Latest news with #statelegislatures
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Red States Are Suddenly Cracking Down on Squatters — Despite No Evidence of a Crisis
State legislatures seem to be obsessed with squatters these days — and the corporate-dominated American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has played a major role in advancing legislation to crack down on them. As homelessness reaches record highs and over 21 million households nationwide spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent, state legislators have decided what the problem is. It's not that there are an estimated 1.4 million abandoned residential properties in the U.S., or that private equity landlords have gobbled up over 10 percent of the country's apartments. The problem is the people who take up residence in empty properties or overstay in apartments after being invited in tenants who have left — despite little evidence of an increase in squatting. After five states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and West Virginia) enacted new laws last year criminalizing squatting and adopting expedited procedures for removing squatters, ALEC adopted a model Stop Squatters Act in July 2024 that seeks to accomplish the same goal. Legislation closely tracking — or in some cases exceeding — ALEC's model was enacted into law in 10 states this year (Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Texas, and Wyoming, with Florida and West Virginia adding to what was already passed last year), and in six of those an ALEC state chair was the author, lead sponsor, or cosponsor of the bill. The new laws create real risks that housing-insecure people will get further caught up in the dragnet of criminalization, with fewer legal protections, advocates say. ALEC-aligned legislators argue that squatting provides a false solution to homelessness as housing costs explode. Just as concerning, they used the anti-squatter push in Texas to unsuccessfully advance a broad-based attack on the rights of tenants, and in Maryland, to successfully push back against Good Cause Eviction reforms. Critics say the legislation is a solution in search of a problem. 'There's no real evidence of any significant squatting crisis despite what the industry claims,' says Eric Dunn, director of litigation at the National Housing Law Project (NHLP). 'One of the industry lobbying groups surveyed their members and found that there were 1,200 cases of squatting in Atlanta -– but you can't see the survey results, just their report on it.' The survey numbers are based on an indeterminate number of years, and there is no indication of a trend as this was the first time the rental industry conducted a survey on the issue. It is also unclear how the survey defined squatting. Either way, the result of the legislation will be to increase dangerous encounters between police and tenants, Dunn argued. 'No matter who you are, if you're a tenant or a squatter, you don't want the police knocking on your door,' he said. 'It's just a recipe for more dangerous encounters between people and police.' ALEC's Model Anti-Squatter Bill The legislative push has been driven by ALEC and the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), an affiliate of the right-wing State Policy Network. Originally founded in 1973 as the Conservative Caucus of State Legislators, ALEC has grown to become one of the leading drafters of state legislation across the U.S., a pay-to-play clearinghouse for corporate interests to advance their agenda — with particular efficacy in red states. The model legislation was released in conjunction with a report by the PLF entitled 'Locking Squatters Out,' which cited a 2023 survey of landlords by the National Rental Home Association that found a post-pandemic jump in 'squatting' cases in Georgia, and an increase in New York since 2020. ALEC's model bill distinguishes between tenants and squatters, but provides no protections for family members of tenants, and provides no opportunity for a court hearing prior to removal. Once a property owner files a complaint, law enforcement is required to issue a 'notice to immediately vacate' and 'put the owner in possession of the real property' if 'preliminary fact-finding' supports the owner's claim. ALEC does not disclose its funders. The pro-landlord California Association of Realtors Mobilization PAC gave the PLF a $150,000 grant in 2023. In the past, the group's biggest funders have been the Charles Koch foundations and the right-wing Searle Freedom Trust, which also donate heavily to ALEC. At a meeting in December 2024, an ALEC official trumpeted the anti-squatter bill as one of the group's top priorities for 2025. And in Arkansas, Indiana, and Montana, staff for the PLF testified in favor of anti-squatting legislation. In Florida, the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity (AFP) lobbied in favor of one of the bills. The following is an overview of legislation aligned with ALEC's model bill that passed in the 2025 session. Arkansas Arkansas passed HB 1049, 'A Bill To Amend Arkansas Law Concerning Criminal Offenses; And To Criminalize Unlawful Squatting,' which was signed into law by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) on March 4, 2025, with no exclusion for family members of former tenants. Sanders said on Facebook that, 'In Arkansas, we protect property owners and now allow law enforcement to kick squatters off their property.' Jeff Rosenzweig, an attorney in