VLP Partner Melissa Krasnow Quoted in Wall Street Journal Pro Cybersecurity article “States Rebuff Proposed Federal Ban on AI Laws”
Posted on Jun 13, 2025 in Artificial Intelligence, Privacy, News by Melissa Krasnow
VLP Partner Melissa Krasnow was quoted in the in Wall Street Journal Pro Cybersecurity article “States Rebuff Proposed Federal Ban on AI Laws.”
Texas state lawmakers this week passed legislation governing the use of artificial intelligence, forging ahead as the federal government seeks to block state-level AI laws.
The Texas bill, which goes to Governor Greg Abbott, comes the same week as more than 250 lawmakers from all 50 states voiced “strong opposition” to a measure tucked into the Trump administration’s budget megabill that would impose a 10-year ban on state AI laws, in a letter to members of the House and Senate.
Since January, nearly every state has introduced legislation that addresses some aspect of AI and data privacy, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Texas joins a handful of states that have passed laws specifically focused on data-privacy risks raised by AI.
In January, California enacted a bill that requires software developers to provide information on data used to train AI systems. A Colorado law, set to be implemented early next year, aims to prevent discrimination in algorithmic models, among other issues.
Earlier this year, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, vetoed AI legislation passed by the state’s Democratic-led General Assembly.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last year created a full-time data privacy team tasked with aggressively enforcing the state’s privacy laws and safeguarding consumers’ personal data. Ms. Krasnow said the Texas bill “would add to the arsenal of laws that the Texas attorney general could use for enforcement.”
Among other measures, she said, the bill restricts any organization from building an AI system designed to engage in criminal activity or unlawfully discriminate against state residents. It also requires state agencies to disclose when public services websites are using AI, and prohibits the use of retina, iris or facial scanning, fingerprints and voice prints without consent. The bill, which would go into effect in January 2026, creates an AI advisory council within the Texas Department of Information Resources, charged with monitoring the use of AI across state agencies and flag any harmful practices.
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