Update: Early Tuesday morning, after this story went to press, the U.S. Senate voted 99-to-1 to remove the AI provision from the "One Beautiful Bill." Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee sponsored an amendment removing the provision.
This article was written about Tennessee legislators' opposition to the measure before it was removed from the bill.
A provision in the federal “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act could result in a 10-year moratorium on state-level artificial intelligence legislation.
Tennessee’s Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn and Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined Washington state’s Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell and Attorney General Nick Brown in a virtual press conference on June 18 highlighting their opposition to the provision.
Other Republicans have also expressed opposition, such as Tennessee’s state Sen. Bo Watson (R-Hixson), who joined a press conference June 26 with lawmakers from Utah, South Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin and Montana.
The provision, which would prevent new AI laws by states and prohibit the enforcement of existing state laws related to AI, is a part of the U.S. Senate’s reconciliation bill. The provision survived the significant procedural hurdle of being cleared by the parliamentarian, who allowed it to remain in the bill. According to Republican Senate leadership, as of this writing, the bill is expected to pass both chambers of Congress.
But the Senate’s version of the bill is significantly different from the version that passed in the House — meaning it will need to return to the other chamber for approval once more before heading to President Donald Trump’s desk. Trump set a July 4 deadline.
Tennessee becomes first state to codify voice, image and likeness protections against AI
In May, Skrmetti was one of 40 state attorneys general who signed onto a letter from the National Association of Attorneys General to congressional leadership opposing the ban on AI laws.
“The impact of such a broad moratorium would be sweeping and wholly destructive of reasonable state efforts to prevent known harms associated with AI,” the letter reads. “This bill will affect hundreds of existing and pending state laws passed and considered by both Republican and Democratic state legislatures. Some existing laws have been on the books for many years.”
“These laws and their regulations have been developed over years through careful consideration and extensive stakeholder input from consumers, industry, and advocates. And, in the years ahead, additional matters — many unforeseeable today given the rapidly evolving nature of this technology — are likely to arise.”
AI is impacting nearly every aspect of modern life, from higher education to medicine and surgery. It was recently used in 2024 election robocalls that mimicked the voice of former President Joe Biden, which led to criminal charges.
According to reporting by Politico, the provision that would restrict AI legislation comes as “top artificial intelligence companies are rapidly expanding their lobbying footprint in Washington, [D.C.].”
“We want America to be AI-dominant,” Skrmetti said in the June 18 press conference. “We want to make sure that our adversaries don’t get ahead of us, but we need to make sure that in the process, we’re not leaving American consumers behind. If there’s a 10-year moratorium on state enforcement, that effectively means 10 years where we are at the mercy of the judgment of Big Tech, and we have no guarantees that they will be responsible with the incredible power this would give them. Our nation is built on checks and balances, and we have to be sure that the states are in a position to fulfill their mandate of protecting their citizens.”
Artificial intelligence was the subject of numerous bills in this year’s session of the Tennessee General Assembly — from school safety to health care and deep-fake pornography. The previous year’s legislative session saw the notable bipartisan passage of the ELVIS Act, which made Tennessee the first state to protect individuals’ likenesses, voices and images from “an algorithm, software, tool or other technology, service or device.”
“You can’t just say we’re not going to regulate or enforce state laws for a period of 10 years, because think of what would happen to individuals in that period of time,” Blackburn said. “We need a national standard, but until we get it, it is our states that are standing in the gap.”
Blackburn left the virtual press conference early — before reporters were able to ask questions.
Despite her opposition to the provision, Blackburn has voiced support of the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which she argues “will make America stronger than ever before.”
Blackburn’s fellow U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty also supports the bill. All of Tennessee’s congressional representatives in the U.S. House voted for the bill — aside from the state’s lone congressional Democrat, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen.
