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Did you miss this story?<\/strong> In a world where Trump wants federal control of AI to supersede state measures, members of Virginia\u2019s congressional delegation are working to start that process. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., are pushing bills from their respective chambers that will cover some of the holes in Virginia\u2019s code.
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Virginia lawmakers pushed through a few artificial intelligence-related bills by the end of their 2026 regular session. Multiple others didn\u2019t make it, apparent victims of an executive order that President Donald Trump signed late last year.
In a Dec. 11 executive order, Trump threatened to withhold Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment money from states with \u201conerous AI laws.\u201d That could add up to more than $800 million in Virginia for tasks that include providing cellular service to so-called \u201cdead spots.\u201d
Stalled measures included addressing chatbot interactions with minors and the use of AI to evaluate insurance claims and treat patients\u2019 mental health.
\u201cWe\u2019ve heard the alarm, if you will, in regards to that,\u201d said Del. Cliff Hayes, D-Chesapeake, during a House of Delegates\u2019 Communications, Technology and Innovation Committee that he chaired in February.
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Griffith, a senior member of Energy and Commerce\u2019s Communications and Technology subcommittee, co-sponsored the SECURE Data Act, introduced April 22. Griffith said the act would standardize data privacy protections, granting U.S. consumers rights to access, correct and delete their personal data.
It would also require disclosure of AI\u2019s use \u201cfor consequential decision making\u201d and requires parental consent to process personal data for ages 15 and younger, he said in the statement.
\u201cToday, health insurers are increasingly using AI to process and automate prior authorization decisions,\u201d he said. \u201cAI can be helpful in streamlining this process, but in cases of a denial of a medical procedure or treatment, there should be immediate medical review by a qualified medical professional.\u201d
On Thursday, Warner announced that the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced legislation he wrote to protect children from AI chatbots. The bipartisan Guidelines for User Age-verification and Responsible Dialogue (GUARD) Act passed out of the committee unanimously, according to a news release.\u00a0
It would ban AI companies from providing digital companions to minors and mandate that those companions disclose their nonhuman status and lack of professional credentials. It would also create criminal categories for companies that knowingly use AI products to solicit minors or provide them with sexual content.
\u201cAI chatbots put the mental and physical health of young people at risk,\u201d Warner said in a news release. \u201cI\u2019m encouraged to see this bipartisan legislation advance through committee. It is time to put clear guardrails in place to protect children from manipulative or dangerous chatbot interactions and hold tech companies accountable.\u201d
These were among the issues that General Assembly members attempted to address in the recently concluded session.
Trump\u2019s executive order directed the Commerce Department to issue a policy notice rendering states with \u201conerous AI laws \u2026 ineligible for non-deployment funds, to the maximum extent allowed\u201d by federal law. Non-deployment funds are the money left over from BEAD grants to the states after their internet connections are made.
Communications, Technology and Innovation postponed action until next year on HB 635<\/a>, which would have heavily restricted so-called companion chatbots\u2019 interactions with people that have led to self-harm and even suicide. The same committee stalled a Senate bill, SB 796<\/a>, from Sen. Tara Durant, R-Fredericksburg, which was similar but specifically targeted minors\u2019 use of the technology.
Del. Michelle Maldonado, D-Manassas, introduced the House bill and blamed the Trump administration for its failure, noting the \u201cchilling effect of the AI executive order on state actions.\u201d
\u201cWe have seen the administration go after them,\u201d Maldonado said during committee discussion of her measure. \u201cIt\u2019s inappropriate. It\u2019s unfair.\u201d
The committee carried over the measures with recommendations that the General Assembly\u2019s Joint Committee on Technology and Science study them. It suggested the same for SB 586<\/a>, by Sen. Saddam Salim, D-Falls Church, which would have required health insurance companies to show how they use AI to manage claims and prohibit health carriers from relying on it exclusively for decisions.
Hayes, the committee chair, laid out three requirements for such legislation: A bill couldn\u2019t conflict with the state\u2019s existing consumer data protection law. If it cost taxpayers, the budget bill had to provide for it. Finally, it could not jeopardize the BEAD money.\u00a0
Salim\u2019s bill was among those that should be postponed because they might affect the federal funds, Hayes said in a Feb. 23 hearing.