Little Rock, testified against the legislation, warning lawmakers that the way it was written will lead to catching 'people that I don't think [the lead sponsor] was trying to catch, but because it's a criminal statute I think we need to fix that … with just dropping the relevant criminal trespass defenses into the bill.' The bill was cosponsored by State Representative David Ray (R-69), who is one of ALEC's Arkansas state chairs. Florida Under the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis (R), Florida pioneered the anti-squatter push, passing an anti-squatter bill (HB 621) in 2024. This legislation was more expansive than the ALEC model bill in that there is no requirement for a sheriff to perform an investigation prior to evicting the occupant if the owner attests to a list of facts. Florida doubled down this year, passing SB 322, expanding the squatter bill to include commercial real estate property and permit the use of force, and SB 606, authorizing the immediate removal of transients and unwanted guests from hotels, motels, and food service establishments. 'Florida doesn't tolerate squatters; we stand with property owners,' DeSantis said in June. Cynthia Laurent, the housing justice campaigner at the advocacy group Florida Rising, stated that the two pieces of legislation are just another way to further tilt the state's laws in favor of landlords and against tenants. 'What they are doing is amplifying … [a] very few small examples of people who have dealt with the issue of squatting,' Laurent told the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). 'Legislators say, 'This is for property rights, this is for public safety.' But the true public safety solution is to make sure that folks are safe and secure in their housing.' Laurent sees the anti-squatter push as part of a broader effort to crack down on tenants' rights that is increasing homelessness in Florida. In the aftermath of the pandemic, Florida Rising and other pro-tenant organizations had won Tenants' Bills of Rights and Offices of Tenant Advocacy in various Democratic-leaning Florida cities, Laurent explained. But those wins were blocked — 'preempted' — by the Florida state legislature. ALEC has also been deeply involved in promoting preemption legislation. 'There's skyrocketing insurance costs in Florida due to disasters,' which pushes people out of home ownership, Laurent pointed out. The situation for renters is equally bad. 'Since the pandemic there has been an increase in private equity coming into the state purchasing homes to rent them out and make profit that way,' she said. 'It was revealed that landlords were colluding in setting prices artificially high using platforms like RealPage, those renters were then forced into a motel/hotel lease [and] technically … designated as transient.' By expanding the squatter legislation to motels and hotels, Florida Republicans are trying to claw back some of the last housing security there is, as motels and hotels will not sign leases for longer than 30 days, Laurent concluded. Indiana In May, Indiana Governor Mike Braun (R) signed SB 157 into law, which is similar to the ALEC model legislation except that it exempts 'invitees' of former tenants and does not require any fact-finding before removal. The bill was sponsored by State Senator Linda Rogers (R–11), who is an ALEC state chair. Indiana Legal Services warned that the way the bill was written, '[Landlords] file a statement with law enforcement and the police can remove people without a hearing or judicial review.' Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear (D) signed HB 10 into law in Kentucky in March. Similar to the ALEC model bill, it provides protections only for immediate family members of the owner but not immediate family members of tenants, with the only remedy being for a removed occupant to sue in civil court. Maryland Maryland legislators introduced SB 46, a draconian version of the ALEC model bill, in January. It was cosponsored by State Senator Justin Ready (R–05), one of ALEC's state chairs in Maryland. As introduced, the bill would have required a sheriff to remove anyone from any property based solely on an owner's affidavit that they were 'fraudulently in possession of the property,' with no protections for tenants, former tenants, or their family members. Thanks to pushback from housing groups, the bill was amended to mandate that courts hold a hearing within 10 days if a landlord alleges squatting. However, Zafar Shah, a housing attorney with Maryland Legal Aid, said that this bill still filled an extremely important purpose for the landlord lobby. Advocates had been pushing a broad-based reform to the eviction process, mandating that landlords have legal good cause prior to evicting a tenant. The need to ensure that the squatter bill didn't short-circuit the existing eviction process helped contribute to the good cause legislation stalling. 'The whole legislature, left and right, is really backtracking on the right to housing,' Shah told the Center for Media and Democracy. 'The 'stop squatters' push is a part of that.' Mississippi In April, Governor Tate Reeves (R) signed the Real Property Owners Protection Act (HB 1200) into law in Mississippi. The bill contains no exemptions for immediate family members of tenants who remain after a lease has ended. The bill was cosponsored by State Representative Lee Yancey (R–74), another ALEC state chair. Montana Montana Governor Greg Gianforte (R) signed a bill (SB 101) in April that closely hews to ALEC's model legislation by making squatting a crime and allowing property owners to request that law enforcement officers remove any unauthorized person. Amy Hall, the supervising attorney for housing with Montana Legal Services, was perplexed by the legislation. 