to protect the free flow of interstate algorithmic commerce and speech and also to ensure other important national policy objectives are protected. This is in line with the national framework Congress and [...] Preemption or Moratorium? Congress can address the problem Polis and Altman identified through either express preemption of state AI regulations or a federal “learning period moratorium” that would pause new AI regulatory enactments for a period of time. [...] With either preemption or a moratorium, Congress could still eventually impose certain new “light-touch” rules, such as minimum transparency standards for some AI frontier systems, or adherence to some basic best practices in exchange for liability protections. These details are secondary to immediately establishing a federal framework that removes such regulatory powers from state and local governments.

• The House Is Close To Passing a Moratorium on State Efforts To ...

  Specifically, Big Tech and AI companies including Google, Meta, and OpenAI have called for the federal preemption of existing and future state AI laws. In addition, industry-funded groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, the Information Technology Industry Council, and TechNet have called for the federal preemption of state AI laws. (CAP has previouslyoutlined the funding relationships between these organizations and Big Tech companies). [...] The argument has been made that, because thousands of AI bills are pending in state legislatures, federal preemption is necessary. But anyone who works on state policy knows that thousands of bills are proposed in state legislatures every session, and most go nowhere. Big Tech and AI companies are treating every proposed state legislature bill as if it will pass, which is not a serious metric. Rather than judging the potential burden of proposed legislation, it would be more reasonable to [...] ### A giveaway for Big Tech and AI companies The most obvious motivation for the moratorium on state AI laws is that it is a top priority for Big Tech and AI companies. According to the IFP AI Action Plan Database, which analyzed submissions to Trump administration’s “AI Action Plan” RFI, 41 submissions included the recommendations IFP categorized as to, “Implement federal preemption of state AI laws to create a unified national framework.”

• What's Next for State AI Regulation? - Debevoise Data Blog

  5. The Risk of Federal Preemption.The looming prospect of federal preemption could also explain the shift away from attempts at comprehensive AI regulation: it would be understandable if state legislators were reluctant to sink political capital into laws that they believed could have been nullified overnight. [...] By: Avi Gesser, Matt Kelly, Andreas Constantine Pavlou, Joshua Plastrik, Michelle Shen and Sergio (Virtual AI Associate)")July 2, 2025 Image 2: The Federal AI Moratorium is DOA; What’s Next for State AI Regulation? Share Share on TwitterLinkedInEmail With federal preemption of AI regulation appearing unlikely, having been removed by a vote of U.S. senators in the negotiation over the federal budget bill, it is a good time to take stock of U.S. state-level AI regulation.

• The Federal AI Moratorium is DOA; What's Next for State AI ...

  The Risk of Federal Preemption. The looming prospect of federal preemption could also explain the shift away from attempts at comprehensive AI regulation: it would be understandable if state legislators were reluctant to sink political capital into laws that they believed could have been nullified overnight. Targeted, Domain Specific Rules Fill the Gap [...] With federal preemption of AI regulation appearing unlikely, having been removed by a vote of U.S. senators in the negotiation over the federal budget bill, it is a good time to take stock of U.S. state-level AI regulation. [...] Key Takeaways: On July 1, 2025, the U.S. Senate cut the proposed federal moratorium on state regulation of AI from the draft federal budget bill. With federal preemption of AI regulation appearing unlikely, it is a good time to take stock of U.S. state-level AI regulation.

• US States Can (And Will) Continue To Regulate Artificial Intelligence ...

  The AI ban could potentially be resurrected in the U.S. House of Representatives as budget reconciliation efforts continue. However, given the decisive vote to remove the AI ban, we expect future deregulatory efforts would more likely manifest in a standalone federal preemption bill. Based on what we have learned from the most recent Senate negotiations, we expect any such effort would require sufficient federal protections as part of any compromise on state law preemption.