State AI Laws in 2026: 131 Enacted Laws in 36 States, and Colorado Rewrote Its Landmark Act Before Anyone Enforced It

As of October 30, 2026, we count 131 enacted state AI laws in 36 states, each confirmed on the legislature’s own bill record or session law rather than a law-firm summary. 37 target deepfakes in elections, 66 put duties on businesses that build or use AI, and 25 of those take effect in the next 12 months. No federal law preempts them.

Not legal advice. Counts are bills signed into law (amending bills count separately) in the nine categories defined in the Methodology. They are lower than the hundreds of “AI-related” enactments that some trackers count, because we include only laws we could confirm on an official source.

Where the state AI laws are

California leads with 29 laws in this tracker, followed by New York (10), Utah (9), Colorado (8), Texas (7). The map counts every enacted bill we verified, including amending bills and deepfake laws; hover a state for its total.

The law matrix: which kinds of AI law each state has

A law with provisions in more than one category (for example Connecticut SB 5 or Kentucky SB 4) is counted once in the state total and once in each category column, so the column totals add to more than 131. New York City’s Local Law 144 is a city law and is not in the state counts.

What kinds of AI laws states pass

Deepfake laws are the largest group: 37 of the 131 laws are primarily about election deepfakes and 22 about intimate-image deepfakes. Laws aimed at the companies that build and deploy AI (66 in all) carry the compliance work: 9 broad or high-risk AI laws (Colorado, Texas, Utah and Connecticut, counting amending bills), 4 frontier model laws, 10 transparency laws, 19 chatbot laws, 19 health care AI laws and 5 employment laws. Lawmakers signed 43 of the tracked laws in 2026 so far, against 33 in all of 2025, and the mix shifted: 25 of the 2026 laws regulate chatbots or AI in health care, against 10 in 2025.

Effective dates coming in the next 12 months

25 laws in the tracker take effect between October 31, 2026 and October 31, 2027. January 1, 2027 is the big date: 19 laws start that day.

1. Jan 1, 2027

   California AB 2713 California AI Transparency Act: large online platform provenance data

   California SB 1050 False advertising: synthetic performers disclosure

   California AB 1609 Customer service chatbots (no posing as human, disclosure, human agent access)

   California AB 2025 Tenancy: digitally altered (incl. AI-generated) images disclosure in rental listings

   California AB 1979 Health care AI: clinician judgment, no AI performing licensed clinical functions, health chatbots under CMIA

   California SB 503 Clinical decision support systems: bias identification and developer documentation

   California SB 867 Toys: companion chatbots (ban on toys with companion chatbots, Bus. & Prof. Code 22604.5)

   Colorado SB 26-189 Automated Decision-Making Technology in Consequential Decisions (repeals and reenacts the Colorado AI Act) Applies to consequential decisions made on or after Jan 1, 2027; AG rules due by then

   Colorado HB 26-1139 Use of AI in health care (utilization review; no AI psychotherapy payment)

   Colorado HB26-1263 Conversational artificial intelligence service operator requirements (C.R.S. 6-1-1708)

   Illinois SB 315 (104th GA) Artificial Intelligence Safety Measures Act

   New York S6953-B / A6453-B Responsible AI Safety and Education (RAISE) Act Originally 90 days after signing; set to Jan 1, 2027 by chapter amendment (Ch. 96 of 2026)

   New York S8828 / A9449 RAISE Act chapter amendment (transparency and safety requirements for developers of AI models)

   New York A10008-C / S9008-C (Part Y) Safe by Design Act (General Business Law Article 45-B), incl. default disabling of integrated AI companions for minors

   New York S9051-B Prohibition on unsafe AI companion features for minors (General Business Law Article 48)

   Oregon SB 1546 Artificial intelligence companions

   Rhode Island S 2195 / H 7350 Artificial Intelligence Companion Models (R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 6-63)

   Utah SB 319 Health insurance preauthorization amendments (AI use disclosure)

   Washington ESHB 2225 AI companion chatbots

   Connecticut SB 5 (2026) AI companion safety sections (Secs. 4 to 6) take effect

2. Jul 1, 2027

   California SB 947 Employment: automated decision systems (Labor Code Part 5.5.5, sec. 1520 and following)

   California SB 1119 Companion chatbots: children’s safety (Adam’s Law, Bus. & Prof. Code 21810 et seq.)

   Georgia SB 540 Online internet safety: disclosures and minor protections for conversational AI services (O.C.G.A. Title 39, Ch. 5)

   Iowa SF 2417 Conversational AI services: limitations, required disclosures and civil penalties (Iowa Code ch. 554J)

   Idaho S 1297 Conversational AI Safety Act (Idaho Code 48-2101 et seq.)