'I have not seen any clients who have contacted us because they're being removed as a squatter. Squatting is just not a huge issue in Montana,' Hall said. 'As far as I'm concerned, this whole bill was 100 percent unnecessary.' Jim Manley, PLF's vice president for legal affairs, testified in favor of the bill. North Carolina In July, North Carolina Governor Josh Stein (D) vetoed a squatting bill (HB 96) that is similar to the ALEC model bill but with expanded protections for due process — effectively a substantially expedited eviction process — despite initially supporting the legislation. Stein stated that the only reason he had vetoed it was because it contained a provision that blocked municipalities from regulating puppy mills, an unrelated addition made to the squatter bill once it reached the state Senate. Texas As in Maryland, ALEC legislators in Texas sought to use the squatting issue to weaken tenants' rights. State Senator Bryan Hughes (R–1), an ALEC member, authored a bill (SB 1333) that went beyond the ALEC model by allowing immediate removal of 'unauthorized occupants' (without any opportunity for a hearing) based on an owner's 'verified' petition, and by making squatting a felony if the owner's loss is $2,500 or more. Like the ALEC model, the law provides protections only for immediate family members of the property owner, not the tenant. ALEC's Texas Senate chair, State Senator Paul Bettencourt (R–7), authored a second bill (SB 38) framed as anti-squatter legislation that would have created a streamlined eviction process without a hearing or trial for tenants and squatters alike. 'What the Texas Apartment Association was trying to do was to piggyback on the attention on squatting to pass really radical anti-renter legislation in Texas,' Ben Martin, the research director of the pro-tenant group Texas Housers, told the Center for Media and Democracy. 'One person who gave testimony from a landlord perspective stated that, 'From our point of view, a holdover tenant is a squatter.' What they were seeking was a top-to-bottom rewrite of civil law in Texas to favor landlords at the expense of tenants.' Advocates won an amendment to Bettencourt's bill that limited the expedited removal process to squatting cases only. Both bills were enacted in May and signed by Governor Greg Abbott (R). State Senator Molly Cook (D–15), who opposed both bills, told CMD that, 'As an ER nurse, I've seen how housing insecurity leads to poor public health. There's been a confluence of awful policies that has led to the worst housing inequality we've ever seen. There is a way to make sure that everyone is taken care of. Just slapping 'squatter' on a bill that erodes protections for due process is not the right approach. [In Texas] it is a lot easier to get a criminal penalty passed than to get real policy passed that addresses homelessness.' West Virginia On the heels of criminalizing squatting through HB 4940 last year, the West Virginia legislature enacted HB 2434, a very similar version of ALEC's model bill, in April. Traci Strickland, executive director of Kanawha Valley Collective, which seeks to end homelessness, told CMD that 'it's a bill with no solution. I don't want people squatting in houses either. I want a housing solution for people. Tickets for squatting means you're just going to have people who are racking up tickets and criminal offenses, which then hurts their housing and employment opportunities once we get them on the pathway to housing.' Wyoming Wyoming's legislature passed a law (SF 6) in February that is very similar to ALEC's model bill. It provides for immediate removal of an 'unauthorized person' with no opportunity for a hearing and does not exclude immediate family members of tenants, only offering protections for immediate family members of owners. The bill was introduced by the House Judiciary Committee, which includes one of ALEC's state chairs, State Representative Daniel Singh (R–61). Colleen Scerpella and Arn Pearson contributed research to this article. More from Rolling Stone Trump Declares War on Unhoused D.C. Residents: 'No MR. NICE GUY' Right-Wing Leader Says Conservatives Need 'Scalps' of Woke Wall Street CEOs Cities Across the U.S. Banned Homelessness After Supreme Court Ruling Best of Rolling Stone The Useful Idiots New Guide to the Most Stoned Moments of the 2020 Presidential Campaign Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal The Radical Crusade of Mike Pence Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Boston's Big Wonk Summer: Thousands of lawmakers arrive for annual conference
