Markey calls reintroduced AI bill ‘a floor for the whole country’
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, Dec. 2, 2025…..While Democratic U.S Sen. Ed Markey revived his effort Tuesday to crack down on potentially biased AI algorithms against the backdrop of a Republican-controlled Congress, a bevy of related proposals are percolating on Beacon Hill to install guardrails around AI tools.
Markey reintroduced the “Artificial Intelligence (AI) Civil Rights Act,” which would prevent companies from offering, licensing or using algorithms that discriminate based on protected classes like race and gender. The proposal regulates algorithms used in making “consequential” decisions, including those tied to employment, banking, health care, the criminal justice system, public accommodations and government services.
“This legislation is a floor for the whole country, not a ceiling for what any individual state might want to put in place in terms of their civil rights protections,” Markey said during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center.
Under the bill, companies would need to audit their algorithms before and after using them, with the aim of identifying and reducing potentially biased or discriminatory outcomes, according to Markey’s office.
“Studies have shown that AI has been used to deny people housing, screen out job applicants and keep criminal defendants in jail longer based on race and gender,” said U.S. House sponsor Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington. “None of this is inevitable, and that’s why we need a modernized approach to regulate these algorithms head-on and stop this discrimination.”
Kade Crockford, director of the Technology for Liberty Program at the ACLU of Massachusetts, voiced support for Markey’s bill but acknowledged “that it’s not going anywhere because of the current make-up in Congress.” Markey initially introduced the legislation in September 2024.
Before the state Legislature turns its attention to regulating AI, Crockford urged lawmakers to finalize consumer data privacy protections. The Senate unanimously passed its data privacy package (S 2608) on Sept. 25, and the House version (H 4746) was sent to the Ways and Means Committee on Nov. 17. Beacon Hill is now in its holiday break, with no formal sessions expected until the new year.
“So much of what these companies are trying to do with AI rest on the use of our personal information to train their artificial intelligence systems, and that’s a huge problem,” Crockford said. “One of the core elements of the data privacy legislation that we support and our coalition supports is the concept called data minimization, and basically what that means is companies can only collect — and maybe collect and process, depending on the specific language — information that is required to provide the service that the customer has requested.”
The Joint Committee on Advanced Information Technology, the Internet and Cybersecurity started the session with a hearing focused on data privacy, before moving on to cybersecurity and AI issues.
In the AI regulatory space, the Senate side of the panel has sent multiple bills to the Ways and Means Committee, including those that would evaluate the risks that social media algorithms pose to children (S 51); require developers of large AI models to assess their risk for causing serious harm, and submit safety and safety security protocols to the attorney general’s office (S 2630); curtail the use of electronic monitoring in the workplace, and prohibit employers from primarily relying on the output from automated decision tools to make hiring, promoting, termination, disciplinary or compensation decisions (S 35); and establish an automated decision-making control board, tasked with analyzing how automated decision systems used by state agencies protect individuals’ due process rights and how they’re screened for discrimination “on the basis of identified group characteristics” (S 49).
“AI is going to be touching all aspects of our life, and there needs to be guardrails established,” co-chair Sen. Michael Moore told the News Service Tuesday. “One of the major economic drivers of our economy is technology, and I believe that we can establish the appropriate guardrails that are not going to infringe upon industry and their ability to continue to innovate.”
Still, Moore signaled Beacon Hill may not have the appetite to pass an AI bill on the heels of data privacy.
“Doing the data privacy legislation was a big lift,” the Millbury Democrat said. “I think part of the problem we have with a lot of the cybersecurity and artificial intelligence legislation is that it’s such a new area that there may be some reluctance to jump into it. This is the time that I think we actually need to be jumping into it because if you let it get too far, how do you pull back the reins?”
Moore plans to travel to Paris and Brussels later this week to discuss AI policy through the Transatlantic Tech Exchange, said spokesperson Alex Mootafian. State lawmakers will meet with European Union policymakers, with a focus on AI safety, innovation and data.
Sen. Barry Finegold, who opposed President Donald Trump’s draft executive order to hamper state regulation of AI, said lawmakers are working to strike a balance between crafting guardrails while promoting innovation. He pointed to last year’s economic development law, which included $100 million to launch an AI Hub.
“We are really trying to promote artificial intelligence on the application front, so that’s why we have an AI Hub,” Finegold said. “We are trying to send the message that we are open for business.”
The House side of the AITIC panel has until Wednesday to report on its slate of AI-related bills, according to an extension request that co-chair Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier filed with the House Clerk’s office.
Reflecting on Markey’s bill, Farley-Bouvier said lawmakers need to address “consequential decision-making” and algorithms “in the future.” But the Pittsfield Democrat said “that’s not something I see happening soon.”
“Data privacy is what is [in] front of us now and is truly the underpinning of any technology policy going forward,” Farley-Bouvier said. She added, “Data privacy is a very big deal, and if we pass that, we have done outstanding work for the people of the commonwealth.”
Asked about a timeline for bringing the data privacy bill to a floor vote in the new year, a House spokesperson didn’t offer one and said the bill is under review by the House Committee on Ways and Means.
