News

The Data Chronicles | 2026 state legislative updates

01 June 2026

In this episode of The Data Chronicles, host Scott Loughlin is joined by Hogan Lovells senior associate Harsimar Dhanoa to break down the latest wave of 2026 U.S. state legislative activity across privacy, artificial intelligence, and online safety. Drawing on his close tracking of policy developments, Harsimar highlights continued expansion of the state privacy law patchwork—paired with gradual harmonization and a clear shift toward more targeted, issue‑specific regulation. The conversation covers new comprehensive privacy laws in Oklahoma and Alabama, with Louisiana close behind; a pivot in AI legislation toward narrower, use‑case‑driven frameworks (notably Colorado and Connecticut); and sustained momentum around online safety, particularly age verification and design code laws. Together, these trends point to an increasingly fragmented but pragmatic regulatory landscape, with lawmakers focusing on discrete risks—such as employment uses of AI and youth online protections—rather than sweeping, one‑size‑fits‑all regimes.

Scott and Harsimar examine how 2026 state activity is reshaping the U.S. data regulatory landscape—through the continued rollout of comprehensive privacy laws, a shift toward more targeted AI regulation, and accelerating momentum around online safety and age verification. The discussion highlights the tradeoffs this creates: while growing convergence across state privacy frameworks offers some consistency, divergence in interpretation, enforcement, and issue‑specific rules continues to increase compliance complexity. For organizations operating at scale, this evolving patchwork—particularly across AI use cases and youth online protections—demands more proactive coordination across legal, product, and operational teams to manage risk and maintain flexibility in evolving regulatory environments.

View the episode here and here.

Authored by Scott Loughlin and Harsimar Dhanoa.