State AI rules getting specific
U.S. state-level AI legislation is moving from broad principles toward use‑case rules — recent bills cited include Nebraska (chatbots), Maryland (pricing) and Maine (health). The Maryland pricing item is notable for insurers because it signals regulators are starting to target pricing-related AI uses specifically. (troutmanprivacy.com)
State lawmakers are starting to write artificial intelligence rules for specific products and decisions, not just broad “high-risk” systems. (troutmanprivacy.com) A law firm tracking 2026 state bills said legislatures in Nebraska, Maryland, and Maine passed new artificial intelligence measures in the week before April 13. The measures cover chatbot disclosures, pricing, and health-related uses. (troutmanprivacy.com) Nebraska’s unicameral legislature passed Legislative Bill 525, which includes the Conversational Artificial Intelligence Safety Act. The bill requires a conversational artificial intelligence service to tell minors it is artificial intelligence and to tell any user it is not human when a reasonable person would not otherwise understand that. (troutmanprivacy.com) The Nebraska bill also says a conversational artificial intelligence service may not represent that it is designed to provide professional mental or behavioral health care, and the state attorney general would enforce it if signed. Senator Eliot Bostar introduced the stand-alone chatbot bill, Legislative Bill 1185, on January 21, 2026. (troutmanprivacy.com, nebraskalegislature.gov) Maryland’s pricing bill is House Bill 895, titled the Protection From Predatory Pricing Act. As of April 11, the Maryland General Assembly site listed it as “Passed Enrolled,” after the bill was amended from an earlier food-retailer draft into a broader consumer-protection measure. (mgaleg.maryland.gov) The Maryland bill bars food retailers and third-party delivery providers from dynamic pricing and from using consumer personal data to set prices for consumer goods or services. Its Senate cross-file, Senate Bill 387, defines dynamic pricing to include prices that change within a business day through artificial intelligence or models that retrain in near real time. (mgaleg.maryland.gov, mgaleg.maryland.gov) Maryland also had a narrower bill, House Bill 148, that would have banned surveillance-based price setting and wage setting, but the General Assembly site still showed that measure at a February 10 hearing stage. The bill summary says it would have treated violations as unfair, abusive, or deceptive trade practices. (mgaleg.maryland.gov) Maine’s health measure, Legislative Document 1301, took a different path. The bill text says that, beginning January 1, 2026, health insurers using artificial intelligence for medical review or utilization review must base those tools on a patient’s medical history and clinical circumstances, disclose the use in written policies, and keep the systems open to inspection. (legislature.maine.gov) The same Maine bill says a denial, delay, modification, or adjustment of care based on medical necessity must be made by a clinical peer competent to evaluate the case. That requirement puts a licensed human reviewer between an algorithm and a final coverage decision. (legislature.maine.gov) Maryland already enacted a related insurance law in 2025, House Bill 820, requiring carriers, pharmacy benefit managers, and private review agents using artificial intelligence in utilization review to meet standards on human clinical oversight, transparency, auditing, and nondiscrimination. The 2026 pricing push shows state legislatures are now spreading artificial intelligence rules beyond health review and chatbot safety into how sellers set consumer prices. (ai.maryland.gov, troutmanprivacy.com)
