Senators probe whether RealPage pushed state AI law ban

Democratic senators are probing whether RealPage, a bundle institution accused of colluding with landlords to rise rents, lobbied for a projected prohibition connected states regulating AI for the adjacent decade. In a missive to RealPage CEO Dana Jones, 4 Democratic senators — Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Tina Smith (D-MN)  — ask for much accusation astir the company’s “potential involvement” successful a proviso attached to Republicans’ fund reconciliation bill, which bars authorities laws that interaction AI oregon “automated decision” systems for 10 years.

The senators reason that the proviso could scuttle attempts to halt RealPage from feeding delicate accusation from groups of landlords into an algorithm and utilizing it to urge noncompetitive rental prices.

In 2022, a study from ProPublica linked RealPage to rising rent prices crossed the US, alleging that its algorithm allows landlords to coordinate pricing. The Department of Justice and 8 states sued the company past year, claiming it “deprives renters of the benefits of contention connected flat leasing terms.” Meanwhile, cities similar Minneapolis, Jersey City, Philadelphia, and San Francisco person passed laws meant to prohibition the usage of rent-setting software, and respective states, including Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, and Washington, person authorities successful the works.

As it stands, the senators reason the Republican fund reconciliation measure would artifact pending authorities and halt states from enforcing immoderate regularisation that puts limitations connected RealPage’s rent-setting algorithm. The measure proposes preventing states from enforcing “any instrumentality oregon regulation” covering a wide scope of automated computing systems, which would apt use to the algorithms utilized by RealPage.

And portion the moratorium’s astir high-profile proponents are giants similar OpenAI, lawmakers judge RealPage mightiness person spent millions pushing for it too. “In airy of this, we question accusation connected RealPage’s lobbying efforts, and connected however the Republicans’ reconciliation proviso would assistance the bottommost enactment of RealPage and different ample corporations by allowing them to instrumentality vantage of consumers,” the missive states.

The senators accidental RealPage “stepped up” its Congressional lobbying successful effect to section authorities that would impact its business. They mention a study from The Lever, which recovered that the National Multifamily Housing Council, a commercialized radical that represents RealPage, accrued its lobbying spending from $4.8 cardinal successful 2020 to $9 cardinal successful 2024. The Lever besides recovered that the commercialized radical disclosed that it lobbied connected “issues surrounding the risks and opportunities posed by artificial intelligence,” arsenic good arsenic “federal policies affecting usage of data, artificial intelligence, software,” and different exertion utilized successful existent estate.

“RealPage ramped up its cardinal dollar spending run successful Congress and lo and behold, Republicans successful Congress passed a proviso to artifact states from protecting renters,” Senator Warren told The Verge. “Americans are being squeezed by rising rents, but alternatively of helping, Republicans are trying to springiness a greenish airy to RealPage’s rent-hiking algorithm.”

The Senators person asked RealPage however overmuch wealth the institution spent connected Congressional lobbying successful each twelvemonth since 2020, arsenic good arsenic which firms and individuals it “engaged oregon contracted with” during the aforesaid period. They besides privation to cognize however overmuch it spent connected lobbying targeted toward AI legislation, arsenic good arsenic however RealPage would beryllium impacted by the fund reconciliation measure successful states with pending authorities connected rent-setting software. The senators inquire RealPage to respond by June 10th, 2025.

If passed, the measure — presently awaiting information successful the Senate — could person acold wider-ranging impacts than RealPage. In summation to blocking states from regulating AI chatbots, it could besides impact immoderate laws covering things similar deepfakes, automated hiring systems, facial recognition, sentencing algorithms, and more.