Good Monday morning, everyone. If things feel noticeably wonkier and more political around Boston for the next few days, there's a good reason for that. Thousands of state lawmakers from across the country, legislative aides, and other folks who track state government rolled into town on Sunday for the annual summit of the National Conference of State Legislatures. It officially gets started this morning with an opening session at the Thomas M. Menino Convention & Exhibition Center in the city's Seaport district. NCSL, as it's more often referred to, is a one-stop shop of legislative best practices. Want to know what other states are doing about, say, transportation funding? Or maybe wind energy? Or how they're handling artificial intelligence? In-house experts at NCSL can provide lawmakers (and the reporters who cover them) with a veritable brain-dump of information on all those issues and more. This year's observance in Boston also marks the NCSL's 50th birthday. 'It will almost certainly be the second-largest legislative summit NCSL has ever held,' NCSL CEO Tim Storey said during a press call with journalists last week. 'And we'll make a pretty strong run at the largest summit we've ever held ... in Boston.' And because it's in Boston, some top Bay State pols also are expected to feature prominently. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey is among the speakers at a Tuesday morning session dubbed 'The Great Political Realignment: The New Trump Coalition and the Coming Elections.' She's slated to be joined by Rhode Island House Speaker Pro Tempore Brian Patrick Kennedy. Amy Walter, the publisher and editor-in-chief of The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, moderates. Senate President Karen E. Spilka, D-Middlesex/Norfolk, is set to appear on two panels. That includes a summit-closing event on Wednesday with 'Hamilton' star Leslie Odom Jr., called, appropriately enough, 'The Room Where it Happens.' Other high-wattage names on the bill this week include former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, Olympic running legend Meb Keflezighi, and syndicated radio host Michael Smerconish. State lawmakers from the House and Senate, as well as experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and elsewhere, are also sprinkled across seminars this week. And while the conference is likely to be a boon for Boston's faltering tourist economy, Spilka and other legislative leaders faced some uncomfortable questions last week about the high-dollar fundraising they've been doing to help finance it. State lawmakers have asked corporations and others with business before the Legislature to pony up as much as $250,000 each, The Boston Globe reported. 'I'm not involved in fundraising, so I have no idea,' state House Speaker Ronald J. Mariano, D-3rd Norfolk, said when he was asked about it last week. Spilka was slightly more expansive, telling reporters that she wanted to 'add that all of the money raised goes directly to educational programs, training, [and] transportation.' 'Nine thousand people are expected to be coming here to Boston, to Greater Boston, which is a real boon not only [to] the Greater Boston area, but for the entire state,' she continued, putting the total economic impact at $11.2 million. So if you see some vaguely wonkish folks wandering Seaport, the Back Bay and Beacon Hill this week, now you know why. You'll be back It might be the 250th anniversary of the American Battle for Independence, but Massachusetts just can't quit the United Kingdom. State lawmakers and British officials gathered on Beacon Hill last week to announce the creation of the new Friends of the UK Legislative Caucus. The bipartisan group is intended to strengthen the economic and historic ties between the Bay State and Great Britain, its organizers said. State House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones, R-20th Middlesex; Rep. Susannah Whipps, I-2nd Franklin, and Sen. Dylan Fernandes, D-Plymouth/ Barnstable are its co-chairpersons. The U.K. does $5 billion in trade annually with Massachusetts and British subsidiaries also employ more than 41,000 people across the state, according to the British Consulate-General in Boston. 'I've also met academics and scientists from the UK and Massachusetts working together to tackle some of the great scientific technological challenges of our age,' David Clay, British Consul General to New England, said at a press conference at the State House last week. 'I've met some of the 200,000 British tourists [who] come to Massachusetts every year and have an amazing time. I've learned about our shared history at Lexington, Concord, [and] Bunker Hill. There's been a few bumps in the road, but generally things have gone very well.' With President Donald Trump's tariff policies roiling markets, Jones, of North Reading, said the new caucus holds 'tremendous opportunities.' 'We look forward to this caucus expanding and having more members in the House and Senate become involved, and realize perhaps we're at a point in time where we need to look to the states to lead, perhaps more so than Washington to lead,' he said. 'And we're happy to take up that mantle to try to foster that relationship to even greater levels than it has been.' Okay. All together now: 'You'll be back, soon, you'll see. You'll remember you belong to me. You'll be back. Time will tell. You'll remember that I served you well. Oceans rise, empires fall. We have seen each other through it all ...' A not very restful rest area Hundreds of employees and supporters of the Waltham company, which lost out on a lucrative contract to renovate and operate Massachusetts highway service plazas, descended on the State House last week. Their goal: To convince Gov. Maura Healey to reverse course and state lawmakers to exert some oversight muscle, according to State House News Service. The company, Global Partners, and its partner, CommonWealth Kitchen, have been aggressive in the six weeks since MassDOT's board picked Ireland-based Applegreen for a 35-year lease of 18 highway plazas, according to