How many states have AI laws?
The most cited count comes from the National Conference of State Legislatures. Speaking at NCSL Base Camp 2026, NCSL fellow Will Clark said states introduced 1,262 AI bills in 2025 and enacted or adopted 227, and in 2026 introduced 1,539 and enacted 280 as of early October, as reported in NCSL's State Legislatures News. NCSL tracks these bills in its AI Legislation Database. We use NCSL as the single source for totals on this page.
Counts differ between trackers because they define an AI law differently. NCSL's figure counts measures enacted or adopted, which can include resolutions, task force bills and amendments to existing criminal law. Other publications report different totals for 2026, so check what a tracker counts before comparing figures. Neither figure tells you how many states regulate private AI use in a way that creates compliance duties; that is a much shorter list, set out in the table below.
NCSL also describes the shape of 2026: deepfake bills were the most common type enacted, typically covering explicit content, political ads and digital likeness; bills requiring users to be told they are dealing with AI nearly tripled among introductions; and only two comprehensive AI laws passed, in Colorado and Connecticut (NCSL).
AI laws by state: the full table
This table lists the most significant enacted state AI laws that impose duties on developers, deployers or platforms. It is not every AI measure NCSL counts; criminal deepfake amendments and government study bills are summarized by topic below. Status is as of November 9, 2026. Each row is sourced in the topic sections that follow.
| State | Law | Bill | Topic | Effective date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | Transparency in Frontier AI Act | SB 53 | Frontier AI safety | Jan. 1, 2026 | In force |
| California | Companion chatbots | SB 243 | Chatbots | Jan. 1, 2026 | In force |
| California | AI Transparency Act | SB 942, AB 853, SB 1000 | Provenance and disclosure | Aug. 2, 2026; platforms Jan. 1, 2027 | In force (amended Sept. 30, 2026) |
| California | Training data transparency | AB 2013 | Disclosure | Jan. 1, 2026 | In force |
| California | Adam's Law | SB 1119 | Chatbots and minors | July 1, 2027 (core duties) | Enacted, not yet operative |
| California | No Robo Bosses Act | SB 947 | Automated decisions, employment | July 1, 2027 | Enacted, not yet operative |
| Colorado | Automated Decision-Making Technology | SB 26-189 | Automated decisions | Jan. 1, 2027 | Enacted; rulemaking under way; replaces SB 24-205 |
| Connecticut | An Act Concerning Online Safety | SB 5 (2026) | Frontier AI, companions, employment, provenance | Phased, Oct. 1, 2026 to Jan. 1, 2028 | Partly in force |
| Illinois | Human Rights Act amendment | HB 3773 | Automated decisions, employment | Jan. 1, 2026 | In force |
| Illinois | AI Safety Measures Act | SB 315 | Frontier AI safety, audits | Jan. 1, 2027; audits from 2028 | Enacted, not yet operative |
| New York | RAISE Act | Ch. 699 of 2025, amended by S8828 (2026) | Frontier AI safety | Jan. 1, 2027 | Enacted, not yet operative |
| New York | AI companion models law | Gen. Bus. Law Art. 47 | Chatbots | Nov. 5, 2025 | In force |
| Tennessee | ELVIS Act | HB 2091 (2024) | Voice and likeness | July 1, 2024 | In force |
| Texas | Responsible AI Governance Act (TRAIGA) | HB 149 | Prohibited uses, government disclosure | Jan. 1, 2026 | In force |
| Utah | Artificial Intelligence Policy Act | SB 149 (2024), amended by SB 226 and SB 332 (2025) | Disclosure | May 1, 2024; repeal date July 1, 2027 | In force |
State pages with full detail for California, Colorado and Texas are listed under State AI law pages on this page. Federal measures are on the legislation hub.
State AI laws by topic
Frontier AI safety
California's SB 53, in force since January 1, 2026, requires developers of models trained with more than 10^26 operations to publish transparency reports and report critical safety incidents, and those with over $500 million in revenue to publish a frontier AI framework, with penalties up to $1 million per violation (FPF). New York's RAISE Act, as amended by S8828 in March 2026, uses the same thresholds, requires 72-hour incident reports, caps penalties at $1 million for a first violation and $3 million thereafter, and takes effect January 1, 2027 (Morrison Foerster). Illinois' SB 315, signed July 6, 2026, adds annual independent audits of large frontier developers from 2028 (Hunton). Connecticut's SB 5 extends whistleblower protection to frontier developer employees from October 1, 2026 but does not require safety frameworks or transparency reports (Morrison Foerster).
