Washington, D.C. — Following a vote early this morning in the House Energy and Commerce Committee to advance a reconciliation package that includes a 10-year moratorium on state and local regulation and enforcement of artificial intelligence and automated decision-making systems, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement. 

“This bill is a sweeping and reckless attempt to shield some of the largest and most powerful corporations in the world—from Big Tech monopolies to RealPage, UnitedHealth Group, and others—from any sort of accountability,” said Lee Hepner, Senior Legal Counsel at the American Economic Liberties Project. “Automated decision systems are used in every facet of our economy and society. While Congress is deadlocked and the administrative state is being gutted, this bill would block states from considering laws that protect children from being exposed to online predators and addictive algorithms. It would preempt laws that protect workers from abusive quotas and surveillance. It would open the floodgates to censorship, fraud, gambling addiction, mass market manipulation, healthcare and insurance denials, and much more. Moreover, this bill gives every powerful corporation in the country a new weapon to deter any discussion of problems that we are only beginning to understand.”

“Even as the Department of Justice is supporting efforts to stifle the scourge of algorithmic price fixing, this bill would shield RealPage and others from efforts to protect consumers from algorithms that are designed to drive up prices and exacerbate shortages,” added Hepner. “Responsible regulation can help guide private innovation in productive, socially beneficial ways. State lawmakers across the country are stepping up with real solutions to real harms— this bill is a preemptive strike to shut those down before they gain more ground.”

The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s proposal to impose a 10-year moratorium on state and local adoption and enforcement of AI and automated decision-making laws is a calculated move to strip states of their power to protect the public from emerging harms — and mirrors Big Tech’s long-running strategy to preempt regulation through stealthy policy maneuvers. Economic Liberties’ Rethink Trade program recently identified nearly 50 AI and kids online safety policies, either passed or proposed by state legislatures that the tech industry is also attempting to preempt through international trade agreements. While the bill’s proponents argue the moratorium would prevent a “patchwork” of state rules and enable federal AI adoption, the reality is that it would block enforcement of dozens of bipartisan laws designed to hold Big Tech accountable and protect the public from their outsized power. And by carving out exceptions that privilege industry backed “streamlining” policies while targeting laws that place guardrails on AI, the bill would freeze any meaningful oversight of a digital world that is increasingly intertwined with AI.

Read Rethink Trade’s Interactive State Policy Tracker here. 

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.