the wire service. Global Partners has argued that its bid for the project was worth more money to the state. And last week, it claimed that a state Department of Transportation official who played a key role in the selection discussed potential employment with the winning bidder's parent company. Both the state and Applegreen have pushed back against Global's campaign, arguing that finances were only one factor in the contract award and that the winner offered a faster timeline and a focus on electric vehicles. Applegreen founder Bob Etchingham slammed what he described as 'baseless public relations stunts' by the losing bidder, State House News Service reported. Warren floods the zone U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and several of her colleagues fired off a letter to U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner to protest the agency's recent moves to roll back rules that protect people from floods. 'It is an objective truth that disaster events are occurring more frequently and at a larger scale than ever before. Our nation's floodplain standards helped ensure homes were more resilient to flooding and other extreme weather events–minimizing damage and harm to families. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,' Warren and her colleagues wrote. The other lawmakers who signed onto the letter included Democrat U.S. Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Patty Murray of Washington and Peter Welch of Vermont. Independent U.S. Sens. Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, both of whom caucus with Democrats, also signed the letter, according to Warren's office. In the wake of disastrous flooding in Texas, HUD announced it was temporarily tapping the brakes on that rollback, according to the advocacy group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER. Monday Numbers New data from the Donahue Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst paints a vivid picture of the huge role that research funding plays in the Bay State's economy. The bottom line: For every dollar that's invested in research, Massachusetts sees about double that amount, according to the new data. Right now, research funding in the state supports a total of 81,300 jobs, $7.8 billion in income and more than $16 billion in total economic activity, according to the report, dubbed "Economic Contributions of R&D Funding in Massachusetts.' But if 'proposed changes to federal funding and support for research and development are enacted, the economic future of the commonwealth faces significant uncertainty,' UMass researchers noted. Some other top-line findings: Massachusetts is home to 1 in 10 R&D jobs nationwide, compared to 1 in 40 for all jobs in the nation's economy. More than 700 Bay State organizations have received R&D awards over the years. The top three recipients were the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Air Force and the National Science Foundation. That funding supported 46,000 jobs across those institutions. R&D funding 'creates and supports jobs beyond those in research occupations and research organizations, with 34,600 more blue-collar and service jobs in sectors that support the industry and its workers, including construction, food services, healthcare, retail and administrative support,' according to the report. And two of every five jobs 'created by research funding are created outside of sectors that directly receive the funding itself. For example, this activity supports 4,200 jobs in real estate and construction, nearly 3,000 jobs in retail and almost 1,600 jobs in transportation and warehousing,' according to the report. What else you need to know: 'Federal funding for high-risk research keeps the U.S. at the cutting edge of innovation and provides the lifeblood of the state's knowledge and innovation economy,' Mark Melnik, the director of the Donahue Institute's Economic and Public Policy Research Group, said in an email. 'Our well-educated workforce and elite institutions in 'Eds and Meds' have provided an important magnet for funding, high-skill workers, and entrepreneurship in the state,' Melnik continued. 'The economic activity associated with these investments are essential to both the research happening in 'Ed and Meds,' as well as the broader economy of the state.' They said it 'I think people have an image of food pantries as just having canned beans and canned vegetables and pasta and rice. 'We certainly offer those items. But I think most food pantries we know about increasingly strive to provide healthy foods.' — Stacey Verge, the executive director of Acord Food Pantry in Hamilton, on efforts to feed scores of people across the state who live with food insecurity. Read More MassLive politics coverage Top Dems on Beacon Hill announce pay raise deal for bar advocates How Tim Scott and Elizabeth Warren agreed on a sweeping housing package Casey Affleck asks Mass. Legislature to lend 'full support' to 'groundbreaking bill' Trump used her story to attack Harvard. She says 'don't destroy the university in my name' Market Basket drama — Deli, devotion & doughnuts: Why we care so much | John L. Micek Housing advocates renew fight for rent stabilization in Massachusetts Mass. Reps. Pressley, Lynch and Moulton lead call for end to trash strike 'You turn 65, you join the club.' U.S. Rep. Richard Neal celebrates anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid Act What goes on If you find yourself in the Berkshires later