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Did state legislators focus on AI and the workforce during 2026?
As proposals become finalized, the picture becomes more clear on what different approaches are at play across the U.S. Today’s edition of State Tech Pulse explores six state approaches to the workforce and AI.
States are dealing with a myriad of questions that these proposals attempt to answer.
Connecticut focused on AI small busines support.
Georgia and New York attempt to answer if anyone is tracking AI’s impact on the workforce.
Hawaii explores if AI tools can help the state modernize the workforce.
Illinois wants to test if a four-day work week is viable amidst technological gains like AI.
Maryland started an innovative fellowship beneficial to newcomers to the workforce and state agencies.
West Virginia’s new program offers AI-focused upskilling.
State legislators in Connecticut are focused on AI support for small businesses. Leaders appropriated money to the Department of Economic and Community Development to come up with a plan by the beginning of 2027 to provide small businesses with financial support to implement AI solutions with businesses agreeing to provide workers with AI training and support potential displacement.
Legislators in Georgia created a Senate-led study committee to investigate how AI will impact creative industries, such as film and television. Legislators previously undertook a different study through a taskforce that wrapped up in 2024. Georgia’s technology focused state agency is partnering with AWS to allow other state agencies in the state to participate in a program to bring AI solutions to state government.
A bill (AB 9581B) awaiting the Governor’s signature in New York requires businesses to submit annual reports to the Department of Labor regarding the impact of AI on firing and hiring workers.
Senators in Hawaii (SCR 146) passed a resolution requesting the Department of Human Resources to overhaul the government workforce by modernizing state government job descriptions with the help of AI tools.
Representatives in Illinois (HR 635) passed a resolution urging the state to pilot a four-day work week because of the technological and productivity gains in the workplace, such as AI.
A new law (SB 597) in Maryland created an official AI-focused partnership between higher education institutions and the state to accelerate AI initiatives, increase the state’s AI trained workforce and integrate AI use into state government. The new law also creates a new AI Public Service Fellowship that matches college students with state agencies to implement AI initiatives in state government.
State legislators in West Virginia created (SB 402) the West Virginia Micro-Credential Program encouraging the use of AI tools to provide hands-on, on the job training to meet market and workforce demands.
Do you have leads, tips, corrections, feedback or resources you would like to share? Send your advice to [email protected]. |
Disclosure: This is a human-written and driven publication. As a small business owner and mighty team of 1, I use AI tools to optimize my small business operations as a part of my admin tech stack. Regarding this publication, AI is mainly used to help with catchy titles, as a thesaurus when writing and a partner when creating cartoons. (Thanks, Canva, and not an ad!) As a secret doodler, I add my human touch using my digital pad and pen. I also use Grammarly, with AI built in, to help with copy editing/grammar check (again, mighty team of one!) Thanks for reading. 😊 |
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