Utah and Arizona bills requiring age verification online advanced in committee votes this week. Many states are mulling legislation this year focused on protecting kids on certain websites (see 2501170053).
Montana's senate voted 50-0 Tuesday to pass a bill that adds neural data to the state’s Genetic Information Privacy Act. It’s now in the House.
Although North Carolina lacks a comprehensive privacy law, the state Department of Information Technology’s Office of Privacy and Data stands ready to "support legislators in efforts to draft privacy legislation,” a department spokesperson emailed Tuesday.
New York Assemblymember Clyde Vanel (D) wants an AI bill of rights, among other measures, to regulate the fast-growing technology and its use of personal data. The legislator introduced a raft of bills Tuesday amid great interest across the states in regulating AI (see 2501270051).
Hawaii may need to protect privacy of genetic information due to uncertainty about what will happen in the Trump administration, a state senator signaled at a Hawaii Senate Commerce Committee hearing Tuesday.
Washington state's House Technology Committee on Tuesday cleared a bill on AI transparency out of committee with a do pass recommendation. The panel voted 8-5 for HB-1168 with one of three amendments offered at an executive session Tuesday. The bill requires developers of generative AI systems to post information about how the systems were trained.
California companies must carefully review 17 AI laws passed last year in the state, while U.S. businesses generally should “prepare for comparable laws from other states in the future, blogged Cozen O’Connor attorneys Andrew Baer and Robert Rubenstein on Monday. The California AI laws -- covering deepfakes, training data, healthcare, watermarking AI-generated content and the entertainment industry -- show “the state’s assertive stance in addressing both the potential benefits and risks associated with artificial intelligence,” the lawyers wrote.
The Virginia Senate passed a reproductive health data privacy bill on Friday. Then on Monday, the Virginia House Communications Committee advanced multiple AI and privacy bills. However, legislation that would add a private right of action and make other changes in Virginia’s comprehensive privacy law appeared to stall in a subcommittee.
"A strong data privacy bill must include a private right of action to allow … individuals to bring a lawsuit when they suffer actual damages,” Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark (D) said Monday. At a livestreamed press conference, Clark supported state Rep. Monique Priestley (D) in reintroducing a privacy bill that Gov. Phil Scott (R) vetoed last year. Priestley said the 2025 bill will also include data minimization rules, despite business concerns stemming from Maryland’s law, which includes such requirements.
Two broad data privacy bills surfaced in the Mississippi Senate this week. Sen. Bart Williams (R) introduced SB-2500, while Sen. Angela Turner-Ford (D) proposed SB-2779, a much shorter measure, in the Republican-controlled legislature.