(BOSTON 12/18/2025) — This week, five Senators and eight Representatives seated on the Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Committee on Advanced Information Technology, the Internet and Cybersecurity sent a letter to the Commonwealth’s congressional delegation, Governor Maura Healey, and Attorney General Andrea Campbell urging any and all action to combat President Trump’s recently-signed executive order on artificial intelligence. The order, which many legal scholars describe as illegal, directs US Attorney General Pam Bondi to establish an AI Litigation Task Force whose sole purpose will be to challenge state-level AI regulations in court. It also directs federal agencies to identify “burdensome” state AI regulations and withhold funding for projects such as rural broadband expansion unless states commit to dropping the laws.
The letter, an effort led by Committee co-chairs Senator Michael Moore and Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier, warns that the industry and President Trump are prioritizing profits over the privacy and safety of Bay Staters. It also states that the order is a violation of the separation of powers and principles of federalism.
“President Trump’s executive order preempting state-level AI regulation is nothing less than a giveaway to the trillion-dollar Big Tech companies and ultra-wealthy CEOs that funded his campaign. One of the most basic functions of government is the power to protect its people – by taking away our power to place reasonable guardrails around the development and use of artificial intelligence, the President is neutering our ability to defend Bay Staters against the worst drawbacks of this technology, including AI-generated deepfakes, predatory algorithms, dangerous misinformation campaigns, and more,” said Senator Michael Moore (D-Millbury). “AI is a powerful new technology that we are just starting to understand the implications of on society; the only way to ensure AI works for us without upending our world and driving even further inequality is to draft common-sense regulations to make it so. President Trump’s executive order is an abdication of duty to the American People and I strongly urge Governor Healey, Attorney General Campbell, and our Congressional delegation to do everything in their power to make sure this irresponsible order does not stand.”
"Here in Massachusetts, we have demonstrated that supporting AI innovation and establishing responsible guardrails are not mutually exclusive; in fact, they go hand in hand." added Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier (D-Pittsfield). "We've invested more than $100 million in AI development while working collaboratively with industry to ensure this technology reflects our shared values of safety, equity, and accountability. The attempt to bypass state authority through executive order undermines the productive public-private partnership we have strived to build. States have both the responsibility and the expertise to protect our residents while fostering innovation."
This is not the first time big tech companies have attempted to enact an AI regulation moratorium – over the summer, congressional Republicans attempted to slip a 10-year regulation pre-emption into the 1,000+ page so-called ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’. After AITIC members urged opposition to that misguided policy, Senator Ed Markey led an effort to strip the language from the US Senate’s version in a 99-1 vote. Similarly, the artificial intelligence industry tried to insert another moratorium into the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act, but once again the provision was dropped.
While President Trump earlier this year signed into law the Take It Down Act, a bill criminalizing the sharing of AI-generated revenge porn, there are currently no comprehensive regulations or legislation on the development or use of artificial intelligence at the federal level in the United States. In the regulatory void this inaction has created, states have stepped in to put up guardrails around this emerging technology. The Massachusetts Legislature is currently considering bills that regulate the use of AI in health insurance coverage decision making, in evaluating employee performance, in the spreading of election disinformation, and more. Further, state governments have been acting faster to protect residents than federal government has – Massachusetts enacted a bill similar to the Take It Down Act almost a year before the US Government did.
President Trump’s executive order has received opposition from a bipartisan coalition of governors, including California Governor Gavin Newsom, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, Utah Governor Spencer Cox, and more.
The letter, addressed to Governor Maura Healey, Attorney General Andrea Campbell, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, and Representatives Richard Neal, Jim McGovern, Stephen Lynch, Bill Keating, Katherine Clark, Seth Moulton, Lori Trahan, Ayanna Pressley, and Jake Auchincloss, calls on them to "take all legislative and legal measures possible" to oppose the executive order and ensure the Commonwealth can protect its residents.
Signatories of the letter include Senators Michael O. Moore, Pavel M. Payano, Barry R. Finegold, Paul W. Mark, and Michael J. Barrett, and Representatives Tricia Farley-Bouvier, James K. Hawkins, Joan Meschino, Steve Owens, Steven J. Ouellette, Tommy Vitolo, Thomas W. Moakley, and Christopher R. Flanagan. The full letter can be found online here.
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