Clay Higgins Presses Witness On Controversial 10-Year Moratorium On State AI Regulation In Budget

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During a House Oversight Committee hearing on Thursday, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) spoke about the 10-year moratorium on enforcement of AI regulation by state governments included in the Republican budget.

Transcript

00:00Mr. Higgins for five minutes.

00:01Thank you, Madam Chair.

00:03Mr. Thierer, I'm going to be talking with you mostly for the next five minutes.

00:11I'd like to dig into the controversies regarding the moratorium section of the BBB legislation

00:25currently being considered by Congress.

00:27It's across the country as part of the narrative of the discussion of AI, and I believe we have

00:36an opportunity today to clarify the intent and the specifics of that section of legislative

00:46language in BBB.

00:49So in that topic, and please help me to understand, and in doing so, help the nation to understand,

01:00good sir.

01:01But my read of the actual bill states that to that section in particular, going to the

01:12moratorium under the section of artificial intelligence and information technology modernization, says,

01:23in general, except as provided in paragraph two, which is essentially an exception to the moratorium

01:35that allows for sovereign states to enact and enforce laws that remove restrictions on use of AI.

01:47But the paragraph says, in general, except as provided in paragraph two, no state or political

01:55subdivision thereof, quote unquote, may enforce, comma, during the 10-year period beginning on the

02:03date of enactment of this bill, any law or regulation of that state.

02:10So my read is that the state is not restricted from debating and considering and voting on and passing

02:20and using their legislative bicameral body in each sovereign state to debate and vote on and pass laws

02:31regarding AI, and for that governor to sign that law, the big, beautiful bill in this section states that

02:44the federal government is asking for a pause on enforcement.

02:50Am I right or wrong?

02:52And please embellish.

02:53Yeah, thank you, Congressman, for the question.

02:56So I testified about this in front of the Energy and Commerce Committee just two weeks ago

02:59where there was a debate about the AI moratorium, and it's important to keep in mind that the

03:02reconciliation bill includes specific funding to modernize Department of Commerce technology

03:09systems, and there's a concern among members about exactly how that can happen if there's

03:14a whole host of conflicting laws at the state level.

03:17Right, and the so-called moratorium is under that section.

03:21That's correct.

03:22Please continue.

03:23And so therefore that would prohibit certain AI-specific types of regulations at the state and local level.

03:28It would prohibit the enforcement of state-authored regulations.

03:34That are AI-specific regulations.

03:37It very specifically says that laws of general applicability are not to be covered by this,

03:42also criminal activity not covered.

03:44And so there are some important exceptions to this, and states are going to be free to continue

03:47to act on a lot of these different things.

03:49So this moratorium, in the interest of time, just to clarify for the country, sir,

03:54this moratorium does not restrict the sovereign state's right to debate, vote on, and enact new AI legislation within that state.

04:06It's the moratorium is asking the states to recognize that AI by nature is interstate commerce,

04:14and under this section for modernization of the Commerce Department of the reconciliation bill,

04:23we're stating that the states should refrain from enforcement of their new AI laws.

04:31Is that correct?

04:32Yes, Congressman, and specifically what you said about protection of the interstate,

04:36the national marketplace is really crucial,

04:38and it reflects the broader consensus of Congress going back over the last 30 years

04:42about the Internet and technology more broadly,

04:44that there does need to be somewhat of a national framework

04:47and make sure that we don't have a parochial patchwork that will interfere

04:50with the free flow of Algor and the Commerce and speech.

04:53Okay, that was a squared away explanation.

04:57I thank the gentleman.

05:00Madam Chair, I yield.

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