California Advances State AI Regulation Framework Despite Federal Opposition

Apr 13, 2026

California advances state-level AI regulation despite Trump administration opposition through executive orders and a legal task force established in December 2025, while Congress remains gridlocked on federal AI legislation. Governor Gavin Newsom signed three bills in 2024 restricting AI-generated political content, and Senator Josh Hawley has authored multiple bills including the GUARD Act banning AI companions for minors and the Artificial Intelligence Risk Evaluation Act allowing Energy Department nationalization of AI technology. The regulatory debate intensified after tragic incidents including 14-year-old Sewell Setzer III's February 2024 suicide allegedly linked to AI chatbot obsession and 16-year-old Adam Raine's April 2025 death after ChatGPT allegedly provided suicide instructions. Federal AI advancement advocates argue state regulations create harmful balkanization threatening American competitiveness in an industry that attracted $259 billion in venture capital in 2025, while supporters cite AI benefits including 63 percent reduction in public defender document review time and 30-70 percent cost reduction in early-stage drug discovery.

Partisan Differences in Federal AI Regulation Approaches

▪California Governor Gavin Newsom signed three bills in 2024 that restricted the use of AI to create political content deemed deceptive in advance of elections

Specific Congressional AI Bills and Their Bipartisan Support

▪Senator Josh Hawley's GUARD Act is co-sponsored by 12 senators including Richard Blumenthal, Peter Welch, Katie Britt, Tom Cotton, Ruben Gallego, Maggie Hassan, Mark Kelly, James Lankford, Mike Lee, Chris Murphy, Mark Warner, and Catherine Cortez Masto
▪Senator Josh Hawley's AI-Related Job Impacts Clarity Act would require all publicly traded companies to submit quarterly reports to the Labor Department on the number of employees fired, hired, and retrained substantially due to replacement or automation by artificial intelligence
▪Senator Josh Hawley's AI Accountability and Personal Data Protection Act outlaws the use of legally acquired copyrighted materials for AI training without the copyright holder's permission
▪Senator Dick Durbin's AI LEAD Act was introduced in September and is co-sponsored solely by Senator Josh Hawley
▪Bartz v. Anthropic found Anthropic guilty of copyright infringement for using over 7 million copies of copyrighted books illegally acquired from pirate sites
▪Senator Chris Coons introduced the NO FAKES Act with 11 co-sponsors, six of them Republicans
▪The NO FAKES Act would impose penalties of up to $25,000

AI's Transformative Benefits Across Industries and Society

▪In February 2024, 14-year-old Sewell Setzer III shot himself after allegedly becoming obsessed with an AI companion chatbot designed by the service character.ai
▪Venture capital firms invested $259 billion in AI firms in 2025
▪In April 2025, 16-year-old Adam Raine took his own life after ChatGPT allegedly provided him a step-by-step playbook for ending his life in 5-10 minutes, according to the lawsuit his parents filed against OpenAI