New York Governor Hochul signs RAISE Act, launches data center moratorium

According to a release published on the New York Department of Financial Services site, Governor Kathy Hochul has announced next steps for implementing the state's Responsible AI Safety and Education (RAISE) Act. From November, the state will tell large frontier AI developers to sign up and get ready to comply. From January 2027 they must meet the law's standards and report regularly to DIGIT, a new office inside the department focused on digital innovation, governance, integrity and trust. Hochul also said she will look for ways to build on the act in the coming months.

The release announces Marc Gilman as Deputy Director for the RAISE Act and the first full-time hire of DIGIT, with more staff to join in coming weeks and months. Implementation is shared between the financial services department, the state's IT office and its homeland security division. The announcement is framed against what it describes as federal inaction on AI safety, and it came during UN General Assembly week. Attorney General Letitia James, State Senator Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember Alex Bores gave supportive statements.

Under the act, large frontier developers must publish safety and transparency frameworks, report critical safety incidents within 72 hours, file quarterly assessments of catastrophic risk, and register with DIGIT, submitting a disclosure statement every two years at minimum starting January 1, 2027, and paying assessments. The public may also file suspected incident reports, and DIGIT will publish an annual report. The release adds that Hochul earlier signed an executive order creating a moratorium on new hyperscale data centers, suspending state environmental permits for as long as a year, and that Empire State Development has issued a Host Community Investment Framework for local governments.