Guest Column: Defending The Tenth Amendment In The Big, Beautiful Bill

As Co-Chairman of Wyoming’s Joint Select Committee on Blockchain, Financial Technology, and Digital Innovation Technology, I’m honored to serve at the intersection of emerging technology and the enduring principles of liberty.

Earlier this month, our committee met in Jackson to discuss the implications of artificial intelligence — how it’s evolving, how it affects our lives, and most importantly, how it interacts with the Constitution we are sworn to uphold. 

My job, along with my colleagues, is to define where rights exist in the digital realm and to protect them before the law is left behind. This is not a partisan task. I’ve seen members from both sides of the aisle rise to this challenge with genuine conviction. When we do that, we honor not just our people, but the Constitution itself.

That’s why I must raise concern about a provision currently found in President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill.” I support the President. I believe there are many good and necessary policies in the bill — but this provision, which places a 10-year moratorium on state-level AI policymaking, goes too far. It must be removed.

Preventing states from passing their own AI laws for a decade undermines the Tenth Amendment, which reserves powers not granted to the federal government to the states and to the people. That principle isn’t just legal — it’s foundational.

Our system works because states are different. Each state has its own constitution, its own values, and its own understanding of liberty and privacy.

And that’s a perk of our system — not a flaw. Our Founding Fathers designed a nation of states that could experiment, innovate, and lead. We celebrate the states as the laboratories of democracy.

And now, as we face the complexities of artificial intelligence, we must let those laboratories operate freely.

AI systems are advanced enough to navigate those differences. If one state enacts stronger protections, the technology should honor that. Wyoming deserves the right to govern AI within our borders based on the values of our people — not the silence of a one-size-fits-all federal command.

Last year, I introduced House Bill 308 to define digital rights through a formal taxonomy. That work continues. But it cannot continue if Washington bars the door.

I ask our U.S. Senators to help make this Big, Beautiful Bill even more beautiful — by cutting the provision that stifles the states and weakens the very structure our Founders built.

The Tenth Amendment isn’t a suggestion — it’s the backbone of the Republic. Let us lead. Let us govern. Let us protect our people.

Rep. Daniel Singh represents House District 61 in Cheyenne

He can be reached at: Daniel.Singh@wyoleg.gov