Chatbots and companions
New York's AI companion law took effect November 5, 2025, requiring crisis detection protocols and notice at the start of a conversation and every three hours that the user is not talking to a human, enforced by the attorney general (Fenwick). California's SB 243 took effect January 1, 2026 with similar disclosure and suicide prevention protocols and a private right of action with at least $1,000 per violation (Skadden); SB 1119 adds child safety duties from July 1, 2027 (Manatt). Connecticut's SB 5 regulates AI companions from January 1, 2027 (Morrison Foerster), and Colorado's HB 26-1263 sets chatbot operator duties from the same date (Akin Gump). Utah's 2026 Companion Chatbot Safety Act did not become law (NCSL).
Automated decisions and hiring
Colorado's SB 26-189 requires notice, a plain-language explanation within 30 days of an adverse decision, data correction and human review where automated decision-making technology materially influences decisions on jobs, housing, lending, insurance, health care, education or government services, from January 1, 2027 (Colorado General Assembly). Illinois' HB 3773, signed in August 2024 and effective January 1, 2026, makes discriminatory use of AI in employment decisions, and failure to give notice of AI use, civil rights violations under the Illinois Human Rights Act (Morgan Lewis). California's SB 947 bars employers from relying solely on automated systems for discipline or firing from July 1, 2027 (Manatt), and Connecticut's SB 5 adds duties for employers using automated employment decision tools (Morrison Foerster).
Deepfakes and elections
Deepfake bills were the most common type of AI law enacted in 2026, typically covering sexually explicit content, political advertising and digital likeness (NCSL). Examples include California's 2024 laws criminalizing sexually explicit deepfakes intended to cause distress and requiring platforms to take reported deepfakes down (governor's release), Texas's SB 441 on sexually explicit deepfakes (Jackson Walker), and Tennessee's ELVIS Act, signed March 21, 2024, which added voice to the state's right of publicity from July 1, 2024 (Rolling Stone). Our voice and likeness analysis covers publicity rights in more depth.
Disclosure and transparency
Utah's Artificial Intelligence Policy Act (SB 149), in effect since May 1, 2024, requires disclosure of generative AI use; 2025 amendments in SB 226 narrowed the duty to cases where a consumer asks or the interaction is high risk, and SB 332 extended the law to July 1, 2027 (Perkins Coie). California's AI Transparency Act requires latent provenance data in AI-generated image, video and audio from August 2, 2026 (Morgan Lewis). Texas requires government agencies and health care providers, but not businesses generally, to disclose AI interactions (HB 149 enrolled text). For how disclosure and detection duties fit together, see detection mandates explained.
States with the most AI laws
No tracker we reviewed publishes a ranked count of enacted AI laws by state for 2026, so we do not rank states here. California is the clear outlier by volume: lawmakers sent more than 30 AI bills to the governor in the 2026 session and the state enacted more than two dozen, according to Latham & Watkins, on top of SB 53, SB 243, AB 2013 and the AI Transparency Act from earlier sessions. The governor's office listed the September 30, 2026 package in a release.
By depth rather than count, Colorado and Connecticut are the only states NCSL credits with comprehensive AI laws in 2026 (NCSL). Texas's TRAIGA reaches anyone who does business in the state or whose product Texans use, but its bans are mostly intent-based (Texas Legislature). For frontier models, Illinois is the first state to mandate annual independent audits (Hunton).
Federal preemption and state AI laws
Congress has not passed a law preempting state AI regulation. In July 2025 the Senate voted 99 to 1 to strip a moratorium on state AI laws from a budget bill, as reported by Fisher Phillips. The White House then turned to executive action: Executive Order 14365, signed December 11, 2025 and published in the Federal Register on December 16, 2025, directs the Attorney General to set up an AI Litigation Task Force to challenge state AI laws the administration views as inconsistent with federal policy.
