With the new year comes a series of new laws that are slated to take effect nationwide through 2025 on issues such as artificial intelligence, legacy college admissions and surgical care for transgender youth. .
More than half a dozen countries will have new data privacy and consumer protections, while federal regulations will require airline passengers to present permits or identification cards to fly they are in the country.
After a busy election cycle, state legislatures are set to tackle another year of hot political issues, soon under the Trump administration. Here are some of the laws that will ring in 2025:
Defenses against AI
The two countries will begin regulating the use of AI with the aim of reducing the potential risks of the fast-growing technology.
In Illinois, it will be a crime to knowingly distribute copies of AI-created people without their consent. The act also applies a 50-year ban on the use of a person’s digital image after their death if they had not previously consented to such use.
There are still certain cases in which the act does not apply, such as parody, or when there is a political, social, academic or media interest in the digital replica – as long as it is not presented in false is true.
The Recording Academy was a vocal supporter of the law since its launch in February, championing its passage as a victory to protect artists and creators against AI. Illinois state representative Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, who introduced the bill, said the legislation’s inspiration came from cases of unauthorized use of AI-generated music artist data.
“I’ve seen a growing concern from lawmakers, who are really motivated by the concern of our people, about the dangers posed by AI, the availability of AI as a tool, in positive ways, but also and in ways that can violate a person’s right to privacy, or in fact, steal their identity,” said Gong-Gershowitz.
Another Illinois law addresses AI-generated child pornography, which prohibits the use of technology to create obscenities of a real or intended child. The law also specifically prohibits the non-consensual publication of sexually explicit images, which is a Class 4 felony.
“What we wanted to do is ensure that law enforcement can prosecute child pornography cases without the need to prove that the image is of a real child,” Gong-Gershowitz said. “The goal here is to make sure we don’t normalize violence against children.”
Meanwhile, California is tackling the use of AI in Hollywood. One law would require the informed consent of actors in the entertainment industry to reproduce their voice or AI character, while the second law would add protection to digital copies produced within 70 years of death. human, with a few exceptions.
States have taken the lead in filling gaps from the lack of federal legislation on AI, Gong-Gershowitz said. He stressed the need for a balance between supporting innovation in the United States and ensuring “new technologies like next-generation AI continue to serve the interests of humanity.”
Data privacy and consumer protection
Eight states will have privacy laws take effect this year: Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maryland, Minnesota and Tennessee.
The law places strict obligations on businesses that handle personal data and gives consumers the right to transparency about how their data is collected, used and shared, according to Michelle Hon Donovan, a partner at the firm. of Duane Morris LLP. Not all companies will be required to comply, as each state has its own requirements and thresholds, such as Nebraska, that exempt small businesses.
Maryland is the first to block the new laws, including a clause that prohibits businesses from collecting personal information as long as it is “necessary” to perform a service or provide a benefit. The law also expressly prohibits the sale of sensitive data.
Donovan – who specializes in privacy and data protection – said that before 2020, there were few laws across the country dealing with privacy apart from internet privacy laws in a few places. Federal laws are more specific to other industries, he added, such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
But now, eight countries with laws that go into effect in 2025 join a growing list of 19 countries that have passed comprehensive privacy laws.
“We expect more legislation to be passed next year, so maybe this is just the beginning,” Donovan said.
California prohibits the adoption of inheritance
California legacy applicants will no longer receive college admissions status after September 2025.
The state law will ban legacy and donor wishes at private, non-profit institutions, eliminating bias against applicants with family or financial connections to schools. The University of California system ended legacy admissions in 1998.
Signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in October, the law requires all private colleges and universities in California to submit an annual report to disclose compliance. Its decision came after the Supreme Court struck down the 2023 admissions rules and an FBI investigation uncovered a 2019 college entrance exam cheating scheme that involved many wealthy parents, in including Hollywood actors.
“It’s all about fairness,” former Assemblyman Phil Ting once told NBC News. “You want people to work hard and have access to an education because they have worked hard and are truly the most deserving students, not because they have rich parents or rich families.” giving charity. This is about making sure we level the playing field. “
The law won’t appear in future classes until fall 2026.
New Hampshire Prohibition gender talk for young children
A new law in New Hampshire would prevent transgender children from receiving transition-related surgery and prevent doctors from referring patients for procedures outside the state.
The law does not affect other methods of gender care, such as contraception and hormone replacement therapy. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu signed a health care measure in July along with a separate bill barring some transgender students from competing on school sports teams, although a federal judge blocked the ban. in its implementation in a certain way.
Sununu said in a statement that the law will protect the health and safety of the state’s children by ensuring they do not undergo “life-changing, irreversible surgery.” Chris Erchull, senior staff attorney at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, or GLAD, in New England, said decisions about drug treatment are “very difficult and serious” but belong to doctors, patients and, in the case of children. , parents.
“The Legislature is opening the door to regulate medical care for transgender people, to single them out for different conditions than other people to target a process that doesn’t happen in New Hampshire that, of course, very unusual.” said Erchul.
Research from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health has suggested that gender-affirming surgeries are rarely performed on transgender youth. Erchull expressed particular concern about the law prohibiting referrals, which he said “deprives families of opportunities to communicate with others to get the information they need to make the right decisions for their families.” .”
New Hampshire is one of 26 states that limit or prohibit surgical care for transgender youth, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ rights think tank. Erchull said New Hampshire, a state where Republicans control the governorship and both houses of the legislature, has over the past five years largely resisted LGBTQ+-focused legislative efforts until now.
“It marks a big change in what’s happening on the ground in New Hampshire,” Erchull said. “I hear about families talking about moving out of the district. I hear from families who are afraid to send their children to school because many people wonder if transgender people are safe in the state of New Hampshire.
The Supreme Court is currently considering a challenge to a Tennessee law that bans gender reassignment treatment for children, although the ban on surgery is not an issue before the justices. A conservative majority council appears poised to uphold the legislation, which would have far-reaching implications for youth access to birth control pills and hormone therapy nationwide.
National ID laws
Starting May 7, 2025, anyone 18 years of age or older will need to have a valid driver’s license and ID or identification card to fly domestically and access facilities other government services.
Airline passengers will be turned away from airport security if they fail to present identification that meets the updated Real ID Act standards or an acceptable alternative, such as a passport.
The Department of Homeland Security has delayed the Real ID process deadline multiple times due to the country’s lack of full compliance with the Covid-19 pandemic, which has made it difficult to than for people to get new IDs from their state departments of motor vehicles.
Congress passed the Real ID Act in 2005 based on a recommendation from the 9/11 Commission. Under the law, government-issued licenses or identification cards must also have anti-cheat technology and require background checks for issuance.
All Real ID compliant cards will have a star symbol on the top of the ID.
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