ACLU of New Mexico urges lawmakers to pass consumer data protections next legislative session • Source New Mexico

New Mexico has perfected the two-step of modern AI governance: a bill dies, everyone agrees that was a shame, and then it is reintroduced with fresh optimism next session. The ACLU of New Mexico is now urging lawmakers to pass consumer data protections, which is roughly the legislative equivalent of asking the landlord to please consider a lock on the front door. This year's AI regulation bill expired, and not of natural causes — lawmakers described tech industry lobbying against it, which in modern Washington-adjacent parlance means the bill was outspent at its own funeral. Nothing says 'we take your data seriously' like a corpse with a lobbying receipt.

Still, hope arrives wearing a name badge. Rep. Tara Lujan intends to reintroduce a "No Fakes" bill next session to regulate AI deepfake images, which is at least honest branding — no 'Digital Trust and Innovation Empowerment Act' flimflam, just a plain statement of what it bans. Sen. Anthony Thornton also backs deepfake regulation, but he urged the Legislature to move slowly on technology. Slowly. The technology that can manufacture a convincing video of you saying anything in the time it takes to boil a kettle. Insisting on caution here is like ordering a full safety inspection of the lifeboat while the water is at the second-floor windows.

Put it beside Sen. Patty Murray convening state policymakers while federal action sputters, and the shape of American AI oversight becomes clear: earnest people in statehouses, outgunned by industry lobbyists, repeatedly asking for another session. The ACLU of New Mexico is doing the unglamorous work of asking for consumer data protections — a request so modest it should be uncontroversial, which is precisely how you know it will be fought. Next session, then. Same bill, same lobbyists, marginally better PowerPoint.