Senate Parliamentarian Raises Doubts About Provision Banning State AI Rules

The Senate parliamentarian has reportedly raised further questions about a provision in the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” that would ban states from making rules about artificial intelligence (AI), after initially approving the provision over the weekend.

The parliamentarian advised Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz to rewrite the provision, saying that in its current form, it may violate Senate rules, Bloomberg reported Thursday (June 26), citing unnamed sources.

Senate Republicans are using a special budgetary process to fast-track the tax bill that includes the AI provision, but to stay within the chamber’s rules, they must ensure that it does not include significant policy changes, according to the report.

Critics of the provision have argued that it violates that requirement by forcing states to choose between making their own rules about AI or receiving federal funds for internet broadband projects, the report said.

Cruz altered the text of the provision this week to clarify that only states that seek funding for AI infrastructure would be subject to the 10-year ban on implementing AI regulations, per the report.

He told reporters Wednesday (June 25), per the report, that he is “confident that the provision will remain in the bill that we pass into law.”

It was reported Wednesday that Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he expected a 10-year ban on state AI regulations to survive in “some version” in the One Big, Beautiful Bill.

Based on feedback from other lawmakers, “it might change in some way,” Thune said.

Thune, who is a backer of the provision, said: “We want to be the leaders in AI and quantum and all these new technologies. And the way to do that is not to come in with a heavy hand of government; it’s to come in with a light touch.”

An opponent of the moratorium on state AI rules, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said in the Wednesday report: “I think it’s terrible policy. It’s a huge giveaway to some of the worst corporate actors out there.”

It was reported Friday (June 20) that the Senate parliamentarian had ruled the provision was in line with the special budgetary process being used by Republicans and that the proposed ban on state-level AI regulation would remain in the bill.