   Nebraska LB 525 Conversational Artificial Intelligence Safety Act (with Agricultural Data Privacy Act)

   Connecticut SB 5 (2026) AI regulatory sandbox plan (Sec. 3) due

   Utah SB 149 (2024) Utah Artificial Intelligence Policy Act repeals under Utah Code 63I-2-213 unless extended Repeal date moved from May 1, 2025 to Jul 1, 2027 by SB 332 and SB 226 (2025)

The laws that put duties on businesses

These are the laws an IT provider is most likely to meet when it deploys AI for clients: broad and high-risk AI laws, frontier model rules, transparency and chatbot disclosure, AI in hiring and in health care, plus state-government AI rules that flow down to vendors. Effective dates are the current dates after every amending bill we found.

Colorado: a law rewritten before its first enforcement day

Colorado’s 2024 AI Act (SB 24-205) was the first broad high-risk AI law in the US. Its duties were set to start February 1, 2026, then SB 25B-004 moved them to June 30, 2026. On May 14, 2026 the governor signed SB 26-189, which repeals that framework and replaces it with a narrower law on automated decision-making technology that applies to consequential decisions made on or after Jan 1, 2027. Under the new law, developers must give deployers technical documentation, and deployers must give notice at the point of interaction and a plain-language explanation within 30 days of an adverse decision. It is enforced only by the Attorney General, with a 60-day cure period before January 1, 2030, and no private right of action. Meanwhile, a stipulated order of April 27, 2026 in X.AI LLC v. Weiser bars the Attorney General from starting any enforcement under SB 24-205 or its replacement until 14 days after the court rules on xAI’s coming preliminary injunction motion.

Texas, Utah and Connecticut

Texas HB 149 (the Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act) took effect January 1, 2026. It bans developing or deploying AI for a short list of purposes (manipulating people toward self-harm or crime, government social scoring, unlawful discrimination, child sexual abuse material), requires government agencies to disclose AI use, and creates a 36-month regulatory sandbox. Penalties after a 60-day cure period run from $10,000 to $12,000 per curable violation and $80,000 to $200,000 per uncurable one, enforced only by the Attorney General. Utah’s Artificial Intelligence Policy Act (SB 149, 2024) requires generative AI disclosure when a consumer asks and up front in regulated occupations; two 2025 bills moved its repeal date to July 1, 2027. Connecticut SB 5 (Public Act 26-15, signed May 27, 2026) is an omnibus law: hiring-tool notices and frontier whistleblower protections from October 1, 2026, and AI companion safeguards from January 1, 2027.

Frontier model laws: California, New York, Illinois

California SB 53 (in force January 1, 2026) requires frontier developers to report critical safety incidents and large frontier developers (over $500 million in revenue) to publish a safety framework, with penalties up to $1 million per violation. New York’s RAISE Act was signed December 19, 2025 with penalties of up to $10 million, then rewritten by a chapter amendment (Chapter 96 of 2026) that cut them to $1 million and $3 million and set the start date at January 1, 2027. Illinois SB 315 (Public Act 104-0538) follows the same template from January 1, 2027 and adds annual third-party audits. These laws bind a handful of model developers, not MSPs, but they shape the documentation that downstream vendors can hand over.

Health care: utilization review and AI therapy

19 laws in the tracker govern AI in health care. Two clusters stand out. Insurance laws in California, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Texas, Utah and Washington limit AI in utilization review or prior authorization (Maryland HB 820, for example, says AI may not deny, delay or modify health care services and requires quarterly reporting of AI use in adverse decisions). AI therapy laws in Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah and Vermont restrict AI that provides or poses as mental health treatment. California AB 3030 requires a disclaimer when generative AI writes patient communications.

AI deepfake laws: elections and intimate images

We confirmed 37 election deepfake laws in 28 states and 23 intimate-image deepfake laws in 15 states on official records. Treat both as minimums: advocacy trackers list more states, but several legislature sites block our location and we left out any law we could not check ourselves. The election laws take three forms, often combined: a required disclosure on AI-altered political content (Wisconsin AB 664, Florida HB 919, Colorado HB24-1147), a right for a depicted candidate to go to court (Arizona HB 2394, Colorado), or a crime for distributing a deceptive deepfake before an election (Texas SB 751, Mississippi SB 2577). Courts have been receptive to First Amendment challenges: California’s AB 2655 and AB 2839 are permanently enjoined as applied to the plaintiffs in Kohls v. Bonta, and Hawaii’s Act 191 was permanently enjoined on January 30, 2026.

