In 2026, states and regulators will likely focus on many of the same areas they examined previously, including kids’ privacy and AI, said Cobun Zweifel-Keegan, managing director of IAPP, Washington, D.C., in an interview with Privacy Daily. On the federal level, a flood of privacy legislation is expected by year-end, he added.
The White House is pausing plans for President Donald Trump to finalize a draft executive order that would direct NTIA to potentially curtail non-deployment funding from the $42.5 billion BEAD program for states that the administration determines to have AI laws that are overly burdensome (see 2511190069), lobbyists told us. The Trump administration had appeared ready to formally issue the order Friday but was aware of renewed interest among some congressional Republicans in pursuing a legislative preemption of states’ AI laws. The White House didn't comment.
Several Senate Republicans and Democrats told us in interviews last week their stances on federal AI policy haven’t changed since the chamber voted 99-1 to block a proposed AI moratorium (see 2511200051).
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez and top Democrats on the House and Senate Communications subcommittees raised concerns Wednesday night and Thursday about a draft executive order that would direct NTIA to potentially curtail non-deployment BEAD funding for states that the Trump administration determines have AI laws that are overly burdensome (see 2511190069). Gomez questioned the legality of a provision in the draft order directing the FCC to consider adopting a national standard for AI models that preempts state laws.
Discussion about a draft executive order seeking to block states from regulating AI is “speculation” until something is announced, a White House official said in a statement Thursday (see 2511190059). However, the California Privacy Protection Agency (CalPrivacy) and others condemned the possible preemption attempt.
The FCC Wireless and Space bureaus temporarily paused the pleading cycle on amended spectrum and earth station license assignment applications filed by SpaceX, Spectrum Business Trust and EchoStar following the submission of new filings (see 2511120048). The bureaus “will announce a revised pleading cycle for the transaction by public notice when the amended applications are accepted for filing,” said a notice in Tuesday’s Daily Digest.
The House Communications Subcommittee on Tuesday advanced a new version of the American Broadband Deployment Act (HR-2289) that combined language from 22 GOP-led connectivity permitting bills originally slated for the markup session (see 2511170048). However, the subpanel’s party-line 16-12 vote on the package reflected Democrats’ ongoing opposition. The House Commerce Committee during the last Congress similarly divided along party lines on a previous version of the broadband package, which never reached the floor amid strong Democratic resistance (see 2305230067).
A draft White House executive order that was circulating Wednesday night would resurrect a scuttled legislative bid to preempt nonfederal AI laws by making states ineligible for some allocated funding from the $42.5 billion BEAD program if they passed their own AI measures. The draft EO would require NTIA to issue a policy notice within 90 days “specifying the conditions under which States may be eligible for remaining [BEAD funding] that was saved through my Administration’s ‘Benefit of the Bargain’ reforms,” more commonly known as non-deployment funds estimated to total $20 billion.
The FCC announced new deadlines Monday for a host of filings and filing categories delayed by the federal shutdown. The public notice superseded previous deadlines, making Tuesday the new due date for most filings that had been due from Oct. 1 to Nov. 17, except those singled out with different dates.
Exporters should continue preparing to adhere to the Bureau of Industry and Security’s new Affiliates Rule, even though the Trump administration recently suspended it for a year, two compliance experts said Nov. 13 during a webinar hosted by the American Association of Exporters and Importers.