(BOSTON 6/17/2026) — Yesterday, 203 legislators from 42 states sent a letter to lawmakers in Washington DC urging them to reject a policy proposal contained within the draft Great American AI Act (GAAIA) which would preempt certain state-level regulations on artificial intelligence technologies for three years. The provision, contained within a preliminary discussion draft released in early June by Congressman Jay Obernolte (R-CA) and Congresswoman Lori Trahan (D-MA), would broadly eliminate any state’s ability to write or enforce laws regulating the development of any AI model.
An effort led by Massachusetts State Senator Michael Moore (D-Millbury) and Ohio State Senator Louis Blessing (R-Colerain), and in collaboration with Americans for Responsible Innovation (ARI), the letter warns against overriding state laws governing the development of AI models without first creating comprehensive federal protections against abuses by multi-trillion-dollar tech companies. The types of state laws this bill would preempt, the letter states, “would include measures addressing the AI models trained on copyrighted works or child abuse content, legislation ensuring that AI is not developed in a way that discriminates against workers or homebuyers, and state bills that protect the privacy of consumers.”
Made up of 104 Democrats, 98 Republicans, and 1 Independent, the group of lawmakers further warn, “not only is the provision extremely broad as written, but the tech industry will almost certainly weaponize such a provision in court to strike down state measures not intended to fall within the scope of GAAIA.”
“This is the fourth time in just over a year that Congress and President Trump have attempted to preempt our authority on this issue. I simply do not understand DC’s obsession with stripping power away from the states when it comes to protecting everyday people from the downsides of artificial intelligence,” said Senator Michael Moore. “There are real and pressing questions about how AI models are developed, including what content they should be allowed to train on and how the human creators of that content should be compensated. While AI may hold the potential to revolutionize the way we live and work for the better at some hazy point in the future, the dangers of it taking hardworking people’s jobs, producing harmful photos and videos, and discriminating against already-marginalized communities are here and now. Unless Congress is going to work with state lawmakers to roll out a set of comprehensive federal protections for average Americans, this is nothing more than a giveaway to billionaire and trillionaire tech oligarchs like Sam Altman and Elon Musk. It’s time to stand up to Big Tech and remind them that they are responsible for the things they make and how they affect society – I urge DC to once again reject this misguided policy proposal.”
This is not the first time big tech companies have attempted to enact an AI regulation moratorium – last 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. And again in December, President Trump signed a constitutionally questionable executive order directing his Attorney General 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. Challenges to this order are currently being heard in the courts.
While President Trump in 2025 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.
The letter urges DC lawmakers to consider the wide-ranging societal consequences of their light-touch approach on technology companies in the past; “the lessons of the social media era are clear: allowing Silicon Valley to write its own rulebook leaves industry unaccountable and leaves American families vulnerable to AI’s dangers.”
In closing, the bipartisan group of lawmakers “respectfully urge [Congress] to reject GAAIA’s preemption proposal overriding state AI legislation and to support the development of, rather than the dismantling of, responsible AI policy.”
The letter is addressed to the U.S. House of Representatives and the United States Senate. It was organized and written in partnership with Americans for Responsible Innovation, a non-profit organization that advocates for technology policy in the public interest, with a focus on AI and related tech.
The full letter can be found online here.
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