Public policy advocates in Virginia are urging officials to hold off for at least a decade on any state-level artificial intelligence (AI) regulations to allow Congress to take the lead.
The Virginia Institute for Public Policy, which bills itself as an “independent, nonpartisan, education and research organization committed to the goals of individual opportunity and economic growth,” gave its public endorsement on June 25 to “a proposed 10-year moratorium” on AI regulations so that Congress can “leverage its Commerce Clause 1 authority to establish federal pre-emption.”
Despite the group’s advocacy for “state-level decision-making,” Caleb Taylor, director of policy at the Virginia Institute, said AI poses an exception due to its profound impact on interstate commerce, national security, and global economic competitiveness.
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Pointing to some of America’s primary competitors like China, which continues to accelerate AI development with models such as DeepSeek R1, Taylor warned a “fragmented patchwork of state laws” could hinder U.S. innovation and potentially jeopardize the United States’ leadership in the AI race.
“When the internet first started, the United States adopted a light-touch approach to regulation,” Taylor said in a statement provided to The Christian Post. “If we’d regulated the internet like state legislators are trying to regulate AI, the internet might never have grown to be as important as it is today. Inconsistent state regulations on AI would create chaos, hamstringing Virginia’s vibrant tech sector and ceding ground to global rivals.”
The Institute’s stance aligns with Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s March veto of House Bill 2094, which proposed a rigid AI regulatory framework that Youngkin deemed overly burdensome.
In his veto statement, Youngkin emphasized that “the role of government in safeguarding AI practices should be one that enables and empowers innovators to create and grow, not one that stifles progress and places onerous burdens on our Commonwealth’s many business owners.” The governor argued that existing laws already address issues like consumer protection, privacy, and data use, rendering HB2094’s framework unnecessary and potentially harmful, particularly for smaller firms without robust legal teams.
In January 2024, Youngkin issued Executive Order 30, a much narrower approach to AI regulation that focused efforts on integration with state government agencies, K-12 schools, and law enforcement.
Imposing the 10-year moratorium, Taylor argued, would give Congress ample time to assess AI’s societal, economic, and ethical implications while engaging with innovators, policymakers, and communities to craft forward-thinking, cohesive policies. “Technology in this field is advancing at an exponential rate,” he added. “State legislators may fear the unknown and seek to regulate AI, but only Congress can address its complexity. We should be especially careful to avoid legislative overreach when nobody really knows how legislation will actually affect the development of this industry.”
President Donald Trump has pushed for legislation that would impose a 10-year moratorium on state-level AI regulations. Passed last month by the U.S. House of Representatives, Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R.1), a wide-ranging budget reconciliation bill, bars states or their political subdivisions from enforcing laws that limit, restrict or regulate AI models, systems or automated decision systems for a decade, starting from the bill’s enactment.
The only exceptions are state laws that facilitate AI deployment or align with federal requirements.
The bill also allocates $500 million through 2034 to the Department of Commerce for AI-driven modernization of federal IT systems, emphasizing efficiency and cybersecurity. This funding could open lucrative opportunities for companies like Palantir, a data analytics and AI firm known for its work with government agencies.
