Key point: Colorado and Connecticut recently enacted laws regulating employers’ use of AI and automated decision-making tools in employment decisions—with notice obligations, anti-discrimination requirements, and civil penalties that will require employers operating in these states to reassess their AI-driven HR practices now. Meanwhile, Illinois paused its rulemaking efforts on the circumstances under which notice of the use of AI is required.
Key point: In response to the increasing number of state data privacy laws and to address a wave of claims under state wiretap laws, most businesses have spent the last several years posting online privacy notices, consent banners, marketing preference centers, and opt-out mechanisms. But the challenge today is no longer providing consumers with a way to exercise privacy rights. The challenge is to ensure those rights actually work.
Key Point: Several states have enacted their own ‘mini-TCPA’ laws—state-level variants of the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) that impose additional restrictions on telemarketing—and the past year has brought notable enforcement and legislative developments at both the federal and state levels.
Key point: Effective July 13, 2026, the Department of War has suspended the upcoming CMMC Phase II requirements and initiated a 60-day review of the entire program. Phase I self-assessments remain mandatory, and DFARS 252.204-7012 is still fully in force.
Key point: The U.S. state privacy law landscape has rapidly expanded in 2026, growing from 20 to 24 states—and reinforcing a common framework for compliance.
Key point: CISA’s virtual town hall meetings for CIRCIA rulemaking have been rescheduled for June 15-18, 2026.
On May 26, 2026, CISA announced the dates for the rescheduled CIRCIA rulemaking town hall meetings between June 15-18, 2026. The agency’s use of town halls is discretionary and is not mandated within the federal rulemaking process. CISA canceled the original events because of the DHS funding impasse, and the new meetings will be held virtually as described in the table below.
Key point: Colorado has repealed and replaced the Colorado AI Act, amid years of skepticism from industry critics.
On May 14, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed SB 26-189 into law, repealing and replacing the landmark Colorado Artificial Intelligence Act (CAIA), just under two months before it was set to take effect. CAIA was enacted in 2024 with an amended effective date of June 30, 2026.
Key point: The Utah legislature just passed a first-of-its-kind digital identity law that gives residents new rights over what personal information they share when verifying their identity. If your business chooses to participate as a verifier in Utah’s state-endorsed digital ID program—or builds the technology behind it—new consent, purpose-limitation, and loyalty obligations apply starting May 6, 2026.
Key point: Whether your business runs a retail loyalty program, a restaurant rewards app, a software referral campaign, or an online sweepstakes, these programs often collect customer information, and that can trigger real privacy compliance obligations that are easy to overlook.
The Rules Vary by Program. Privacy Obligations Do Not.
Online promotional activities frequently involve the collection, use, and sharing of consumer personal information, and data privacy laws play an important role across all of them. Examples:
All these instances trigger compliance obligations—even if the activities feel informal or low-risk.
Key point: 2026 may be a pivotal year for organizations to monitor cyber incident reporting requirements—the voluntary sharing allowed under CISA 2015 remains available, but only through September, and regulations delineating who and how mandatory reporting requirements are managed under CIRCIA are coming.