this month, you can swing by the Stockbridge Summer Arts and Crafts Show, which runs Aug. 16 and 17 at 50 Main Street. Now in its 32nd year, the annual attracts thousands of visitors to a Main Street picturesque enough to warrant a Norman Rockwell painting, according to organizers. The free show includes 80 jury-selected artisans and crafters, whose work ranges from paintings and ceramics to fiberware, jewelry and sculpture. The hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Turned up to 11 Punk and new wave legend Billy Idol brings his latest tour to the XFinity Center on Aug. 23 (tickets and info here). If you only know him from his 80s work, you might be surprised to find out that Idol (né William Broad) is still recording new music. Case in point, his very good 2021 single 'Bitter Taste.' Your Monday long read It wasn't too many years ago (OK, it was enough) when no summer was complete without a trip to a drive-in movie. These days, however, these land-guzzling outdoor recreation meccas are essentially a thing of the past. The folks at History Facts have chronicled the rise and fall of this uniquely American institution. And the nostalgia? Well, it hits hard. As ever: The germane bit. 'The novelty of the drive-in caught on slowly at first. But by the end of the 1940s, with World War II in the rearview, Americans and their growing families were ready to indulge in leisure and entertainment. Families didn't have to dress up, kids could doze off in the back seat and you could bring your own snacks — or heed the call of the animated intermission ads urging a trip to concessions for hot dogs, popcorn, and candy galore." That's it for today. As always, tips, comments and questions can be sent to jmicek@ Have a good week, friends. Read more analysis from John L. Micek Market Basket drama — Deli, devotion & doughnuts: Why we care so much | John L. Micek Mass. student turns terrifying choking incident into legislative action | Bay State Briefing A nicotine-free Mass.? These lawmakers say 'yes' | Bay State Briefing Read the original article on MassLive. Solve the daily Crossword
Fast Company
5 days ago
- Business
- Fast Company
4 ways states are placing guardrails around AI
U.S. state legislatures are where the action is for placing guardrails around artificial intelligence technologies, given the lack of meaningful federal regulation. The resounding defeat in Congress of a proposed moratorium on state-level AI regulation means states are free to continue filling the gap. Several states have already enacted legislation around the use of AI. All 50 states have introduced various AI-related legislation in 2025. Four aspects of AI in particular stand out from a regulatory perspective: government use of AI, AI in health care, facial recognition and generative AI. Government use of AI The oversight and responsible use of AI are especially critical in the public sector. Predictive AI—AI that performs statistical analysis to make forecasts—has transformed many governmental functions, from determining social services eligibility to making recommendations on criminal justice sentencing and parole. But the widespread use of algorithmic decision-making could have major hidden costs. Potential algorithmic harms posed by AI systems used for government services include racial and gender biases. Recognizing the potential for algorithmic harms, state legislatures have introduced bills focused on public sector use of AI, with emphasis on transparency, consumer protections and recognizing risks of AI deployment. Several states have required AI developers to disclose risks posed by their systems. The Colorado Artificial Intelligence Act includes transparency and disclosure requirements for developers of AI systems involved in making consequential decisions, as well as for those who deploy them. Montana's new 'Right to Compute' law sets requirements that AI developers adopt risk management frameworks —methods for addressing security and privacy in the development process—for AI systems involved in critical infrastructure. Some states have established bodies that provide oversight and regulatory authority, such as those specified in New York's SB 8755 bill. AI in health care In the first half of 2025, 34 states introduced over 250 AI-related health bills. The bills generally fall into four categories: disclosure requirements, consumer protection, insurers' use of AI and clinicians' use of AI. Bills about transparency define requirements for information that AI system developers and organizations that deploy the systems disclose. Consumer protection bills aim to keep AI systems from unfairly discriminating against some people, and ensure that users of the systems have a way to contest decisions made using the technology. Bills covering insurers provide oversight of the payers' use of AI to make decisions about health care approvals and payments. And bills about clinical uses of AI regulate use of the technology in diagnosing and treating patients. Facial recognition and surveillance In the U.S., a long-standing legal doctrine that applies to privacy protection issues, including facial surveillance, is to protect individual autonomy against interference from the government. In this context, facial recognition technologies pose significant privacy challenges as well as risks from potential biases. Facial recognition software, commonly used in predictive policing and national security, has exhibited biases against people of color and consequently