States Are Writing AI Laws Because Washington Won't. Here's the Tracker.

TL;DR:

Over 300 AI bills are being tracked across all 50 states as of February 2026
Four states have enacted private-sector AI laws: California (6 bills), Colorado (AI Act delayed to June 30), Texas (RAIGA), and Utah (AI Policy Act)
Chatbot safety is the hottest category: Virginia, Washington, Utah, Arizona, and Hawaii all have bills targeting AI companions and harm prevention
Five states are banning surveillance pricing: Iowa, Rhode Island, Utah, Colorado, and Maryland
Trump’s December 2025 executive order created an AG task force to sue states over AI laws, specifically naming Colorado’s AI Act as a target
Congress hasn’t passed a single AI law. States are building the rulebook alone

The Federal Vacuum

Here’s the situation: the technology that generates deepfakes of your daughter, sets personalized prices based on your income, and powers chatbots that tell teenagers to harm themselves has exactly zero federal regulations governing it.

Congress has held hearings. Senators have proposed bills. Nothing has passed. The EU has the AI Act. The UK has the AI Safety Institute. America has a patchwork of state laws being written in real time by legislators who watched their constituents get hurt.

As of early February 2026, researchers are tracking over 300 AI-related bills across all 50 states ^[1]. Illinois introduced more than a dozen in a single week. Oklahoma has more than a dozen under consideration. California, Washington, Tennessee, and Florida are running their own legislative experiments.

This isn’t coordination. It’s every state for itself.

The Four States With Actual Laws

Only four states have enacted private-sector AI governance statutes that are already in effect or taking effect this year ^[2]:

California: The Everything Approach

California passed six AI laws that took effect on January 1, 2026:

AB 2013 (Generative AI Training Data Transparency Act): Developers of public-facing generative AI must publish “high-level” information about what data they used for training ^[3]
SB 942 (California AI Transparency Act): Large AI platforms must provide free detection tools and add watermarks to AI-generated content (delayed to August 2, 2026) ^[3]
AB 489 (Health Care Professions Act): AI cannot falsely claim to hold healthcare licenses; must disclose when AI communicates with patients ^[3]
SB 243 (Companion Chatbots Act): Chatbots must disclose they’re AI, implement safety protocols for suicidal content, and limit features for minors ^[3]
AB 325 (Preventing Algorithmic Price Fixing Act): Updates antitrust law to ban shared pricing algorithms used by competitors to fix prices ^[3]
Transparency in Frontier AI Act: “Frontier developers” creating massive AI models must publish risk-mitigation frameworks addressing catastrophic risks ^[3]

Colorado: The First Comprehensive Law

Colorado’s AI Act (SB 24-205) was the first comprehensive U.S. statute targeting “high-risk” AI systems. Originally set for February 1, 2026, it was delayed to June 30, 2026 after industry pushback ^[4].

The law requires developers and deployers to:

Use “reasonable care” to protect consumers from algorithmic discrimination
Conduct impact assessments before deployment
Provide consumer disclosures about AI decision-making
Allow consumers to correct errors in AI-driven decisions

This is the law Trump’s executive order specifically names as a preemption target. More on that below.

Texas: The Harm Prevention Approach

Texas enacted the Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act (RAIGA) through HB 149, effective January 1, 2026 ^[3]. The law prohibits intentionally developing or deploying AI systems to:

Incite or encourage harm to self or others
Engage in criminal activity
Infringe on constitutional rights
Engage in unlawful discrimination against protected classes
Produce deepfakes or child sexual abuse material

Notably, Texas didn’t go the “comprehensive regulation” route. They wrote a law that bans the worst outcomes and leaves the rest alone.

Utah: The Iterative Approach

Utah passed the AI Policy Act in May 2024, then followed up with SB 226 in May 2025 ^[2]. Now they’re considering HB 286 (AI Transparency Amendments) and HB 438 (chatbot safety), both currently in committee ^[5].

Utah’s approach: pass something, see what breaks, pass more. They’re now requiring large frontier model developers operating chatbots to publish a child protection plan.

The Chatbot Bills: 2026’s Hottest Category

If there’s one theme uniting state legislatures right now, it’s chatbot safety. “This is not a partisan topic,” one legislative analysis noted. “It is a parent topic” ^[5].

