Compliance Stuff

On December 11, 2025, President Trump  signed an executive order   purporting to limit the ability of states to regulate the use of artificial intelligence (AI) . The order’s stated purpose is to ensure that American AI companies are “free to innovate without cumbersome regulation” and to “remove barriers to American AI leadership.” The order cites the proliferation of AI legislative proposals in state legislatures as undermining that goal (although it bears note that few if any of these proposals have or are likely to become law). The order specifically cites as problematic a recently enacted California state law, which it claims requires “complex and burdensome disclosure… based on the purely speculative suspicion that AI might ‘pose significant catastrophic risk.’” It further references Colorado state law regarding algorithmic discrimination, claiming that that law “may even force AI models to embed DEI in their programming.” The order goes on to state that the administrat...

Summary The federal government recently unveiled America’s AI Action Plan (the Plan), a sweeping policy roadmap aimed at clearing away regulatory barriers, supercharging U.S. investment in infrastructure and talent surrounding AI, and asserting U.S. leadership in global AI markets. In part, the Plan directs federal agencies to eliminate regulations that could impede AI technology development and calls for the funding of various federal initiatives to helps workers retrain and thrive in an AI economy . The Plan also threatens to withhold federal funding and program awards from states that have strict AI regulatory environments. Meanwhile, several states are currently scheduled to implement laws that regulate how employers may use artificial intelligence during the hiring process and when they make other personnel decisions. It remains to be seen whether the Plan will deter these states from pursuing new AI regulation, including restrictions on how companies use AI technology in their h...

Colorado Governor Jared Polis just called for a special legislative session starting August 21 to revisit the state’s landmark artificial intelligence law, signaling that employers and businesses may gain a reprieve from what is slated to be the nation’s most restrictive AI law. The law, set to take effect February 1, 2026 , would impose first-in-the-nation restrictions on high-risk AI systems used in employment and other consequential decisions . But growing concerns from industry, regulators, and lawmakers triggered yesterday’s push by the Governor to pause, revise, or fine-tune the legislation before the clock runs out. Here’s what’s happening, the three possible paths we foresee during this session, and what your organization should be watching for. A Quick Recap: What Will Colorado’s AI Law Actually Do? Signed in May 2024, SB 205 sets out a comprehensive framework to curb algorithmic discrimination in employment, housing, lending, and a slew of other areas.   You can read a fu...

California lawmakers have proposed new legislation to reshape the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace. While this bill aims to protect workers, employers have expressed concerns about how it might affect business efficiency and innovation. What Does California’s Senate Bill 7 (SB 7) Propose? SB 7, also known as the “No Robo Bosses Act,” introduces several key requirements and provisions restricting how employers use automated decision systems (ADS) powered by AI . These systems are used in making employment-related decisions, including hiring, promotions, evaluations, and terminations. The pending bill seeks to ensure that employers use these systems responsibly and that AI only assists in decision-making rather than replacing human judgment entirely. The bill is significant for its privacy, transparency, and workplace safety implications, areas that are fundamental as technology becomes more integrated into our daily work lives. Privacy and Transparency Prote...

Despite months of intense lobbying and a last-minute legislative scramble, Colorado’s sweeping AI anti-bias law is still set to take effect on February 1, 2026 . But the tech industry isn’t done fighting. After lawmakers just adjourned the 2025 legislative session without passing any changes to the artificial intelligence law, a coalition of tech companies and business groups is now pressuring Governor Jared Polis to call a special session to delay or revise the law before it kicks in . The latest developments mark a dramatic turn in the most closely watched state AI battle in the country, but they leave employers wondering how to face an uncertain regulatory landscape. What do you need to know about these developments and what should you do as we await final resolution? Starter Pack of FP Resources on Colorado’s AI Law 📄  Read our summary of the law’s core provisions. 📄  See what the state’s AI task force said about compliance complexity. 📄  Track Colorado’s earlier ...

  In the absence of federal regulation, several states have either passed or are considering legislation aimed at mitigating the risk of an employer’s use of an AI system resulting in algorithmic discrimination. This Insight provides a roundup of state and local AI laws impacting employers, and notable pending measures. “Algorithmic discrimination” refers to the use of an artificial intelligence (AI) system that results in differential treatment or impact disfavoring an individual based on protected characteristics ( e.g ., age, color, ethnicity, disability, national origin, race, religion, veteran status, sex, etc.). It is well settled that AI systems have the potential to create discriminatory results, whether from system training with flawed or unrepresentative data, or because the system found and replicated patterns of human discrimination within the training data. Such discrimination is particularly troublesome in the context of employers that use AI systems to make employme...