is often considered a threat to civil liberties. A pathbreaking study by computer scientists Joy Buolamwini and Timnit Gebru found that facial recognition software poses significant challenges for Black people and other historically disadvantaged minorities. Facial recognition software was less likely to correctly identify darker faces. Bias also creeps into the data used to train these algorithms, for example when the composition of teams that guide the development of such facial recognition software lack diversity. By the end of 2024, 15 states in the U.S. had enacted laws to limit the potential harms from facial recognition. Some elements of state-level regulations are requirements on vendors to publish bias test reports and data management practices, as well as the need for human review in the use of these technologies. Generative AI and foundation models The widespread use of generative AI has also prompted concerns from lawmakers in many states. Utah's Artificial Intelligence Policy Act requires individuals and organizations to clearly disclose when they're using generative AI systems to interact with someone when that person asks if AI is being used, though the legislature subsequently narrowed the scope to interactions that could involve dispensing advice or collecting sensitive information. Last year, California passed AB 2013, a generative AI law that requires developers to post information on their websites about the data used to train their AI systems, including foundation models. Foundation models are any AI model that is trained on extremely large datasets and that can be adapted to a wide range of tasks without additional training. AI developers have typically not been forthcoming about the training data they use. Such legislation could help copyright owners of content used in training AI overcome the lack of transparency. Trying to fill the gap In the absence of a comprehensive federal legislative framework, states have tried to address the gap by moving forward with their own legislative efforts. While such a patchwork of laws may complicate AI developers' compliance efforts, I believe that states can provide important and needed oversight on privacy, civil rights and consumer protections. Meanwhile, the Trump administration announced its AI Action Plan on July 23, 2025. The plan says 'The Federal government should not allow AI-related Federal funding to be directed toward states with burdensome AI regulations . . .' The move could hinder state efforts to regulate AI if states have to weigh regulations that might run afoul of the administration's definition of burdensome against needed federal funding for AI.
Fox News
06-06-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Federal AI power grab could end state protections for kids and workers
Just as AI begins to upend American society, Congress is considering a move that would sideline states from enforcing commonsense safeguards. Tucked into the recently passed House reconciliation package is Section 43201, a provision that would pre-empt nearly all state and local laws governing "artificial intelligence models," "artificial intelligence systems," and "automated decision systems" for the next 10 years. Last night, the Senate released its own version of the moratorium that would restrict states from receiving federal funding for broadband infrastructure if they don't fall in line. Supporters argue that a moratorium is needed to avoid a patchwork of state rules that could jeopardize U.S. AI competitiveness. But this sweeping approach threatens to override legitimate state efforts to curb Big Tech's worst abuses—with no federal safeguards to replace them. It also risks undermining the constitutional role of state legislatures to protect the interests and rights of American children and working families amid AI's far-reaching social and economic disruptions. In the absence of Congressional action, states have been the first line of defense against Big Tech. Texas, Florida, Utah, and other states have led the way to protect children online, safeguard data privacy, and rein in platform censorship. Section 43201 puts many of those laws—even those not directly related to AI—at risk. The provision defines "automated decision systems" broadly, potentially capturing core functions of social media platforms, such as TikTok's For You feed or Instagram's recommendation engine. At least 12 states have enacted laws requiring parental consent or age verification for minors accessing these platforms. However, because these laws specifically apply to social media platforms, they could easily be construed as regulating "automated decision systems"— and thus be swept up in the moratorium. Further, Section 43201 might also block provisions of existing state privacy laws that restrict the use of algorithms—including AI—to predict consumer behavior, preferences, or characteristics. Even setting aside concerns with the moratorium's expansive scope, it suffers from a more fundamental flaw. The moratorium threatens to short-circuit American federalism by undermining state laws that ensure AI lives up to the promise outlined by Vice President J.D. Vance. Speaking at the Paris AI Summit, he warned against viewing "AI as a purely disruptive technology that will inevitably automate away our labor force." Instead, Vance called for "policies that ensure that AI… make[s] our workers more productive" and rewards them with "higher wages, better benefits, and safer and more prosperous