Industry urges federal framework, calls for 10‑year pause on state AI laws

Chairwoman Carol Mace opened the hearing saying “the future is too important to leave up to chance,” and witnesses urged Congress to adopt national rules that balance innovation and consumer protections.

Kinsey Fabrizio, president of the Consumer Technology Association, said CTA represents more than 1,200 companies and argued that conflicting state rules are a major barrier for small firms. “For a start up or a small business, navigating this patchwork is crippling,” Fabrizio testified, urging what she described as a 10‑year pause on enforcement of state and local AI laws to give Congress time to craft a federal approach.

Fabrizio told the panel that in 2025 more than a thousand AI‑related bills were introduced across the states and that many CTA members are startups which lack resources to comply with varied rules. She recommended a national, risk‑based, tech‑neutral framework that preempts state patchworks and reduces liability for compliant companies.

Brookings senior fellow Nicole Turner Lee and Samuel Hammond, chief economist at the Foundation for American Innovation, both acknowledged the need for federal clarity but emphasized different priorities. Turner Lee pressed for consumer protections, independent audits and disclosure rules to guard against fraud, bias and harms to vulnerable groups; Hammond pressed for monitoring frontier capabilities and protecting hardware advantages.

Members of the subcommittee questioned witnesses about the balance between state experimentation and national consistency. Ranking Member Brown and several committee members said states have been filling a gap in the absence of federal action, particularly on consumer protection issues such as fraud and voice‑cloning scams. Turner Lee noted that “over a 100 measures across 38 states have been enacted into law” since January, arguing states are experimenting with consumer‑protection approaches and enforcement.

No formal action or legislation was taken during the hearing. Witnesses agreed Congress should prioritize a federal approach but differed on how much authority to reserve for states and on the appropriate mix of safeguards and industry exemptions.

Looking ahead, Fabrizio said CTA will work with lawmakers on a preemptive federal framework; Turner Lee urged that consumer protections be baked into any national plan so that innovation does not come “at the expense of fairness, security, or opportunity.”