That strategy has reached court once. In April 2026 the Department of Justice intervened in xAI's suit against Colorado's SB 24-205, alleging compelled speech and unlawful race- and sex-conscious obligations, consistent with the executive order (McDermott Will & Schulte). On March 20, 2026 the White House released a national AI legislative framework asking Congress to preempt state laws it considers unduly burdensome, while preserving some generally applicable state laws; it is a recommendation, not law (Morgan Lewis).
An executive order cannot by itself displace a state statute. Until Congress acts or a court rules against a particular law, the state laws in the table apply. A dedicated page on federal preemption is listed in the related links.
State AI legislation tracker: pending bills
For live pending-bill status across all 50 states, the NCSL AI Legislation Database is the most complete free source. Most 2026 regular sessions have ended, so the items to watch before the 2027 sessions are implementation steps rather than votes.
- Colorado: attorney general rules for SB 26-189 and HB 26-1263, with a hearing that opened October 26, 2026 and a January 1, 2027 effective date (Akin Gump).
- California: AB 1018, the Automated Decisions Safety Act, returned to the Senate floor in August 2026 (LegiScan); we have found no record that it was enacted. The governor's September 18, 2026 executive order asks agencies for recommendations on frontier AI safeguards (Latham).
- New York and Illinois: frontier AI laws take effect January 1, 2027 (Morrison Foerster; Hunton).
- Connecticut: SB 5 phases continue through January 1, 2028 (Morrison Foerster).
There is no single state AI law to follow: legislatures enacted 280 AI measures in 2026 as of early October, per NCSL, and most are narrow. Businesses should focus on California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, Texas and Utah, whose laws cover frontier AI, chatbots, automated decisions, deepfakes and disclosure. No federal statute preempts these state laws as of November 9, 2026.
What changed
- 2026-11-09: Tracker table checked against primary sources; statuses as of this date.
- 2026-10-26: Colorado attorney general rulemaking hearing on SB 26-189 opened.
- 2026-09-30: California enacted SB 1000, SB 947 and other AI bills.
- 2026-08-02: California AI Transparency Act provider duties became operative.
- 2026-07-06: Illinois SB 315 signed.
- 2026-05-27: Connecticut SB 5 signed.
- 2026-05-14: Colorado SB 26-189 signed, replacing SB 24-205.
- 2026-01-01: California SB 53, SB 243 and AB 2013, Illinois HB 3773 and Texas HB 149 took effect.
Frequently asked questions
How many states have AI laws?
NCSL counts 280 AI measures enacted or adopted by state legislatures in 2026 as of early October, and 227 in 2025. Those totals include narrow measures. Far fewer states have laws that place compliance duties on private AI developers or deployers; the main ones are listed in the table above.
Which states have AI laws?
States with significant enacted AI laws include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. Many more have deepfake, election or government-use AI laws, which NCSL tracks in its AI Legislation Database.
Which state has the strictest AI law?
It depends on the topic. For frontier models, Illinois SB 315 adds mandatory annual third-party audits from 2028. For consumer decisions, Colorado SB 26-189 is one of only two comprehensive AI laws enacted in 2026, with notice, explanation and human review duties. California has the largest number of AI statutes.
Can the federal government override state AI laws?
Congress could preempt state AI laws by statute but has not done so as of November 9, 2026. Executive Order 14365 directs the Justice Department to challenge state laws in court, and DOJ intervened against Colorado in 2026, but an executive order alone does not void a state law.
Where can I track state AI legislation?
The NCSL AI Legislation Database tracks bills in all 50 states. This page tracks the most significant enacted laws with dated status, and links to state pages for California, Colorado and Texas.
Sources
- NCSL: As Congress Deliberates, States Lead the Way on AI Regulation
- NCSL: Artificial Intelligence Legislation Database
- Colorado General Assembly: SB26-189
- Texas Legislature Online: HB 149 history
- Office of the Governor of California: AI bills signed Sept. 30, 2026
- Federal Register: Executive Order 14365 (Dec. 16, 2025)
- Morrison Foerster: Connecticut enacts sweeping AI law
- Morrison Foerster: New York amends the RAISE Act
- Hunton: Illinois Governor signs frontier AI model law
- Fenwick: New York AI companion safeguard law takes effect
- Perkins Coie: New Utah AI laws
- Morgan Lewis: White House AI framework and federal preemption
This page is journalism and commentary, not legal advice. AI law changes quickly; check the primary sources above and consult qualified counsel for your situation.