Clayton Murphy

HELENA (UM Legislative News Service) — Twelve years ago, the “black helicopter award” sat proudly on a 26-year-old legislator’s desk in the Montana House of Representatives — a jab at his data privacy policies some likened to conspiracy theories.

But a few months later, Edward Snowden’s NSA blowup dropped the jaws of privacy-focused legislators across the country. Suddenly Billings Republican Daniel Zolnikov’s worries about surveillance, privacy and consumer data didn’t seem all that off-base. 

By 2023, then Sen. Zolnikov sponsored what some called one of the strongest consumer data protection acts in the United States at the time. That legislation passed unanimously and Gov. Greg Gianforte signed it into law on May 19, 2023.

According to Zolnikov, it broke the firewall of other red states passing diluted privacy acts, a move he said Montana was primed for.

“We’re a small state,” he said. “All the big power brokers don’t have people on the ground here.”

Two years later, as the 2025 Montana Legislative session pushes on, Zolnikov is keeping his eye on the increasing complications of American tech policy. And Montana’s Legislature only meets every other year — a practice shared by just three other states. It’s yet another hurdle for making laws that concern a light-speed industry. 

“You only have one shot to do it and do it right,” Zolnikov said. “Failure is not really an option.”

Predictive Policy

So far, Zolnikov has two major preemptive tech privacy bills in the 2025 legislative circuit. The first adds neural data protections to his 2023 Genetic Information Privacy Act.

The bill describes neural data as brain activity that is measured, processed and recorded using an electronic device.

Despite “neural data” sounding like a sci-fi movie plot today, Zolnikov sees it looming heavy on the horizon. When introducing Senate Bill 163 on Jan. 23, Zolnikov said he predicts advertisers’ interest in this data will skyrocket once the technology, like Elon Musk’s Neuralink program, develops enough to be used commercially.

“Before we get there, how about we set some lines in the sand and say ‘You own your ideas, you own your thoughts,’” Zolnikov said. “This puts the consumer in charge of the conversation.”

House Minority Leader Katie Sullivan, D-Missoula, during the House floor session on Jan. 31, 2025. Sullivan also prioritizes tech privacy bills, and has worked with Zolnikov, Bogner and other legislators from both sides of the aisle on such. (Clayton Murphy/UM Legislative News Service)
House Minority Leader Katie Sullivan, D-Missoula, during the House floor session on Jan. 31, 2025. Sullivan also prioritizes tech privacy bills, and has worked with Zolnikov, Bogner and other legislators from both sides of the aisle on such. (Clayton Murphy/UM Legislative News Service)
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Senate Bill 212, the “Right to Compute Act,” is Zolnikov’s second piece of tech policy in discussion. The bill adds First Amendment protections to AI in hopes of “ensuring the United States remains at the forefront of computational technology,” as stated in the bill. It also adds guardrails to the use of AI in critical infrastructure.

“The right to compute is basically the right to use technology. The norms: tools, vehicles, printing press…” Zolnikov said. “There seems to be a lot of laws on 21st-century technology. That can be problematic because those are today’s tools.”

Zolnikov’s ethos is one of confidence in the unknown. He said he is aware of the power of this new technology but that legislation should not seek a ban, something he has seen in other states.

“That’s not how an innovative nation works,” the Senator said.

In The Name of Privacy

“Twenty years ago, if you were to ask Montanans if they were okay with the government using cameras on the street that can recognize your face and follow you around, they would have said no,” House Minority Leader Katie Sullivan, D-Missoula, said. “Look where we are now. Maybe Daniel’s got something up his sleeve.”

Mentioning the Montana Legislature’s “privacy caucus” gets a light chuckle from its members. It’s an informal group — a few like-minded lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, like Sullivan and Zolnikov, will bounce a new bill around the group to get feedback and maybe a few co-signers.

Senate President Pro Tempore Kenneth Bogner, R-Miles City, is also a member. He shares Zolnikov’s approach of nip-it-in-the-bud legislation. 

“Look at the history of Montana. The Treasure State, ‘Oro y Plata,’” Bogner said. “We have the resources. Let’s use them, but in a responsible way.”

Across the country, this broad approach is becoming a trend. Hayley Tsukayama, the Electronic Frontier Foundation's associate director of legislative activism, called it “Principle Legislation.”

“When you get specific with technology, that’s when laws get outdated,” Tsukayama said. “I like principles because it can both address what is happening in the moment and, in a sense, futureproof.”

Last year, the National Conference of State Legislatures tracked 450 AI bills introduced in state legislatures across the country. The organization identified three main types of AI legislation – bills that deal with government use of AI, deepfakes, particularly in elections, and bills that offer consumer protection in the age of AI. 

This year, the Montana lawmakers have bills on their desks that tackle all these issues. 

Senate Bill 25, carried by Sen. Janet Ellis, D-Helena, which would require disclosure of “deepfakes” used in state elections. 

Rep. Braxton Mitchell, R-Colombia Falls, introduced House Bill 178, which would prohibit the use of AI in surveillance and facial recognition unless used to identify a missing person, a suspect in a serious crime or to identify corpses.

And Zolnikov continues to push for legislation that looks even further into the future. His neural data bill, Senate Bill 163, earned unanimous approval from the Senate last week.

“We’ve come a long way from Senator Zolnikov’s black helicopter award,” Bogner said. “People are a lot more open to question what’s coming.”