States Diverge on AI Regulation Amid Federal Pressure

In New Jersey, state lawmakers are advancing five bills intended to regulate the data center industry's impact on ratepayers, the electrical grid, and the environment, according to tracking by the Rutgers New Jersey State Policy Lab published April 17, 2026. Separately, in Louisiana, lawmakers scrapped at least a third of nearly 20 proposed bills aimed at regulating artificial intelligence, according to Fox 8 reporting published April 2, 2026. The New Jersey Policy Lab report does not specify the content of each of the five bills beyond their general aim of limiting data center impacts on ratepayers and the grid. The Louisiana report attributes the withdrawal of AI regulation bills to threats from President Trump to pull federal funding from states that regulate the AI industry, though the specific mechanism, timing, and legal basis for such threats are not detailed in the available reporting. Both legislative processes remain in progress or under review, and further details—including final bill text, vote outcomes, and any gubernatorial action in New Jersey, as well as which specific Louisiana bills were withdrawn and the exact nature of the reported federal threats—are not established by the available sourcing. These two events occurred in different states with no shared reporting, so no independent corroboration exists connecting the two legislative developments.