AI Laws in Bangor, Maine
AI Laws USA tracks 19 AI rules that apply to people and businesses in Bangor, Maine: 10+ federal rules, 8 Maine state-level rules, and 1 local Bangor ordinance. Coverage is strongest on consumer data privacy, government use of AI, data-center siting and energy, and automated decision-making. 8 of these rules are already in effect. Each entry below links to its official source.
Bangor local AI rules (and Penobscot County)
1 local AI rule specific to Bangor, Maine or Penobscot County.
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In effect Strength: moderate
Bangor Data Center Moratorium
Bangor, ME · Effective April 13, 2026 · Bangor, Me., 180-day data center moratorium (adopted Apr. 13, 2026)
Bangor's City Council voted 9-0 on April 13, 2026 for a 180-day moratorium on data center development, saying the city is 'suddenly experiencing increased development pressure from data centers' and needs time to study impacts on water and electricity and to amend its Land Development Code before approving any.
Maine-level AI rules
8 Maine state rules apply to residents and businesses in Bangor. Sorted strongest first.
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In effect Strength: moderate
An Order Establishing the Maine Artificial Intelligence Task
Maine · Effective December 20, 2024 · An Order Establishing the Maine Artificial Intelligence Task Force
Governor Janet Mills' executive order creates a 21-member Maine Artificial Intelligence Task Force to study AI's implications for the state, protect residents from harmful AI uses, and identify opportunities for public-sector AI deployment, with a final report due to the Governor and Legislature by October 31, 2025.
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In effect Strength: limited
GenAI Tools and Acceptable Use Policy
Maine · Effective March 6, 2026 · GenAI Tools and Acceptable Use Policy
The Maine Office of Information Technology's generative AI policy (superseding the earlier GenAI moratorium) guides responsible use of GenAI on state IT infrastructure, requiring compliance with data classification standards, prohibiting confidential data inputs to public AI systems, and holding users accountable for AI outputs.
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In effect Strength: moderate
Maine LD 61 (employer surveillance disclosure & prohibition)
Maine · Effective July 14, 2026 · Maine P.L. 2025, Ch. 524 (LD 61 / H.P. 25), 26 M.R.S. § 620-A, effective July 14, 2026
Maine's LD 61 (P.L. 2025, Ch. 524) requires employers to notify employees before any surveillance begins and to disclose surveillance practices to job applicants during interviews. Employers must provide annual written notice to all current employees describing what is monitored, how, and why. Employees may refuse installation of monitoring software on their personal devices. The law prohibits audiovisual monitoring in an employee's home, personal vehicle, or personal property. Civil fines of $100–$500 apply per violation. The law covers all public and private employers in Maine. Effective July 14, 2026.
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Vetoed
Maine Data Center Moratorium (vetoed)
Maine · Me. LD 307 (HP 207, 132nd Leg.); vetoed Apr. 24, 2026; veto sustained Apr. 29, 2026
Maine's legislature became the first in the nation to pass a statewide data center moratorium — a pause on data centers over 20 megawatts until November 2027 — but Gov. Janet Mills vetoed it on April 24, 2026. She said she supports a temporary moratorium but wanted an exemption for development already underway at the former Androscoggin Mill site in the town of Jay. So there is no statewide Maine data center moratorium; local moratoriums (e.g., Bangor) still apply.
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In effect Strength: moderate
ME LD 1585 (FR limitation)
ME · Effective October 1, 2021 · P.L. 2021 ch. 394 (Me. LD 1585)
Maine LD 1585 is the strictest U.S. state law on government face surveillance — limits use to serious crime investigation via state agency conduit, with logging and a private right of action.
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In effect Strength: limited
Maine AI Chatbot Disclosure Law
Maine · Effective September 16, 2025 · 10 M.R.S. ch. 239, Sec. 1500-Y (reallocated to Sec. 1500-DD); P.L. 2025, ch. 294 (L.D. 1727)
Maine prohibits businesses from using an AI chatbot or other computer technology in commercial dealings with a consumer in a way that could mislead a reasonable person into thinking they are interacting with a human, unless the consumer is clearly and conspicuously told they are not. A violation is treated as a violation of the Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act.
