Attorneys general in Washington and Idaho object to latest attempt to ban state AI laws

A bipartisan group of attorneys general – including Nick Brown of Washington and Raul Labrador of Idaho – is again pushing to stop a federal ban on states regulating artificial intelligence.

On Tuesday, a group of 36 state attorneys general wrote a letter to congressional leadership to oppose the potential inclusion of a provision in a military funding bill that would block states from passing AI regulations.

The letter requests that the federal government not adopt a blanket moratorium but rather collaborate with states to develop regulations.

“If Congress is serious about grappling with how AI’s emergence creates opportunities and challenges for our safety and well-being, then the states look forward to working with you on a substantive effort,” the letter states. “AI will cause tidal waves in our public safety, national security, economy, and health, and the United States needs to be ready to be an international leader.”

This summer, attorneys general from across the country, including Washington, expressed concern over a similar provision that was initially included in the One Big Beautiful Bill that would have stopped states from regulating the technology for the next 10 years. Language in the bill that would have restricted states from “limiting, restricting, or otherwise regulating” artificial intelligence for the next decade was removed through an amendment introduced by Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell.

While Congress has yet to adopt regulations on the technology, in recent years, state legislators have proposed an array of laws that have created a patchwork of regulations.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, state lawmakers introduced more than 1,000 bills to regulate the technology during their 2025 legislative sessions. In Olympia, lawmakers introduced at least 22 bills during the 2025 session that would have regulated the usage of artificial intelligence in various sectors, including scientific research and the rental housing market.

In June, Cantwell said 24 states had adopted legislation regulating AI in 2024. Among the states that adopted legislation was Washington, which established an artificial intelligence task force within the attorney general’s office that Brown said in June has helped “study and research the impacts” of the technology.

“While AI promises to be a transformative technology in numerous fields, it also poses significant risks – notably to the most vulnerable among us, our children,” the letter says. “States must be empowered to apply existing laws and formulate new approaches to meet the range of challenges associated with AI.”

The letter is the latest attempt by state officials to protect an increasing number of regulations on artificial intelligence.

According to Labrador, the state adopted a ban on AI-generated images of child sexual abuse material, which already resulted in a felony conviction.

“I will never support the federal government telling a state what it can and cannot do to protect our citizens within the framework of the Constitution,” Labrador said in a statement Tuesday. “We have seen that Artificial Intelligence can be dangerously abused and exploited. States like Idaho shouldn’t be blocked from doing what we see as right and necessary.”

The White House, meanwhile, has drafted an executive order that would curtail state regulations. The current draft, which has not been issued by the president, argues that the wave of artificial intelligence regulations proposed in state houses across the country “threaten to undermine that innovative culture” of American AI companies.

Reuters reported Friday that the White House had put the executive order on hold.

“It is the policy of the United States to sustain and enhance America’s global AI dominance through a minimally burdensome, uniform national policy framework for AI,” the draft executive order states.

The executive order calls on the U.S. attorney general to establish an “AI litigation task force” to challenge state regulations across the country. The executive order states that the federal government could withhold federal funding to states.

Last week, President Donald Trump said lawmakers should either include federal standards in a separate bill or include language in the National Defense Authorization Act.

“Overregulation by the States is threatening to undermine this Growth Engine,” Trump said on social media.

Trump added that there must be one uniform approach rather than “a patchwork of 50 State Regulatory Regimes.”