communities." That vision is nearly impossible without state-level action. Legislators, governors, and attorneys general from Nashville to Salt Lake City are already advancing creative, democratically accountable solutions. Tennessee's novel ELVIS Act protects music artists from nonconsensual AI-generated voice and likeness cloning. Utah's AI consumer protection law requires that generative AI model deployers notify consumers when they are interacting with an AI. Other states, including Arkansas and Montana, are building legal frameworks for digital property rights with respect to AI models, algorithms, data, and model outputs. All of this is now at risk. As laboratories of democracy, states are essential to navigating the inevitable and innumerable trade-offs entailed by the diffusion of emerging technologies. Federalism enables continuous experimentation and competition between states—exposing the best and worst approaches to regulation in highly dynamic environments. That's critical when confronting AI's vast and constantly evolving sphere of impact on children and employment—to say nothing of the technology's wider socio-economic effects. Sixty leading advocacy and research organizations have warned that AI chatbots pose a significant threat to kids. They cite harrowing stories of teens who have been induced to suicide, addiction, sexual perversion, and self-harm at the hands of Big AI. Even industry leaders are sounding alarms: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei estimates that AI could force up to 20% unemployment over the next five years. Innovation inherently brings disruption—but disruption without guardrails can harm the very communities AI is purportedly meant to uplift. That's why 40 state attorneys general, Democrats and Republicans alike, signed a letter opposing Section 43201, warning that it would override "carefully tailored laws targeting specific harms related to the use of AI." To be sure, not all laws are drafted equal. States like California and Colorado are imposing European-style AI regulations particularly detrimental to "Little Tech" and open-source model developers. But Congress shouldn't throw out federalism with the "doomer" bathwater. Rather than a blanket pre-emption, it should consider narrow, targeted limits carefully tailored to stymie high-risk bills—modeled on California and Colorado's approach—that foist doomer AI standards on the rest of the nation. Absent a comprehensive federal AI framework, states must retain freedom to act—specifically, to ensure that AI bolsters American innovation and competitiveness in pursuit of a thriving middle class. America's AI future has great potential. But our laboratories of democracy are key to securing it.
Malay Mail
17-05-2025
- Business
- Malay Mail
40 US states push back against AI moratorium in Trump's sweeping tax bill
SAN FRANCISCO, May 17 — A mix of Democratic and Republican state attorneys yesterday called on Congress to reject a moratorium on regulating artificial intelligence included in US President Donald Trump's tax bill. Top attorneys representing 40 states signed a letter urging leaders in Congress to reject the AI regulation moratorium language added to the budget reconciliation bill. 'The impact of such a broad moratorium would be sweeping and wholly destructive of reasonable state efforts to prevent known harms associated with AI,' the letter states. 'This bill will affect hundreds of existing and pending state laws passed and considered by both Republican and Democratic state legislatures.' The amendment added by the House Energy and Commerce Committee to the budget reconciliation bill imposes a 10-year prohibition on states from enforcing any state regulation addressing AI or 'automated decision-making systems,' according to the state attorneys. 'The amendment added to the reconciliation bill abdicates federal leadership and mandates that all states abandon their leadership in this area as well,' the state attorneys general wrote. 'This bill does not propose any regulatory scheme to replace or supplement the laws enacted or currently under consideration by the states, leaving Americans entirely unprotected from the potential harms of AI.' The letter notes that states have put in place laws designed to protect against AI-generated porn, deepfakes intended to mislead voters, and spam calls or text messages. Some state laws have also been crafted to prevent biases in AI models. 'These laws and their regulations have been developed over years through careful consideration and extensive stakeholder input from consumers, industry, and advocates,' the letter read. Republican fiscal hawks on Friday sunk a key vote on advancing the mega-bill that is the centerpiece of Trump's domestic agenda, in a significant setback for the US president's tax and spending policies. Trump is pushing to usher into law his so-called 'One Big, Beautiful Bill' pairing an extension of his first-term tax cuts with savings that will see millions of the poorest Americans lose their health care coverage. But a congressional Republican Party rife with divisions and competition within its rank-and-file has complicated the process, raising serious doubts that the sprawling package can pass a vote of the full House of Representatives next week. The budget committee's no vote is not the final word on the package, which will be reworked and sent back to the panel for more debate starting 10:00 pm on Sunday (0200 GMT Monday) and a fresh vote. — AFP
