Virginia Gov. Youngkin signs one AI bill, vetoes another
Gov. Youngkin’s veto follows a massive lobbying push by corporate tech and Silicon Valley venture capitalists to prevent the creation of any safeguards around the development of AI.
Mar. 25, 2025 — Rough news out of Richmond: Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) yesterday vetoed HB 2094, the High-Risk Artificial Intelligence Developer and Deployer Act.
The bill, authored by Delegate Michelle Lopes Maldonado, was designed to protect citizens in the Old Dominion from extreme risks, unfair machine discrimination, and AI-generated defamation. The measure was one of two AI-related bills approved by the Virginia legislature in February.
While HB 2094 did not survive the governor’s scrutiny, a second Maldonado-sponsored bill was signed into law yesterday. HB 2124, the Synthetic Digital Content Act, expands the applicability of provisions related to defamation, slander, and libel to include synthetic digital content.
Del. Maldonado leading on the issue
The Transparency Coalition supported Del. Michelle Maldonado’s work to create AI safeguards that encouraged innovation while protecting the state’s residents.
"Transparency and accountability on the part of AI developers and deployers is a critical component for society to trust in and gain the full benefits of AI," Transparency Coalition co-founder Jai Jaisimha said yesterday. "We hope that both the legislature and the people of Virginia will move forward with renewed energy to re-address this important issue in upcoming sessions."
would have been the second comprehensive state ai law
Had the governor approved the measure, HB 2094 would have been the second comprehensive state AI law, following the Colorado AI Act adopted last year.
Gov. Youngkin in his veto statement on HB 2094 said:
There are many laws currently in place that protect consumers and place responsibilities on companies relating to discriminatory practices, privacy, data use, libel, and more. HB 2094’s rigid framework fails to account for the rapidly evolving and fast-moving nature of the AI industry and puts an especially onerous burden on smaller firms and startups that lack large legal compliance departments. This bill would harm the creation of new jobs, the attraction of new business investment, and the availability of innovative technology in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
“We are disappointed that the Governor chose to veto HB 2094, our bill on algorithmic fairness,” Del. Michelle Maldonado (D), the bill sponsor, said in a statement. “This legislation would have ensured that artificial intelligence could not be used to discriminate in Virginia based on housing, healthcare, education, marital status, and more.”
tech lobby and venture capital want zero rules for ai
Youngkin’s veto comes amidst a massive push by corporate tech and Silicon Valley-based venture capital firms to stop the creation of any safeguards around AI.
Pluribus News noted that the election of President Trump and the ascension of corporate tech within his circle has resulted in an escalation of tech lobby money and demands at the state level:
Evidence of an AI regulation backlash in the states has emerged in recent months, with venture capital and free market groups blasting the idea of a patchwork of state laws and urging the Trump administration to preempt any that are passed.
Andreesen Horowitz (A16Z), the $45 billion venture capital firm, has emerged as an especially aggressive lobbying force over the past six weeks. The firm, which has significant investments in the AI development space, has gone all-in on a strategy to give developers like OpenAI and Meta the freedom to operate in a no-rules environment, while putting any regulations or duty of care responsibilities onto the businesses that deploy AI systems.
signed by the governor: synthetic digital content act
HB 2124, the Synthetic Digital Content Act, expands the applicability of provisions related to defamation, slander, and libel to include synthetic (AI-created or AI-modified) digital content. The bill makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to use any AI-derived content for the purpose of committing any criminal offense involving fraud.
The bill also authorizes the individual depicted in the synthetic digital content to bring a civil action against the person who violates such prohibition. The bill directs the Attorney General to convene a work group to study and make recommendations on the current enforcement of laws related to the use of synthetic digital content.
The full final version of HB 2124 is available here.
vetoed: The high-risk AI developer and deployer act
HB 2094, the High-Risk Artificial Intelligence Developer and Deployer Act, was modeled after the Colorado AI Act adopted in 2024. In a recent analysis, Tatiana Rice, director of AI legislation at the Future of Privacy Forum, noted that “Virginia’s framework is notably narrower in scope while maintaining key structural similarities” to the Colorado AI Act. “Unlike Colorado, Virginia does not require developers or deployers to report directly to the Attorney General or make public disclosures. However, businesses must still provide disclosures to consumers subject to high-risk AI decisions.”
Virginia’s HB 2094 would have required developers of high-risk AI systems to disclose clear information regarding the system’s intended use, purpose, known limitations, foreseeable risks of algorithmic discrimination, performance evaluation results, and risk mitigation measures. The bill also contained transparency requirements for synthetic content created by high-risk generative AI applications. The measure included a discretionary right to cure and required the state attorney general to issue a civil investigative demand (CID) before initiating any enforcement action.