According to Trump\u2019s executive order<\/a>, the attorney general\u2019s office was to establish an \u201cAI litigation task force\u201d and the Commerce Department was scheduled to conduct a study of state laws to identify and dispute state laws that \u201cunconstitutionally\u201d regulate interstate commerce, that conflict with existing federal regulations, that require AI models to alter their \u201ctruthful outputs\u201d or that would lead to First Amendment violations.
\u201cWe have to make sure that we \u2026 will not threaten the commonwealth\u2019s over $800 million with regards to the BEAD funding that we have that\u2019s coming from the federal government,\u201d Hayes said.
Salim, in a recent phone interview, said that he believes legislators are moving too slowly from an abundance of caution and are using the executive order as a \u201csmoke screen\u201d as groups, including the Joint Committee on Technology and Science, study them.
\u201cWe usually try to see what other states do, and then replicate what\u2019s good and take out what\u2019s bad,\u201d Salim said.\u00a0
He added: \u201cI thought if we were going to be pushing for change and pushing things forward, we would have moved these bills forward in order to push the federal administration to say they\u2019re already cutting funding for us regardless of what we do and what we don\u2019t do. \u2026 I don\u2019t believe it would have impacted those funds.
\u201cI think if it did, we could have had legal counsel \u2026 the AG\u2019s office could have sued.\u201d
Four months after Trump called for states to follow a national policy framework for AI, the administration released its legislative recommendations for such a framework<\/a>. It is meant to supersede \u201ca patchwork of conflicting state laws\u201d that would \u201cundermine American innovation.\u201d No framework bill in either house of Congress has yet been introduced, but Griffith said a draft is in development from the House of Representatives side.
\u201cThere have been discussions behind the scenes at the Energy & Commerce Committee and Rep. [Jay] Obernolte [R-California] is drafting a comprehensive federal AI standards bill that I look forward to reviewing,\u201d Griffith said in an April 24 email from his spokesman.\u00a0
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., has publicly circulated a draft bill<\/a>, as well.
Meanwhile, Warner and Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., introduced a bill that would direct the U.S. Department of Labor to collect AI usage data to help illuminate how AI is affecting employment.
\u201cIt\u2019s critical that everyone has access to accurate and timely information that can prepare them for a changing labor market,\u201d Warner said in a news release about the Workforce Transparency Act.
As for state lawmaking, Warner has said he is skeptical of Trump\u2019s framework, which he said \u201clacks significant substance.\u201d In a quote that his office provided on April 24, he said that it is a \u201cgross overreach of federal power\u201d to threaten withholding BEAD funds to states exercising their constitutional rights to \u201clegislate freely.\u201d
Warner was among those in Congress who drafted the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which created BEAD.
\u201cAs one of the lead drafters of the IIJA\u2019s broadband provisions, I can say with certainty that the president\u2019s actions are counter to Congress\u2019 goal of closing the broadband gap with BEAD,\u201d he said in the April 24 statement. \u201cI remain unsurprised at this administration\u2019s lack of respect for and understanding of the law.\u201d
He added that he hopes Republicans will join him in opposing the administration\u2019s threat to the states.
The General Assembly unanimously passed a resolution, HJ 32, to require the nonpartisan Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study AI policies in place at Virginia\u2019s colleges and universities and to develop a model policy for its use. JLARC would also make recommendations for \u201ctools, curricula and other resources\u201d to be commonly available.
Other unanimous votes centered on an AI safety advisory board under the Virginia Information Technologies Agency\u2019s auspices and a bill expanding the Division of Consumer Counsel\u2019s duties to include programs to address AI fraud and abuse.
Failed legislation included a consumer data protection bill, SB 85<\/a>, which passed the Senate but died in the House. Before crossover, the House killed bills related to law enforcement\u2019s use of AI in investigations and forensic laboratory accreditation.
Salim, the delegate from Falls Church, said he thinks his bills will eventually be passed, and he hopes to see a quicker turnaround time in general.
\u201cWe\u2019re going at a walking pace,\u201d he said, \u201cwhereas the industry is going 120 miles an hour.\u201d <\/p>\n