Misinformation, unemployment, nonconsensual deepfakes – these are merely a few of the challenges that state legislators are confronting as artificial intelligence becomes more integrated into our everyday lives.

Nevertheless, a major issue exists. The federal budget reconciliation bill could render it impossible for state legislators to tackle the numerous challenges posed by AI.

Why? Because President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill features a highly contentious provision that categorically prohibits any AI regulation for a decade at the state and local tiers.

This implies that the bill would limit lawmakers in all 50 states, blocking them from taking any steps to oversee this expanding industry, even as it impacts their states’ economies and the lives of their constituents.

A recent report from StateScoop highlights that state legislators from every state are now banding together to resist this provision within the federal budget reconciliation bill. In total, over 260 state legislators have endorsed a letter to Congress expressing their disapproval of the 10-year prohibition on AI regulation.

The initiative was led by South Carolina Rep. Brandon Guffey and South Dakota Sen. Liz Larson. Significantly, Rep. Guffey is a Republican while Sen. Larson is a Democrat, illustrating that the boycott against this AI regulation ban is cross-partisan.

Proponents of the AI regulation ban provision argue that it is essential to avert a “fragmented regulatory landscape,” which could be detrimental to the industry and provide China with an unfair edge over U.S. tech firms.

It seems that at least some of the president’s backers in Congress are reevaluating their position on the bill.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right Republican Congresswoman from Georgia, declared on X that she stands against the AI regulation ban provision, despite having previously voted in favor of the big, beautiful bill.

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“To be fully transparent, I was unaware of this section on pages 278-279 of the OBBB that removes states’ rights to establish laws or regulate AI for 10 years,” Rep. Greene posted on X. “I am firmly OPPOSED to this; it infringes on state rights and I would have voted NO had I known this was included.”

Rep. Greene further stated that the implications of this bill could be “potentially hazardous” and mentioned she will not support the bill in the House of Representatives if this provision remains.

Trump’s big, beautiful bill has passed the House and is now moving to the Senate, where Rep. Greene expressed her hope that this provision will be eliminated.

The CEO of AI firm Anthropic recently cautioned that governments are not adequately acknowledging the risks associated with AI and that there is a genuine lack of proactive measures being taken to prepare for future developments. Additionally, <a href="https://mashable.com/article/big-beautiful-bill-ai-moratorium-poll?taid=6838b9447f25