The White House is back at the table on federal preemption of state AI laws, this time bundling it with a slate of must-pass tech bills, Axios reported June 8. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., is leading negotiations to trade administration backing of the Senate version of the Kids Online Safety Act, the NO FAKES Act, and age verification requirements for language overriding the patchwork of state AI rules that defeated similar efforts in both chambers last year.

A Blackburn spokesperson called it “subject-matter preemption,” and “not blanket preemption of all laws regulating AI or child safety.” That framing is the political innovation here. Rather than fight preemption as a standalone provision, which has lost twice, the package converts it into the price of Trump’s signature on bills industry and parents’ groups both want.

The maneuver sidelines a more deliberate vehicle: the 269-page Great American Artificial Intelligence Act, the bipartisan House draft from Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., and Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., reported June 4. That bill preempts state laws “specifically regulating the development” of models for three years, leaves use and deployment rules alone, codifies the Center for AI Standards and Innovation, and requires frontier developers above $500 million in revenue to publish safety frameworks. An accompanying document from Trahan’s office lists California’s AB 2013 and parts of SB 942 as casualties.

Critics see the floor giving way. Brad Carson, president of Americans for Responsible Innovation, called preemption a “generational mistake” that “turns the state-law floor into a federal ceiling.” Brendan Steinhauser of the Alliance for Secure AI said the Obernolte-Trahan bill “does not justify preempting states’ ability to pass their own AI safeguards.”

Trump’s June 2 executive order on AI innovation and security, with its voluntary model review and 30-day cyber defense deadline for National Security Systems, conspicuously left state laws alone. The legislative package is where that fight was always going to happen.

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