The federal side: executive order, task force and courts

Executive Order 14365, “Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence,” was signed December 11, 2025. It directed the Attorney General to set up an AI Litigation Task Force within 30 days “whose sole responsibility shall be to challenge State AI laws,” told Commerce to publish within 90 days an evaluation naming onerous state laws, tied remaining BEAD broadband non-deployment funds to that list, and asked the FTC and FCC to act. It also told advisers to draft a preemption bill that would not preempt state laws on child safety, AI compute and data center infrastructure, or state government procurement and use of AI. The Attorney General created the task force by memorandum on January 9, 2026.

A Federal Register search on October 30, 2026 found no Commerce evaluation of state AI laws or NTIA policy notice under the order, although both were due about March 11, 2026. Two later AI executive orders (14409 on June 2, 2026, on AI cybersecurity, and 14434 on September 29, 2026, which tells agencies to say “Super Intelligence” instead of “AI”) do not address state laws.

What this means for MSPs

Most state AI laws regulate the business that uses an AI tool to make or support a decision about a person, and the developer that sells it. An MSP that resells or runs AI tools for clients sits in the middle, and its contracts decide who carries the paperwork. With 25 business-facing laws starting in the next 12 months, four obligations recur:

Disclosure. Maine’s LD 1727 bars chatbots in trade that could mislead a consumer into thinking they are dealing with a human unless clearly notified; Utah requires generative AI disclosure when a consumer asks; and from January 1, 2027 California AB 1609 bars large businesses from presenting a customer service chatbot as human and requires access to a human agent. Colorado SB 26-189 adds notice at the point of interaction for consequential decisions from 2027. Any client-facing chatbot an MSP deploys (help desk, scheduling, intake) should say it is AI and offer a route to a person. California SB 942, operative since August 2, 2026, puts provenance and detection duties on generative AI providers, so image and video tools resold to clients may now carry embedded disclosures.

Hiring tools. AI in hiring triggers New York City’s bias-audit rule, the Illinois Human Rights Act amendment (HB 3773, in force since January 1, 2026, which requires notice to employees), Connecticut SB 5 notices from October 1, 2026, Colorado’s 2027 law and California SB 947 from July 1, 2027, which bars relying solely on an automated decision system to discipline or fire. Clients who use AI resume screening need audit and notice records, and so does an MSP that uses them for its own recruiting, a live issue as AI use at work spreads.

Impact assessments and records. Colorado’s new law requires developers to hand deployers documentation and deployers to keep records for three years; Maryland and Connecticut require AI inventories and impact assessments for state agencies, and New York’s LOADinG Act regulates agencies’ automated decision systems; those duties flow down to vendors in public-sector contracts. MSPs with state and local government clients should expect AI questions in RFPs next to the security attestations they already handle for CMMC certification.

Deepfakes and impersonation. Election and intimate-image deepfake laws rarely touch IT providers directly, but they shape takedown and incident response for clients that are campaigns, schools or media firms.

Data handling questions overlap: several of the same states regulate data brokers, and clients adopting AI quickly (Census data put small business AI adoption at under a quarter of employer firms) will ask their MSP first.

Frequently asked questions

Which states have AI laws?

In our tracker, 36 states have at least one enacted AI law checked against the official legislature record, 131 laws in all. California has the most, with 29. The largest groups are deepfake laws (37 on elections, 23 on intimate images); 66 put duties on businesses that build or use AI.

Is the Colorado AI Act in effect?

Not as written. SB 24-205 was delayed to June 30, 2026 by SB 25B-004, then repealed and replaced by SB 26-189, signed May 14, 2026, which takes effect January 1, 2027. Since April 27, 2026, a federal court order in X.AI LLC v. Weiser has barred the Attorney General from starting enforcement while the case is pending.

Did Trump’s executive order preempt state AI laws?

No. Executive Order 14365 (December 11, 2025) told the Attorney General to create an AI Litigation Task Force to challenge state AI laws, told Commerce to list onerous laws within 90 days, and told White House advisers to prepare a legislative recommendation for a federal framework that preempts conflicting state laws. The order itself does not preempt any law: state AI laws stay enforceable unless a court blocks them or Congress passes a preemption statute.

What state AI laws take effect in 2027?

25 laws in our tracker take effect between January 1 and October 31, 2027: 19 on January 1 (including Colorado SB 26-189, New York’s RAISE Act as amended, Illinois SB 315 and California’s customer service chatbot law, AB 1609) and 6 on July 1 (including California’s SB 947 on automated decisions at work).

How many states have AI deepfake election laws?

We confirmed 37 enacted election deepfake laws in 28 states on official records. Courts have blocked some: California’s AB 2655 and AB 2839 are permanently enjoined as applied to the plaintiffs, and Hawaii’s Act 191 is permanently enjoined.

