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NY Gov Signs AI Safety Bill New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed legislation ( AB 6453 / SB 6953 ) establishing safety and reporting requirements for major developers of so-called frontier artificial...
For two years running , we’ve opened our annual story predicting the top issues for state legislators in the coming year by noting just how tense and uncertain things are, what with the war in Ukraine...
States Sue to Block H-1B Visa Fee The attorneys general of 20 states, led by California and Massachusetts, filed a federal lawsuit aimed at blocking the Trump administration’s new $100,000 fee...
Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez (R) unveiled a two-bill healthcare package aimed at aligning the state with President Trump’s new federal framework. HB 693 would tighten eligibility for Medicaid...
President Donald Trump has waded into one of the most pressing and prevalent issues in state capitols these days: regulating artificial intelligence. In early December, the president said on his Truth...
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For two years running, we’ve opened our annual story predicting the top issues for state legislators in the coming year by noting just how tense and uncertain things are, what with the war in Ukraine and a concerning economy at home.
Someday, we hope to head into a new year without having to say that. But it’s not going to be this year.
If there’s anything predictable about 2026, it’s unpredictability, especially after President Donald Trump signed an executive order this month that seeks to undue all of the work state lawmakers have done on arguably their top priority for both 2024 and 2025: regulating artificial intelligence.
As you’ll see below, we’re expecting a lot more action on AI under a capitol dome near you. But that assumes state legislators can or will act despite the president’s new order.
That’s still up in the air, leaving 2026 as unclear as the last two.
This year lawmakers in all 50 states introduced bills dealing with artificial intelligence, according to analysis by the National Conference of State Legislatures. Such measures were enacted in 40 of those states.
Twice this year we’ve reported on state lawmakers’ efforts to regulate AI in healthcare, indicating just what a priority this has become. As of that second SNCJ report in September, 36 states had considered healthcare-related AI bills. Since then McKinsey has issued a report suggesting that the “relentless pressure” on the healthcare industry could be alleviated by a “radical reimagination” of how it does business with AI at the forefront.
With the National Conference of State Legislators writing about state lawmakers’ widespread concerns about AI in healthcare literally the very next day, it’s a safe bet this issue will remain a priority in statehouses across the country next year.
The cost of health insurance is expected to soar in 2026, in part due to the expiration of enhanced premium tax credits introduced during the pandemic to subsidize the cost of insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Policymakers in California, Colorado, Maryland and elsewhere are looking to backfill the subsidies, but states obviously don’t have the resources to replace all of that federal funding.
Whether they find a way or not, if health insurance costs spike the way they’re expected to, that’s sure to be a talking point for state legislators on both sides of the aisle.
The cost of prescription drugs was also in the crosshairs of state policymakers in 2025, with Colorado’s Prescription Drug Affordability Board taking the unprecedented action of capping the price on an arthritis and autoimmune disease medication, while California joined the ranks of states regulating pharmacy benefit managers, which have become a favorite target of blame for high prices.
Pending in Florida, HB 697 by Rep. Jennifer Kincart Jonsson (R) also takes aim at PBMs and prescription drug costs and is part of a two-bill package being pushed by House Speaker Daniel Perez (R) to align the state’s healthcare policies with the president’s new federal framework while also taking financial pressure off residents.
That a key leader of the third most populated state has declared this a priority for next year is a good indication this conversation will continue to go strong in 2026.
Insurance is a historically state-regulated issue, which made AI in insurance an obvious priority for state legislators, as we reported in July. At that point in the year at least 17 states had already introduced bills aimed at limiting the use of AI in underwriting and claims. Even if Trump’s AI executive order curbs state regulation of the technology in general, states might be reluctant to concede any authority over this regulatory turf. So don’t be surprised if state action on AI in insurance remains strong no matter what happens at the federal level.
The use of data analytics, machine learning and algorithms to anticipate market demand and adjust prices in real time, otherwise known as predictive pricing, was such a priority for state legislators this year we reported on it twice, in April and August.
With predictive pricing rapidly becoming ubiquitous across industries, concerns about it aren’t likely to fade any time soon.
The workplace is another arena for AI concerns with state legislators having raised the alarm in 2025 about the technology’s use in sifting through job applicants and the potential that has for automated discrimination.
You can be sure that’s the sort of civil rights issue that will remain a priority in blue states regardless of the president’s executive order.
This year Florida considered legislation to eliminate certain restrictions on 16- and 17-year olds and allow minors as young as 14 to work overnight shifts. The bill didn’t pass, but the reason for its introduction remains as urgent as ever: filing jobs vacated by undocumented workers, a prime target of the Trump administration.
As we reported back in June, Elias Kahn, senior product manager for labor and employment, tax, federal government and employee benefits and executive compensation for Practical Guidance at LexisNexis®, believes that even though several states have already relaxed their child labor laws recently, there’s still plenty of support for doing so in other states. The president’s immigration policies could also impact a range of workforces, with effects that aren’t apparent yet.
This could become a popular issue for red states in 2026.
In November, we reported that the Trump administration is suing both California and New York over attempts by both states to involve themselves in labor actions typically handled by the National Labor Relations Board.
Those cases are ongoing and represent a burgeoning front in the ongoing battle between blue states and the president.
Just this month we reported on states’ and cities’ passage of pay transparency laws requiring employers to disclose compensation figures to promote fairness, as well as other laws barring employers from asking job applicants about their past or current pay.
Kahn, of LexisNexis Practical Guidance, said all forms of pay transparency laws would remain relevant in 2026.
“I could definitely see other states or cities passing laws like this in 2026,” he said, noting that pay transparency “has been a big deal for several years now.”
Every state in the country introduced bills this year regulating AI and 40 states enacted such measures, according to analysis by NCSL. Those factoids alone illustrate just how much of a priority AI regulation has become in state capitols nationwide.
Yes, the president’s executive order challenges that, but as we reported this month state legislators appear undeterred in their interest in continuing to pursue more legislation on this front in the future.
The rise of AI has sparked demand for data centers, which place a serious drain on utilities. As we reported in October, state legislators have started targeting the energy use of such facilities.
With the march of AI expected to continue unabated, this concern is likely to just grow.
AI wasn’t the only technology to draw the attention of state legislators this year.
California, South Dakota and Texas have all approved legislation to make their states hubs for a new frontier in technology: quantum computing, which takes the principles of quantum mechanics – the physics of subatomic particles – to process data in radically different ways from conventional computing.
This is a race that looks to be just beginning.
Also just getting started are efforts to protect the privacy of individuals’ neural data or information generated by measuring the activity of their central or peripheral nervous system.
In September 2024, we reported that Colorado had become the first state to pass a bill protecting neural data and predicted more states were likely to follow. In November of this year, we reported that two more states (Connecticut and Montana) had done so, and three more states (Illinois, Massachusetts and Minnesota) had pending neural data privacy bills heading into 2026.
—By SNCJ Correspondent BRIAN JOSEPH