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In effect Strength: limited
Maine AI-in-Therapy Law (licensed pros only)
Maine · Effective July 29, 2026 · P.L. 2025, ch. 687 (L.D. 2082 / H.P. 1397, 132nd Legis.); 10 M.R.S. Sec. 1500-EE
Maine bars anyone from providing, advertising, or offering therapy or psychotherapy to the public — including through internet-based AI — unless the services are delivered by a licensed professional. Licensed professionals may use AI only for administrative or supplementary support, and only if they retain full responsibility for its outputs; using AI for supplementary support requires written client notice and consent. AI may not make independent therapeutic decisions, engage in therapeutic communication with clients, or generate treatment plans without the licensee's review and approval.
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In effect Strength: limited
ME AI Private Images Law
Maine · Effective September 24, 2025 · Me. LD 1944 / HP 1303 (132nd Leg., 1st Spec. Sess.); P.L. 2025, ch. 400; 17-A M.R.S. § 511-A
Maine expanded its unauthorized-private-images ("revenge porn") crime to explicitly cover artificially generated/AI-made intimate images of real people, and lets people seek protection-from-abuse or harassment orders when someone threatens to release such images. Unauthorized dissemination is a Class D crime (up to one year, $2,000).
Federal AI rules that apply in Bangor, Maine
These federal rules apply everywhere in the United States, including Bangor, Maine. Showing the 10 strongest and most recent.
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In effect Strength: stronger
TVA data center capacity commitment charge (2026)
Tennessee Valley Authority · Effective October 1, 2026 · Tenn. Valley Auth. Bd. of Dirs. — Data Center Capacity Commitment Charge (approved Aug. 20, 2026; eff. Oct. 1, 2026)
The Tennessee Valley Authority's Board of Directors approved a separate, higher wholesale rate for data centers on August 20, 2026, effective October 1. New or expanding data center loads above 5 megawatts now fall under a Capacity Commitment Charge attached to TVA's data center rate schedules, designed to recover the incremental capacity costs those customers impose on the system. The headline figures are substantial: upfront capacity commitment charges of roughly $1.5 million per megawatt, payable over three to five years, and an all-in average billing increase for data center customers of about 10%, phased in across three consecutive fiscal years. The stated purpose is to keep residential rates low while still serving growing data center demand. TVA matters here out of proportion to a single utility. It is a federal corporate agency supplying power across seven states, so this is not a state rate case but a regional cost-allocation decision reaching a large share of the Southeast — and TVA is among the first large US utilities to adopt a tariff aimed specifically at AI-driven load. Where most 2026 measures in this dataset restrict where data centers may be built, this one changes what they pay to run.
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In effect Strength: stronger
Bartz v. Anthropic
N.D. Cal. · Effective September 5, 2025 · Bartz v. Anthropic PBC, No. 3:24-cv-05417 (N.D. Cal.)
Authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson sued Anthropic over its use of pirated-book datasets to train Claude. In June 2025 Judge William Alsup ruled that training on lawfully purchased books was fair use. The piracy claims (LibGen ingestion) proceeded toward settlement; in September 2025 Anthropic agreed to a $1.5 billion class settlement covering ~500,000 works. Judge Alsup granted preliminary approval September 25, 2025 and final approval July 20, 2026. The appeal period runs through August 19, 2026; class members will not receive payments until at least end of 2026.
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In effect Strength: stronger
COPPA + 2025 Rule (childrens data)
United States · Effective June 23, 2025 · 15 U.S.C. §§ 6501–6506; 16 C.F.R. Part 312
COPPA requires online services aimed at children under 13 to get verifiable parental consent before collecting kids' personal data. The 2025 rule update — fully in effect since April 22, 2026 — adds biometric identifiers (like face templates and voiceprints, which matter for AI tools), requires separate parental consent before sharing children's data for targeted advertising, and tightens data retention limits.
