The Maryland General Assembly is gearing up for its next legislative session in January, but its key AI working group is already behind.
“I don’t think this is something we can afford to sit on our hands for months about.”
Del. Lily Qi
With seven months left to submit regulatory recommendations, the group still doesn’t have a chair and is only staffed by 19 out of 33 members. Legislation was passed in April to convene a panel of legislators, state officials, consumer advocates and tech representatives monitoring AI issues in the state, but with leadership shakeups in Annapolis, it’s gone unstaffed.
“Given how fast AI is evolving, I don’t think this is something we can afford to sit on our hands for months about,” Del. Lily Qi, a Montgomery County Democrat appointed to the work group by former House Speaker Adrienne Jones, told Technical.ly.
The remaining four House vacancies — representing data privacy and the AFL-CIO Tech Institute — will be filled by new House Speaker Del. Joseline Peña-Melnyk, who was elected during Tuesday’s special session.
Two Senate seats and four expert positions in consumer protection and cybersecurity remain unfilled. Senate President Bill Ferguson, responsible for those appointments, did not respond to questions about the vacancies.
The four final positions will be appointed by the governor, who’s tasked with assigning representatives across industries, including academia, real estate, biotechnology and education.
Taking this long to staff a working group is not unexpected in the General Assembly’s case, especially with lawmakers embroiled in a months-long redistricting debate. Part of the delay stems from the challenge of finding expert candidates, according to Ben Yelin, program director at the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security, who is helping coordinate the group.
“It’s difficult to find qualified candidates, especially with specific specialities,” Yelin said.
A foundational time for AI regulation
With Trump’s new executive order threatening state actions, Qi wants to see the work group given more attention.
The Trump administration issued an executive order last week curbing state-level regulation through Justice Department oversight and limiting federal funding, though its legality is expected to be questioned.
Qi said the work group’s timeline has been “extraordinarily slow,” but noted that staffing a work group often falls low on the list of legislative priorities.
“We need to be very quick in bringing stakeholders together … it’ll help us have a larger sounding board and advance better ideas,” Qi said.
Yelin sees establishing work groups as a judicious strategy before enacting AI regulations. They help clarify which officials or agencies are responsible for overseeing AI regulation and provide guidance for implementing new rules effectively.
Without these structures in place, states risk passing laws that are difficult to enforce due to limited resources or unclear responsibilities. Like what’s happening in Colorado, where lawmakers delayed the enactment of a sweeping AI bill over rollout concerns.
But Maryland’s approach has been more piecemeal. In April, they passed a bill targeting the use of AI in the review of health insurance claims.
“It’s a wise step to set up those governance structures first,” Yelin said, “so then when future regulations or future statutes are passed at the state level, then you at least know what the framework will be to actually implement those new regulations.”
