Key point: Last week, chatbot bills were signed into law in Oregon and Idaho, while a health care-related AI bill was signed into law in Tennessee.

Below is the 12th update on the status of proposed state AI legislation in 2026. These posts track state AI bills that can directly or indirectly affect private-sector AI developers and deployers. These posts do not track AI bills that focus on government use of AI; insurance; workgroups; education; legal settings; name, image, and likeness; deepfakes; CSAM and sexual material; and election interference. As always, the contents provided below are time-sensitive and subject to change.

What’s New

With legislatures taking time off for the holidays, it was a slower week; however, we still saw three new laws enacted. Governors in Oregon and Idaho signed chatbot bills into law. You can read our analysis of the Oregon law — which contains a private right of action with statutory damages — here. Meanwhile, a Tennessee health care AI bill was signed into law. You can read our analysis of that new law — which also contains a private right of action — here.

Chatbot bills also continued to advance with Nebraska’s legislature advancing a bill to enrollment and engrossment — a procedural step prior to a bill being eligible for a final vote. Bills also were voted out of committees in Hawaii, Missouri, and Tennessee. New bills were introduced in Louisiana and South Carolina.

Finally, health care-related AI bills advanced out of committees in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and South Carolina.

More details on those bills, plus updates on all bill movements last week, are included in the below post.

High Risk / Consequential Decisions

These bills regulate AI in high-risk situations such as financial services or health care and can require disclosures, assessments, and consumer rights.

There were no updates for this category last week.

Chatbot

These bills come in different varieties but, in general, they regulate AI interacting directly with individuals. For example, chatbots that act as companions or interact with individuals in a commercial or health care setting.

Two chatbot bills were signed into law last week — Idaho’s (S 1297) and Oregon’s (SB 1546). We wrote about Oregon’s law — which contains a private right of action with statutory damages — here.

Nebraska’s unicameral legislature advanced a chatbot bill (LB 525) to enrollment an engrossment. After that procedural step, the bill will be eligible for a final vote.

Bills also continued to advance in committees. Hawaii’s SB 3001 passed out of a second House Committee after being amended, Missouri’s HB 2032 was voted out of a House Committee, and Tennessee’s SB 1700 was recommended for passage by a second Senate committee.

Finally, two new bills were introduced last week. Louisiana Representative Josh Carlson introduced H 1188 while H 5476 was introduced as a companion bill to S 1037 in South Carolina.

Pricing

These bills deal with the use of AI to set prices and in some cases deal with employment.

In New York, S 9700 was introduced as a companion bill to A 4991. The bills prohibit the use of an algorithmic device by a landlord for the purpose of determining the amount of rent to charge a residential tenant.

Disclosures

These bills generally require organizations to identify when content is generated by AI or otherwise make disclosures regarding the use of GenAI.

There were no updates for this category last week.

Provenance

These bills require entities to make disclosures regarding the data used to train AI.

There were no updates for this category last week.

Employment

These bills regulate the use of AI in employment settings such as hiring, firing, promotion, compensation, or displacement issues.

There were no updates for this category last week.

Health

These bills focus on the use of AI in health care.

Tennessee’s health care AI bill (SB 1580) was signed into law. You can read our analysis of the new law here.

Meanwhile, three bills advanced out of committees last week.

In Massachusetts, the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing favorably reported S 2632 and referred it to the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.

In Rhode Island, a House committee recommended HB 7538 for passage. The bill requires health care providers and health care facilities to inform patients of the use of AI to memorialize patient visits.

The South Carolina Senate Labor, Commerce, and Industry Committee voted out S788 as amended. The bill deals with the use of AI in therapy and psychotherapy.

Personhood

These bills generally provide that AI cannot be granted legal status or deemed a person under state law.

Missouri’s HB 1746 was voted out of a second House committee.

AI Bill of Rights

These bills cover multiple issues such as chatbots and providing individuals with rights relating to AI.

There were no updates for this category last week.

Frontier Models

These bills apply to frontier models and the bills commonly apply only to global-scale tech corporations.

There were no updates for this category last week.