A Missouri anti-porn bill requiring age verification could have more momentum in 2026 than in prior years, state Rep. Sherri Gallick (R) said at a Tuesday hearing of the state’s House Children and Families Committee. The panel heard testimony on Gallick’s HB-1839 and two other legislators’ similar bills (HB-2921 and HB-3015).
Maryland should follow California’s lead and reject legislation on so-called surveillance pricing, industry witnesses told the state's House Economics Matters Committee during a hearing Tuesday.
Maryland should modernize its government privacy law, the state’s chief privacy officer (CPO) and chief information security officer (CISO) said Tuesday. At a webcast hearing, Maryland CPO Caterina Pangilinan and acting CISO James Saunders urged the House Government Committee to approve HB-264, which would affect privacy practices of state agencies and their third-party vendors.
The Virginia Senate supported requiring social media platform interoperability as an amendment to the state’s comprehensive privacy law Tuesday. Senators voted unanimously to pass SB-85 and send the bill to the House.
A New Mexico comprehensive privacy bill (SB-53) is expected to go next to the Senate Judiciary Committee, but nothing has been scheduled, a Conservation Voters New Mexico official clarified Monday (see 2602050047).
Virginia lawmakers continued to narrow what privacy bills could pass before this year’s session comes to an end in mid-March. At a Monday meeting, the House Communications Committee voted unanimously by voice to punt bills on AI chatbots (HB-635) and data brokers (HB-638), both by Rep. Michelle Maldonado (D), until 2027.
Age-verification systems and other efforts by social media companies to protect minors have been “inadequate,” according to a Hawaii bill that advanced Friday in the legislature. The legislation (SB-2761) proposes following Australia’s example and banning kids younger than 16 from creating or maintaining accounts.
A Washington state driver privacy bill pulled into the House Civil Rights Committee on Friday after passing the Senate 40-9 on Wednesday.
Hawaii entities managing federally funded broadband efforts urged state legislators this week to note President Donald Trump’s December executive order that directed NTIA to potentially curtail non-deployment broadband funding from BEAD for states that have AI laws that the administration says are overly burdensome (see 2602050024). The Hawaii House Technology Committee on Friday posted that and other written testimony on an AI regulation bill (HB-2500).
A Hawaii bill aimed at combatting “surveillance pricing” cleared the House Human Services Committee by a 9-0 vote on Thursday. However, HB-2458 still needs approval from two other committees before it can go to the House floor.