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In effect Strength: stronger
TAKE IT DOWN Act
United States · Effective May 19, 2025 · Pub. L. No. 119-12 (S. 146)
Makes it a federal crime to knowingly publish intimate images of someone without consent, including AI-generated deepfakes. Social media and similar platforms must give victims a way to request removal and must take the content (and known copies) down within 48 hours. The platform removal requirement became enforceable May 19, 2026, and the FTC has already begun enforcement.
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Blocked / in litigation
NetChoice v. Yost (Ohio)
S.D. Ohio · Effective April 16, 2025 · NetChoice, LLC v. Yost, No. 2:24-cv-00047 (S.D. Ohio Apr. 16, 2025)
Ohio's Social Media Parental Notification Act — requiring parental consent for minors' social-media use, including algorithmic feeds — was preliminarily enjoined on February 12, 2024, then permanently enjoined on April 16, 2025 when the district court granted summary judgment for NetChoice. The state appealed to the Sixth Circuit, which vacated the district court's injunction in 2026.
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In effect Strength: stronger
Thaler v. Perlmutter (Copyright)
D.C. Cir. · Effective March 18, 2025 · Thaler v. Perlmutter, 130 F.4th 1039 (D.C. Cir. 2025)
The companion copyright case: Stephen Thaler sought to register a copyright with 'Creativity Machine' (his AI) as the author. The D.C. Circuit affirmed in March 2025 that the Copyright Act's human-authorship requirement is dispositive as a matter of statutory law. AI cannot be a copyright author under U.S. law.
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In effect Strength: stronger
Louis v. SafeRent
D. Mass. · Effective November 20, 2024 · Louis v. SafeRent Solutions, LLC, No. 1:22-cv-10800 (D. Mass.)
SafeRent agreed in November 2024 to a $2.275M settlement and a five-year ban on using its 'SafeRent Score' for housing-voucher applicants, after a class action alleged its AI tenant-screening tool systematically denied housing to Black and Hispanic Section 8 voucher holders. The first major AI tenant-screening Fair Housing Act settlement.
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In effect Strength: stronger
FTC Impersonation Rule (AI)
United States · Effective April 1, 2024 · 16 C.F.R. Part 461; 89 Fed. Reg. 15017
The FTC's Impersonation Rule lets the agency directly sue scammers who pretend to be a government agency or a real business — including those who use AI-cloned voices or generated images to do so. Civil penalties can reach $53,088 per violation. The FTC also issued a supplemental notice in February 2024 proposing to extend the rule to all individual impersonation.
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In effect Strength: stronger
FTC v. Rite Aid
FTC · Effective February 26, 2024 · FTC v. Rite Aid Corp., No. 2:23-cv-05023 (E.D. Pa. Dec. 19, 2023)
The FTC banned Rite Aid from using facial-recognition technology in its stores for five years after finding the pharmacy chain's FRT system falsely tagged customers — disproportionately women and people of color — as shoplifters, leading to wrongful detentions and humiliations.
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In effect Strength: stronger
TCPA (AI voice calls)
United States · Effective February 8, 2024 · 47 U.S.C. § 227; FCC 24-17
Robocalls using AI-cloned or AI-generated voices are treated like other 'artificial voice' calls: callers need your prior express consent, must identify themselves, and must offer opt-outs for telemarketing. You can personally sue violators for $500 to $1,500 per illegal call.
Frequently asked questions about AI laws in Bangor, Maine
Are there AI laws in Bangor, Maine?
What federal AI rules apply in Bangor?
Does Maine have an AI privacy law?
Are deepfakes illegal in Maine?
Can my employer use AI to screen me for jobs in Bangor?
How do I report an AI law violation in Bangor?
Are facial recognition cameras allowed in Bangor?
Is Bangor regulated by Maine's consumer privacy act?
Have we missed an AI rule in Bangor?
This page is generated from our open civic dataset. If you know of a Bangor ordinance, county rule, or local enforcement action we should add, email feedback@ailawsusa.com or submit a correction. Every entry must include a verifiable source.