Draft Executive Order Would Tie Non-Deployment Funding to State AI Regulation

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 2025 – A draft executive order that leaked Wednesday would direct the Commerce Department to restrict Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment funding if states’ laws on artificial intelligence are too “onerous.”

The draft order, first posted online by AI news site Transformer, would direct National Telecommunications and Information Administration Administrator Arielle Roth to issue a policy notice within 90 days “specifying the conditions under which states may be eligible” for non-deployment funding under the $42.45 billion BEAD program.

“That Policy Notice must provide that states with AI laws identified [as onerous] are ineligible for non-deployment funds, to the maximum extent allowed by Federal law,” the draft read.