As of this morning, the loathsome AI Safe Harbor is still in the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’ (H. Con. Res. 14) as far as we can tell. There is supposed to be a “manager’s amendment” released this morning yet which will include any changes that were made in last night’s late night session. Watch this space at House Rules for when that managers amendment is released. You will be looking for Section 43201 around page 292. As far as we can tell, the safe harbor is still in there, which is not surprising as it is coming from David Sacks the Silicon Valley Viceroy and White House Crypto Czar.

But the safe harbor—a 10-year moratorium on state and local regulation of artificial intelligence (AI)—has ignited significant opposition from a broad coalition of state officials, lawmakers, and organizations. As you would expect, opponents argue that this measure would undermine existing protections and hinder the ability of states to address AI-related harms. Despite the fact that it was snuck through in the middle of the night, opposition is increasing all the time, but we cannot relent for a moment as Silicon Valley is at it again and wants to hang an AI safe harbor in the lobbyists hunting lodge, right next to the DMCA, Section 230 and Title I of the Music Modernization Act.

State-Level Opposition

A bipartisan group of 40 state attorneys general have voiced strong opposition through NAAG to the AI regulation moratorium. In a letter to Congress, they emphasized that the moratorium would disrupt hundreds of measures being both considered by state legislatures and those that have already passed in states led by Republicans and Democrats. They argue that, in the absence of comprehensive federal AI legislation, states have been at the forefront of protecting consumers.

Organizational Opposition

Beyond state officials, a coalition of 141 organizations—including unions, advocacy groups, non-profits, and academic institutions—have expressed alarm over the proposed safe harbor moratorium. In a letter to Congressional leaders, they warned that the provision could lead to unfettered abuse of AI technologies, undermining critical safeguards such as civil rights protections, privacy standards, and accountability for harmful AI applications.

Notable organizations opposing the moratorium include:

• Alphabet Workers Union
• Amazon Employees for Climate Justice
• Mozilla
• American Federation of Teachers
• Center for Democracy and Technology 
  

We don’t ask you pick up the phone and call your Congress representative very often, but this is one of those times. If you’re not sure who your representatives are, you can go to the House of Representatives website here and look at the upper right hand corner for this box:

You can also go to the 5calls webpage opposing the safe harbor moratorium which is here. They have developed some collateral and talking points for you to draw on if you like.

This is a big damn deal. Let’s get it done. We’ve all done it before, let’s do it again.