News-July-29-2026

July 29, 2026 — The Third Circuit revived an antitrust class action alleging Atlantic City casino operators used an AI-assisted pricing platform to coordinate hotel rates; New York issued final rules restricting algorithmically personalized social-media feeds and nighttime notifications for minors; two U.S. senators introduced the RESULTS Act to modernize state education and workforce data systems for an AI-shaped economy; a Massachusetts House committee advanced H.4616, a health-insurance prior-authorization bill that would regulate insurers' use of AI in medical-necessity review; and Senators Jon Husted and Andy Kim introduced the bipartisan CHAT Act 2.0 to establish tiered federal safeguards for AI chatbots used by minors.

Contents

1. Third Circuit revives Atlantic City AI-pricing antitrust case
2. New York finalizes SAFE for Kids algorithmic-feed rules
3. Senators introduce RESULTS Act for education and workforce data systems
4. Massachusetts House committee advances AI prior-authorization safeguards
5. Senators introduce CHAT Act 2.0 for minors' AI chatbots

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Third Circuit revives Atlantic City AI-pricing antitrust case

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that hotel guests had plausibly alleged a federal antitrust conspiracy involving Atlantic City casino operators and Cendyn's Rainmaker revenue-management platform, reversing an October 2024 dismissal and allowing the proposed class action to proceed.

The complaint alleges that hotel owners supplied real-time price and occupancy information to Rainmaker, which used AI-assisted algorithms to recommend room rates. The appellate panel said the plaintiffs should have an opportunity to obtain technical evidence about the software and wrote that AI tools can enable competitors to coordinate pricing and exchange information without direct communications. The ruling addressed the sufficiency of the allegations rather than deciding whether the defendants violated antitrust law.

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New York finalizes SAFE for Kids algorithmic-feed rules

Governor Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James announced final regulations implementing New York's SAFE for Kids Act on July 29. The rules apply to covered platforms that display user-generated content and on which users spend at least 20 percent of their time viewing algorithmically personalized feeds over a six-month period.

Covered platforms must withhold personalized feeds and notifications between midnight and 6 a.m. from users under 18 unless parental consent is obtained, and they must offer an age-assurance option that does not require government identification. Data collected for age assurance or parental consent must be minimized and deleted or de-identified after its intended use.

The final rules were scheduled for publication in the State Register on July 29, and the law will take effect 180 days later, on January 25, 2027. The attorney general may seek injunctions and civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation.

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Senators introduce RESULTS Act for education and workforce data systems

Senators Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Roger Marshall of Kansas introduced the bipartisan Reimagining Education and Skills through Unified Longitudinal Talent Systems Act, or RESULTS Act, on July 29. The bill would update the federal Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems program and encourage states to connect information across early-childhood education, K–12 schools, higher education, and workforce systems.

The proposal would broaden grant eligibility to governors and state-designated data-governance bodies, expand state access to the National Directory of New Hires for required education and workforce reporting, and consolidate the Education Department's longitudinal-data program with the Labor Department's Workforce Data Quality Initiative. The sponsors presented the measure as a way to improve data used to track skills, employment outcomes, and education needs as AI changes labor markets.

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Massachusetts House committee advances AI prior-authorization safeguards

On July 29, the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Health Care Financing recommended H.4616 ought to pass and referred it to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

The bill would require insurers and utilization-review organizations that use AI or algorithmic tools for medical-necessity review to consider each enrollee's clinical history and circumstances, prohibit decisions based solely on group data, disclose AI use, and make the systems available to the Division of Insurance for audit or compliance review. It would also prohibit AI from serving as the sole basis for denying, delaying, or modifying medically necessary care and require an appropriately licensed clinician to make adverse medical-necessity determinations.

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Senators introduce CHAT Act 2.0 for minors' AI chatbots

Senators Jon Husted of Ohio and Andy Kim of New Jersey introduced the bipartisan Children Harmed by AI Technology Act 2.0 on July 29 to create a tiered, risk-based federal framework for educational, companion, and health chatbots used by minors. The proposal is an updated version of Husted's 2025 CHAT Act and excludes customer-service and video-game bots from its definitions.

The bill would require age assurance, parental controls, notifications when a minor expresses suicidal ideation, clear disclosures that chatbots are not human, use limits, break reminders, crisis-referral protocols, and stronger safeguards for higher-risk systems. It would prohibit covered chatbots from encouraging self-harm, generating sexual content, impersonating humans or licensed professionals, or engaging in emotionally manipulative or romantic interactions with minors, while authorizing enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general.