These major issues have brought together Democrats and Republicans in states

Not like the deep partisan divides grinding Congress to a halt, Democrats and Republicans on the state stage are coming collectively on among the most important problems with the 2026 legislative season.

Legislators in most states wish to regulate synthetic intelligence and curb the sprawling, electricity-hungry knowledge facilities that make AI potential within the first place.

Massive tech has “scrambled the everyday ideological alignments of the left and the appropriate,” says David Primo, a professor of political science and enterprise administration on the College of Rochester in New York. “Conservatives and liberals are saying, ‘Properly, this is a possibility for us to cease what we expect is an issue.'”

And whereas the 2 events stay far aside on many points — like tax coverage, Primo says — it isn’t simply huge tech that has Republicans and Democrats aligned.

Regulating synthetic intelligence

Ron DeSantis of Florida and Kathy Hochul of New York, two governors on reverse sides of the political spectrum, sound lots alike in the case of reining in AI.

DeSantis, a Republican, is backing laws in Florida known as the Synthetic Intelligence Invoice of Rights. The proposal, working its means by means of the state Senate, makes it unlawful to make use of an individual’s title, picture or likeness with out their consent, requires anybody below 18 to have parental permission to interact with companion chatbots and mandates that bots remind customers they are not speaking to people.

“I actually worry that if this isn’t addressed in an clever and correct means, you understand, it may set off an age of darkness and deceit,” DeSantis stated when proposing the invoice bundle. Tech corporations must be regulated, he says, as a result of they’ve prioritized earnings over person security.

New York already requires chatbots to determine themselves as non-humans. This yr, Hochul is pushing to additional restrict them. She needs to ban chatbots inside social media apps for teenagers below 18. Different proposals would restrict the best way bots can work together with younger folks.

“We’ll disable sure companion options. You have heard about these, proper?” she requested an viewers gathered at her highschool alma mater earlier this yr.

“Underneath our proposals, we’re eradicating that burden from dad and mom and inserting the accountability the place it belongs — on the shoulders of the app corporations and the platforms themselves.”

Late final yr, Trump issued an government order attempting to stop states from regulating AI on their very own. However Republicans and Democrats in states are urgent forward anyway. Practically each state has a proposal to control AI. They vary from requiring people to supervise AI selections about staff to blocking AI surveillance that might be used to set completely different costs for customers.

Information heart pushback 

As the general public’s urge for food for AI grows, so does the necessity for extra knowledge facilities to deal with the huge computing calls for. That is a priority in states as a result of knowledge facilities require substantial quantities of electrical energy and water to function.

In Florida, lawmakers are elevating points about results on the facility grid and water use, and the potential of passing increased utility prices alongside to residents, which the Republican-led state Senate is working to deal with. DeSantis says he thinks lots of the arguments in favor of knowledge facilities, equivalent to the concept that they’re going to drive job creation or decrease property tax charges, are largely overblown.

South Dakota needs to ensure the state cannot overrule native governments in the case of regulating knowledge facilities. Oklahoma can be contemplating payments to restrict the impression of knowledge heart development.

As with the AI debate, Trump and most states have discovered themselves on reverse sides of the info heart battle, too. Trump has largely been supportive of their development, however says tech corporations must pay their very own means. In his State of the Union tackle on Tuesday, the president stated, “We’re telling the most important tech corporations that they’ve the duty to supply for their very own energy wants; they will construct their very own energy crops as a part of their manufacturing unit.” His administration needs to require tech corporations constructing new facilities to pay extra for electrical energy to regulate worth will increase affecting customers.

Democratic lawmakers in New York and Maine are proposing a brief ban on knowledge facilities, as are Republicans in Oklahoma.

The invoice in New York is pretty new, however Hochul has introduced the state’s Public Service Fee will take an in depth have a look at the difficulty to make sure that knowledge facilities are “paying their justifiable share.”  

In Colorado, a proposal would require knowledge facilities to make use of renewable power for his or her operations. And lots of states, led by Republicans and Democrats alike, are contemplating increasing nuclear power to assist energy AI.

Tech corporations are opposing many of those proposals and placing cash into political campaigns. They are saying it could be unimaginable to observe completely different legal guidelines in every state and that laws may stifle innovation that would profit the general public.

Housing

Nationwide, the rising value of housing can be a priority for each events. In Florida, a invoice to loosen restrictions on accent dwelling items acquired full bipartisan assist within the state Senate. DeSantis needs to deal with the reasonably priced housing disaster by chopping property taxes. That is not sitting effectively with Democrats within the state who say they fear concerning the impression on native governments. They are saying reducing property insurance coverage charges can be a greater path.

Lawmakers in New York and different states try to streamline environmental laws. Dozens of states are contemplating proposals to chop constructing laws, strengthen tenants’ rights and enhance circumstances in rental housing. In different phrases, in the case of housing, lawmakers throughout the political spectrum are embracing concepts often common with one celebration or the opposite.