Here’s where chatbot bills stand:

State	Bill	Status	Key Provisions
Virginia	SB 796 (AI Chatbots and Minors Act)	Passed Senate Committee unanimously	Prevents “human-like features” with minors in harmful ways
Washington	SB 5984 / HB 2225	Passed full Senate; House second reading	Disclosure, behavioral guardrails, child protection
Utah	HB 438	Cleared committee	Child protection plans for chatbot operators
Arizona	HB 2311	Cleared committee	Chatbot safety requirements
Hawaii	SB 3001 / HB 2502	Cleared committee	Minor protections and disclosure
California	SB 243	Enacted Jan 1, 2026	Safety protocols, minor limits, disclosure

The common thread: age verification, parental consent requirements, prohibitions on human-like emotional features for minors, mental health safeguards that prevent harmful advice, and mandatory disclosure that you’re talking to an AI.

Tennessee went further. Their law makes training an AI to encourage suicide a Class A felony ^[1].

Surveillance Pricing: Five States Fighting Back

We’ve covered California’s investigation into companies using your data to charge you higher prices. Now five states are writing laws to ban the practice outright ^[6]:

Iowa SF 2278: Prohibits personalized algorithmic pricing and surveillance pricing at food retail establishments
Rhode Island H 7764: Prohibits algorithmic pricing by landlords to determine rent
Utah SB 293: Regulates consumer pricing algorithms
Colorado HB 1210: Regulates surveillance pricing and AI-driven wage setting
Maryland HB 1475: Surveillance pricing restrictions (in committee)

New York already enacted the Algorithmic Pricing Disclosure Act in November 2025, requiring businesses to label prices set by AI using your personal data with: “THIS PRICE WAS SET BY AN ALGORITHM USING YOUR PERSONAL DATA.”

The Rest of the Landscape

Beyond chatbots and pricing, state AI bills fall into several categories ^[1]:

Workplace AI: California’s AB 1883 and AB 1898 regulate workplace surveillance and AI tools. New York’s A 10251 limits automated decision systems in hiring and employment. Illinois’s HB 3773 amends the Human Rights Act to prohibit employer use of discriminatory AI.

Health Insurance: Multiple states are examining AI-driven utilization review: the automated systems that decide whether your insurance will cover a procedure.

Content and Deepfakes: Washington’s HB 1170 (passed the House February 13) requires AI platforms to offer detection tools and include disclosures in AI-generated content ^[6]. Several states have laws protecting against deepfakes of a person’s name or likeness.

Professional Services: Multiple states are restricting AI from providing mental health therapy, legal advice, or medical decisions without licensed human supervision.

Trump’s Preemption Play

On December 11, 2025, the Trump administration issued an executive order titled “Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence.” It’s a direct shot at state AI laws ^[3].

The order does three things:

Creates an AG litigation task force to challenge state laws on preemption and interstate commerce grounds
Directs the Commerce Secretary to identify “burdensome state AI laws” by March 11, 2026
Conditions federal broadband funding on states avoiding “onerous” AI regulations

The order explicitly names Colorado’s SB 24-205 as a preemption target. It directs the FTC to issue guidance by March 11, 2026, on preempting state laws that require “alteration of truthful outputs” ^[3].

There’s one carve-out: child safety, infrastructure, and government procurement regulations are explicitly excluded from preemption consideration. The chatbot safety bills appear safe, for now.

What This Means for You

If you live in California, Colorado, Texas, or Utah, you already have AI protections on the books. More are coming.

If you live anywhere else, check your state legislature. The IAPP maintains a US State AI Governance Legislation Tracker that shows what’s moving in your state ^[2].

The key deadlines to watch:

February 17, 2026: Washington legislative deadline
March 6, 2026: Utah session closes
March 11, 2026: Commerce Department “burdensome laws” report due
March 14, 2026: Virginia session closes
June 30, 2026: Colorado AI Act takes effect
August 2, 2026: California AI Transparency Act takes effect

300 bills. 50 states. Zero federal laws. The AI rulebook is being written in state capitols across America. Whether those rules survive federal preemption challenges remains to be seen.

Sources

Published: February 23, 2026