New Bipartisan AI Bill Proposes Federal Standards and Pauses State Regulations

2026-06-05 politics

Washington, Friday, 5 June 2026.
A new bipartisan draft of the Great American AI Act aims to establish federal oversight for artificial intelligence, notably proposing a three-year freeze on state-level AI regulations.

Crafting a National Framework

On June 3 and June 4, 2026, U.S. Representatives Jay Obernolte (R-CA) and Lori Trahan (D-MA) unveiled a 269-page bipartisan discussion draft of the Great American AI Act [1][3]. Supported by a coalition including Representatives Scott Franklin (R-FL), Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA), Erin Houchin (R-IN), and Scott Peters (D-CA) [1], the legislation seeks to replace a growing patchwork of state-level laws with a unified federal standard [1][2]. At the heart of the proposal is the formal establishment of the Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI) within the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) [2][3]. The draft authorizes a budget of $300 million over three years for CAISI to monitor top developers, including industry leaders like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind [2][3]. This funding represents an average annual allocation of 100 million to ensure the federal government has the resources to keep pace with rapidly evolving frontier models [1][3].

The Preemption Debate and State Pushback

Perhaps the most contentious provision of the draft is its approach to state preemption. The bill proposes a temporary, three-year freeze on broad state regulatory powers concerning how AI models are built, effectively halting safety laws recently passed in states like California, New York, and Illinois [2][3]. However, it preserves the authority of states to regulate the localized use of AI systems [3]. Congresswoman Houchin articulated the Republican perspective, arguing that America cannot afford to fall behind geopolitical rivals like China due to a fragmented landscape of fifty different state regulations [1]. Conversely, the push for preemption has drawn bipartisan resistance; Democratic lawmakers from Massachusetts and New York explicitly warned Representative Trahan against preempting state laws in May 2026, and Republican Representative Byron Donalds publicly opposed the preemption stance earlier this week [2].

Executive Actions and Cybersecurity Imperatives

This congressional maneuvering arrives in the immediate wake of decisive executive action. On June 1, 2026, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order aimed at promoting advanced AI innovation while hardening national cybersecurity defenses [6][7]. The directive mandates that by July 31, 2026, a multi-agency coalition—including the Treasury, the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)—must develop a classified benchmarking process to define “covered frontier models” [6]. Furthermore, it launches a voluntary framework granting the Federal Government up to 30 days of pre-release access to these models to assess security vulnerabilities [6]. President Trump emphasized that his administration aims to unleash technological growth by slashing bureaucratic constraints placed on AI developers by the prior administration [6].

Sources

Artificial intelligence Technology regulation