An Autopsy on the State AI Moratorium

State AI Moratorium Dies in the Senate — For Now

This morning, the Senate voted to strip a key AI provision from the One Big, Beautiful Bill: a moratorium on state-level AI regulations. It’s a quiet but consequential loss—and a glimpse into the political learning curve we’re still climbing when it comes to governing emerging tech.

After weeks of wrangling with skeptical Senators and the parliamentarian over reconciliation rules, it became clear that this idea needed to—as we used to say on the Hill—live to fight another day. That is why the vote to remove the provision was 99-1.

Still, it stings. The House advanced the provision largely intact. But confusion over its compatibility with budget rules—and a broader lack of fluency around AI policy—let the air out.

Call it what it is: a setback for American AI leadership and a missed opportunity.

Technology doesn’t pause for procedural niceties. Yet Congress continues to treat AI like something that can be safely bracketed into old models and frameworks. That instinct—to sideline, defer, delay—doesn’t just waste time. It opens the door for a fragmented, 50-state patchwork that undermines any semblance of a national strategy.

Even symbolic legislative defeats matter. They risk casting a long shadow and chilling future action. But that can’t be allowed to happen here.

This proposal has come further than most people expected. In just six weeks, it went from inception at the Energy & Commerce markup to passing a House majority floor vote to nearly surviving the Senate process—despite reconciliation constraints and only a small handful of GOP Senators publicly signaling opposition.

What it does show is there is plenty of work to do to land the pro-AI argument.

As we’ve written before, the tech industry—and its orbit of investors, builders, and policy thinkers—is ready to go full bore on AI. They see it as the next growth engine, the next global lever, the thing America has to lead on.

But for much of the public, especially creatives, educators, and workers in legacy fields, AI feels like a threat—not a tool.

Changing that narrative is the work now. Not with talking points. With stories.

That’s what ALFA intends to do.

Energy Production Continues to be Priority #1

Last week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced over a dozen bills aimed at fortifying our energy infrastructure—something that we have talked about since the early days at ALFA. Here’s a quick roundup of what they included:

• Protecting existing power sources (coal, gas, hydropower) from premature shutdowns. (This is something that Energy Secretary Chris Wright told us the Energy Department was doing as well.)

• Expanding energy infrastructure and refining capacity to meet demand.

• Mandating state and federal coordination on reliability.

• Boosting domestic production and supply chains for key components and minerals.

The committee’s work highlights the imperative to get our energy policy right so that our technological and industrial ambitions can be met. It also supplements the Administration’s approach outlined by Secretary Wright and reportedly at the core of forthcoming executive orders.

Field Notes

Red or Blue, States Increasingly Turn to Nuclear Energy

🗽 In late June, New York Governor Kathy Hochul “directed the state’s power authority to develop ‘at least’ one new nuclear energy facility with a combined capacity of no less than one gigawatt of electricity. That would increase the state’s total nuclear capacity to about 4.3 gigawatts.”

⛰️ Tennesse Governor Bill Lee published a piece in the Wall Street Journal last week encouraging President Trump to appoint new members to the Tennessee Valley Authority that will encourage more nuclear generation in the region.

18-Wheeled AI Can Save Lives

🚛 City Journal’s Jordan McGillis describes how AI can help keep truck drivers awake—and save lives. Yet, the Teamsters continue to object.

“A 2016 estimate by the National Academy of Sciences found as many as 1 in 5 fatal collisions involving a large truck or bus could be fatigue-related. The sum effect is grim. In 2019-21, more than 200 such fatal collisions took place across America.”

“Artificial-intelligence tools are emerging that can make such disasters less likely. Samsara, a firm based in San Francisco, is one of several vendors now offering AI-enabled cameras that go inside truck cabs to track driver eyelid behavior, head position, and other signs of alertness. The cameras issue warnings if risk factors show. These systems are improving rapidly. San Diego-based Lytx has upgraded its in-cab camera monitoring platform with real-time fatigue risk scoring that integrates in-cab observations with contextual roadway data collected from billions of driving miles.”

Weather-Tech (not the car mats)

🌪️ Yesterday we caught an interview with author of the new book, “Cloud Warriors" by Thomas Weber. In a published excerpt, he describes how hyperlocal forecasts are critical to emerging technology businesses — particularly drone deliveries. It’s one of those things you don’t think about but are hugely important to operators. The integration of technological advancement within our natural elements is something ALFA is deeply focused on. It saves lives, increases prosperity, and gives Americans more information to make critical decisions—making Weber’s book a timely read.