Rep. Lieu: Multiple House Members Working on AI Preemption Bills
Several House members are working on proposals to preempt state AI laws with targeted federal regulations, Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., said Tuesday.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Privacy Daily provides accurate coverage of newsworthy developments in data protection legislation, regulation, litigation, and enforcement for privacy professionals responsible for ensuring effective organizational data privacy compliance.
Speaking at the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation’s AR/VR Policy Conference, Lieu said he’s working on such a bill and believes other members are, as well. There’s a better chance of Congress passing state preemption if there are specific regulations in the proposals, as opposed to blocking state laws with a moratorium, he said.
Moratorium proposals from House Republicans and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, failed in a “pretty massive way,” he said (see 2507210042). “I would hope that they would conclude one federal standard would be better [than a moratorium], so it’s very clear Congress is not going to preempt with nothing.”
“Let’s do X, Y and Z, and then we’ll add preemption to that,” he added. “I think that could pass Congress. I think Congress could support preemption if we’re preempting with something, instead of just saying, ‘You, states cannot regulate at all.’ I don’t think that’s going to pass.”
He noted the House AI Task Force, which he co-chaired with Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., who is credited with helping craft the moratorium, has offered Congress more than 80 recommendations for addressing AI issues. Lieu said he hopes House Republicans will allow floor time to consider codifying “at least some” of those recommendations.
Lieu said one of the recommendations is to regulate AI technology on a sectoral basis, rather than passing a broad AI law like the EU. He noted that during a recent visit to the EU, he met with senior officials and one of his takeaways was that some who helped craft the EU AI Act believe the EU might have been “over-exuberant” and are now trying to scale back.
A staffer from the office of Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., said her boss continues to push for a federal privacy law. AI product development and consumer trust will continue to be impacted negatively without a federal law, said Annaliese Yukawa, a senior policy advisor for DelBene, who introduced a federal privacy bill in 2021.
DelBene is also co-author of a bipartisan, bicameral measure that would establish a national strategy on immersive technology. Introduced by DelBene and Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, with Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., the U.S. Leadership and Immersive Technology Act would create an advisory panel tasked with identifying voluntary standards for ensuring the tech is developed in a way that protects individual privacy rights.
Yukawa argued for federal standards on privacy and AI. Certainty is “very important, and that’s what we’re lacking,” she said.
Google argues that federal standards should replace “regulatory fragmentation” at the state level, said Alejandra Barcelo, a government affairs & public policy manager at the company. She said a federal privacy law should incorporate several core principles, including consumer control of data, data minimization standards for companies, transparency about how consumer data is collected and used, and data security standards.