US has 1,200 AI bills

Fortune published a commentary on May 15 by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Gary Marcus and Stephen Henriques that put a single number on the U.S. artificial-intelligence policy debate: about 1,200 bills. The figure points to the volume of AI legislation moving through statehouses and Congress rather than to one national framework, according to the article. Legislative trackers and state agencies show the count has already moved beyond that benchmark in 2026 as states keep filing new proposals. ### Where does the 1,200-bill figure come from? MultiState, a government-relations and policy tracking firm, says it tracked 1,200 AI-related bills introduced across all 50 states in 2025. The same tracker says that, as of March 2026, lawmakers in 45 states had already introduced 1,561 AI-related bills, covering areas including algorithmic accountability, generative AI, deepfakes and sector-specific rules. (fortune.com) NCSL, the National Conference of State Legislatures, maintains a separate artificial-intelligence legislation database that tracks enacted and pending state bills and says it updates the database monthly as legislation is identified by staff. That database does not itself supply the “1,200” headline in the search excerpt, but it supports the broader picture of rapidly expanding state activity. (multistate.ai) ### Which states already have concrete compliance dates on the calendar? Colorado’s attorney general says the state’s Anti-Discrimination in AI law takes effect on June 30, 2026. The law, enacted as Senate Bill 24-205 and later delayed from an earlier 2026 start date, imposes duties on developers and deployers of high-risk AI systems and is enforced through the state’s consumer-protection framework. (ncsl.org) Texas made its own AI framework effective on January 1, 2026. House Bill 149, the Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act, was signed by Governor Greg Abbott on June 22, 2025, according to legal analyses and bill text summaries tracking the measure. California’s privacy regulator said final rules covering automated decisionmaking technology, risk assessments and cybersecurity audits took effect on January 1, 2026, with some compliance obligations phased in later. (leg.colorado.gov) The California Privacy Protection Agency said businesses received extra time for certain automated-decisionmaking requirements. (legiscan.com) ### What kinds of AI rules are states actually writing? NCSL says its database spans topics including government use, private-sector use, healthcare, discrimination, elections, education, child sexual-abuse material, taxes and studies. That list shows that “AI legislation” is not one category but a collection of sector rules, disclosure mandates, enforcement tools and procurement standards. (cppa.ca.gov) The IAPP, which tracks a narrower set of cross-sector private-sector governance bills, said legislative activity related to AI risks and harms has moved with “unprecedented speed.” The Future of Privacy Forum said nearly 100 chatbot-specific bills had been introduced across states in 2026, adding another layer for companies whose products face consumers directly. (ncsl.org) ### Why are companies talking about a patchwork instead of one AI rulebook? Baker Botts said in a January 2026 legal update that the U.S. AI regulatory landscape is being shaped by a “complex and evolving patchwork of state laws” in the absence of comprehensive federal legislation. That description is echoed by multiple private trackers that organize obligations state by state rather than around a single federal standard. (iapp.org) The practical effect is visible in the calendars. Colorado has a June 30, 2026 effective date, California has rules already in force with phased obligations, Texas is already live, and New York’s RAISE Act is set to take effect on January 1, 2027 after Governor Kathy Hochul signed a chapter amendment on March 27, 2026, according to legislative and legal summaries. ### What should readers watch next? (bakerbotts.com) June 30, 2026 is the next major state milestone because Colorado’s AI law becomes operative that day. January 1, 2027 is the next large follow-on date because New York’s RAISE Act is scheduled to take effect then, while NCSL and MultiState continue updating their trackers as 2026 bills move, stall or become law. (coag.gov)