Pa. lawmakers advance AI regulations, despite proposed Congressional moratorium

• By Jaxon White/LNP | LancasterOnline

Pennsylvania lawmakers advanced two artificial intelligence restrictions through committees Tuesday as Congressional Republicans continue to face blowback for a proposal to temporarily halt state AI regulations.

The state House’s new Communications & Technology Committee unanimously passed Democrat Tarik Khan’s bill to require political campaigns to disclose when they use AI to impersonate a candidate.

And the state Senate’s Judiciary Committee unanimously passed Republican Tracy Pennycuick’s proposal to classify nonconsensual deepfakes — false audio, video or images made by AI to appear real — as digital forgery.

The GOP’s AI moratorium, included in the more than 1,000-page federal reconciliation bill pushed by President Donald Trump, would nullify any current state regulations on AI and ban any future policies for the next 10 years.

But state lawmakers said addressing the rapidly expanding technology is a pressing issue, and states have been left to fend for themselves without any federal legislation to regulate the industry.

“If we learn anything from Washington, it’s that we can’t worry about what they may do and what may be down the pike,” Khan said after the committee meeting. “We have to look at doing our role in the state government, which is protecting our commonwealth.”

Multiple top Pennsylvania officials — including Republican Attorney General Dave Sunday — have heavily scrutinized the proposed policy ban, arguing it leaves consumers exposed to potentially harmful impacts of AI. Pennycuick and Democrat Nick Miller, co-chairs of the Senate’s Communications & Technology Committee, joined in that criticism.

Republicans narrowly passed the federal reconciliation bill pushed by President Donald Trump through the House last month, but it likely will face changes in the Senate.

Pennsylvania’s Democratic U.S. Sen. John Fetterman last week, in a statement, said he’s “committed to making sure there are clear and enforceable protections around AI, and I oppose any provision that would ban states from trying sensible regulation.”

Sen. Dave McCormick, a Republican, did not respond to a request for comment on this story. In a Fox News forum with Fetterman on Monday, McCormick said he would support the reconciliation bill.

Swinging elections

The legislation that cleared the House committee would ban AI misuse in campaigns only within 90 days of the relevant election. That fact drew criticism from Rep. Paul Takac, of Centre County, who said he was “deeply concerned” that the bill didn’t go far enough.

In response, Khan explained that the legislation falls in line with what Pennsylvania’s campaign law generally accepts as the timeframe of a standard election cycle, though he acknowledged that campaigns run much longer than 90 days.

“This is something that we had to narrowly tailor … to make sure that we were not running afoul of what’s in the Constitution,” Khan said.

The individual or organization found liable for not disclosing its AI use, under Khan’s proposal, could face financial penalties each day the advertisement runs, ranging from up to $15,000 daily in municipal elections to up to $250,000 daily in federal races.

Though his proposal failed in committee last year, Khan said after Tuesday’s hearing that he expects his legislation to face a full House floor vote as soon as next week.

‘Using AI nefariously’

Pennycuick’s bill in the Senate amends the current forgery and fraud laws to include any “forged digital likeness” created to visibly or audibly resemble another person. It grants certain exemptions, including parodies that are a “matter of public interest or have political or newsworthy value” and for law enforcement officials.

“These digital forgeries are being used to destroy reputations, scam the elderly, defraud businesses and even influence elections,” Pennycuick said during the Senate committee hearing.

She later renewed her calls to Congressional lawmakers to remove the moratorium from the federal reconciliation bill.

“We need to be able to prosecute those that are using AI nefariously against our citizens, and a 10-year moratorium does not allow us to do that,” Pennycuick said.

WITF regional democracy reporter Jordan Wilkie contributed to this story.