DeSantis

Dec. 15 (UPI) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday said President Donald Trump’s executive order last week seeking national rules on artificial intelligence doesn’t prevent states from imposing laws on the use of the technology.

Speaking at an AI event at Florida Atlantic University, DeSantis said Florida will move forward on AI policies he has dubbed a “Citizen Bill of Rights for Artificial Intelligence.”

“The president issued an executive order. Some people were saying, ‘well, no, this blocks the states,'” DeSantis said, according to The Hill. “It doesn’t.”

Trump signed an executive order Thursday seeking to give the United States a “global AI dominance through a minimally burdensome national policy framework.”

“To win, United States AI companies must be free to innovate without cumbersome regulation,” the order says. “But excessive state regulation thwarts this imperative.”

Politico reported the Trump administration has said it’s prepared to file lawsuits and without funding to states that interfere with federal AI plans.

DeSantis said, though, that an executive order can’t block states.

“You can preempt states under Article 1 powers through congressional legislation on certain issues, but you can’t do it through executive order,” he said.

“But if you read it, they actually say a lot of the stuff we’re talking about are things that they’re encouraging states to do. So even reading very broadly, I think the stuff we’re doing is going to be very consistent. But irrespective, clearly we have the right to do this.”

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida’s Republican-controlled House is holding the first meeting of its select committee on congressional redistricting Thursday, as the state becomes the latest to consider redrawing electoral maps amid a partisan battle for every edge in next year’s midterm elections.

The national wave of redistricting efforts was instigated by President Trump, who hopes to buck the historical trend of the president’s party losing seats in midterms, and his allies are wagering that his adopted home state could yield three to five more seats for Republicans. Each seat is crucial, because Democrats need a net gain of just three to control the chamber.

But the push for redistricting faces major challenges in Florida due to bitter infighting between Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and leaders in the GOP-dominated Legislature, along with a provision in the state Constitution that explicitly bars redrawing maps with the intent to “favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent.”

DeSantis has voiced support for redistricting and even called for a redo of the 2020 U.S. Census, claiming that Florida was shortchanged in the count, which determines how many congressional seats each state gets.

“We are going to press this issue,” DeSantis said in August.

This week, in an interview with online outlet the Floridian, DeSantis floated the possibility of calling lawmakers back in a special session if they do not get redistricting done in the regular session, which is scheduled for Jan. 13 to March 13.

The state Senate has declined to wade into the fray so far.

Senate President Ben Albritton, also a Republican, has said there is “no ongoing work” on the matter in his chamber, citing the governor’s desire to address it in the spring.

Civil liberties and voting rights organizations say any redistricting for partisan gain in Florida is unconstitutional, and their supporters plan to pack committee meetings to voice opposition.

“To redraw the lines for partisan reasons is illegal. Period, full stop,” said Genesis Robinson, executive director of the voter engagement organization Equal Ground.

Florida has 28 congressional seats, with a Republican-Democratic split of 20-8.

Nationwide, midcycle redistricting has resulted in nine more congressional seats that Republicans believe they can win and six that Democrats think they can win. The redistricting is being litigated in several states, however, and there is also no guarantee that the parties will win the remapped seats.

Payne writes for the Associated Press.