Do state AI laws let people sue?

Rarely. Of the 66 business-facing laws in our tracker, 6 create a private right of action, and those are narrow (for example, whistleblower retaliation claims). 49 carry civil penalties, almost always enforced by the state Attorney General.

Methodology

References

1. Executive Order 14365, Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence, 90 FR 58499. Accessed October 2026.
2. U.S. Department of Justice, Attorney General memorandum, Artificial Intelligence Litigation Task Force, January 9, 2026. Accessed October 2026.
3. The White House, National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence: Legislative Recommendations, March 2026. Accessed October 2026.
4. Federal Trade Commission, proposed Policy Statement Concerning the Suppression of Accuracy in Artificial Intelligence Systems, 91 FR 41638. Accessed October 2026.
5. Executive Order 14409, Promoting Advanced Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Security. Accessed October 2026.
6. Executive Order 14434, Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence. Accessed October 2026.
7. Congress.gov, H.R. 5388, American Artificial Intelligence Leadership and Uniformity Act. Accessed October 2026.
8. Congress.gov, S.Amdt. 2814 to H.R. 1 (Record Vote 363). Accessed October 2026.
9. X.AI LLC v. Weiser, No. 1:26-cv-01515 (D. Colo.), docket. Accessed October 2026.
10. Kohls v. Bonta, No. 2:24-cv-02527 (E.D. Cal.), docket. Accessed October 2026.
11. The Babylon Bee, LLC v. Lopez, No. 1:25-cv-00234 (D. Haw.), docket. Accessed October 2026.
12. SpaceXAI LLC v. Ellison, No. 26-2806 (8th Cir.), docket. Accessed October 2026.
13. NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, Automated Employment Decision Tools. Accessed October 2026.
14. California AB 1609, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
15. California AB 1979, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
16. California AB 2013, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
17. California AB 2025, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
18. California AB 2713, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
19. California AB 3030, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
20. California AB 489, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
21. California AB 723, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
22. California AB 853, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
23. California SB 1000, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
24. California SB 1001, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
25. California SB 1050, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
26. California SB 1119, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
27. California SB 1120, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
28. California SB 243, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
29. California SB 503, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
30. California SB 53, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
31. California SB 867, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
32. California SB 942, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
33. California SB 947, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
34. Colorado HB 26-1139, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
35. Colorado HB26-1195, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
36. Colorado HB26-1263, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
37. Colorado SB 24-205, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
38. Colorado SB 25B-004, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
39. Colorado SB 26-189, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
40. Connecticut SB 1103, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
41. Connecticut SB 5 (2026), official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
42. Georgia SB 540, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
43. Hawaii SB 3001 CD1, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
44. Iowa HF 2635, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
45. Iowa SF 2417, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
46. Idaho S 1297, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
47. Illinois HB 1806, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
48. Illinois HB 2557, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
49. Illinois HB 3773, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
50. Illinois HB 53, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
51. Illinois SB 315 (104th GA), official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
52. Indiana HEA 1271, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
53. Maryland HB 1202, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
54. Maryland HB 820, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
55. Maryland SB 818, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
56. Maine LD 1727 (HP 1154), official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
57. Maine LD 2082 (HP 1397), official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
58. Montana HB 178, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
59. Nebraska LB 525, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
60. New Hampshire HB 143, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
61. New York A10008-C / S9008-C (Part Y), official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
62. New York City Int. 1894-2020-A (Local Law 144 of 2021), official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
63. New York S 7543-B (LOADinG Act), official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
64. New York S.8420-A / A.8887-B, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
65. New York S3008-C (Part U), official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
66. New York S6953-B / A6453-B, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
67. New York S8828 / A9449, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
68. New York S9051-B, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
69. Oregon SB 1546, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
70. Rhode Island S 2195 Sub A as amended / H 7350 Sub A as amended, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
71. Rhode Island S 2197 Sub A as amended / H 7349 Sub A, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
72. Tennessee SB 1580 / HB 1470, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
73. Texas HB 149, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
74. Texas HB 3512, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
75. Texas SB 1188, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
76. Texas SB 815, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
77. Utah H.B. 452, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
78. Utah HB 320 (2026), official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
79. Utah SB 149 (2024), official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
80. Utah SB 226 (2025), official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
81. Utah SB 319, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
82. Utah SB 332 (2025), official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
83. Vermont H.410, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
84. Vermont H.816, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
85. Washington E2SSB 5395, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
86. Washington ESHB 2225, official bill record. Accessed October 2026.
87. Official bill records for every election and intimate-image deepfake law are linked in the lists above and in the CSV. Accessed October 2026.