Reps. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) and Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) released a 269-page discussion draft of the Great American AI Act on June 4, 2026, pairing a new federal frontier-model regime with a three-year preemption of state AI-development laws sunsetting in December 2029. Cosponsors include Reps. Scott Franklin (R-Fla.), Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.), Erin Houchin (R-Ind.), and Scott Peters (D-Calif.).

The bill’s four titles cover Frontier AI Governance, Workforce, Cybersecurity, and Research, Development, and International Cooperation. Section 111 would require developers with more than $500 million in annual revenue to publish a frontier AI framework and transparency reports. Section 112 creates CAISI-licensed Independent Verification Organizations to audit them. Critical safety incidents must be reported to CAISI within 15 days; imminent risks within 24 hours. Whistleblowers get double back pay. CAISI’s authorities themselves terminate three years after enactment.

The preemption piece is where the draft collides with recent history. The Big Beautiful Bill’s 10-year moratorium on state AI laws was killed in the last Congress, and a Trahan office document identifies California’s AB 2013 training-data disclosure law and part of SB 942’s watermarking regime as casualties, alongside frontier-model regimes emerging in New York and Illinois.

Brad Carson of Americans for Responsible Innovation called preemption “a generational mistake,” arguing that state legislation is “the current floor on state AI legislation” and that the draft installs “a federal ceiling” in its place. House AI Commission co-chairs including Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) said the draft “cannot serve as the basis for productive dialogue.” Industry groups BSA and ITIC are aligned the other way.

Two days before the draft dropped, Trump signed a June 2 executive order establishing voluntary 30-day frontier-model reviews. Obernolte and Trahan cut the moratorium’s length by 70% and kept the fight. The politics that killed the last preemption push haven’t changed; the arithmetic has.

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