AI law comparison · Data verified 2026-08-26
Pennsylvania Digital Forgery Law vs Tennessee ELVIS Act
Pennsylvania Digital Forgery Law and Tennessee ELVIS Act are two of the 169 AI and data regulations Aegis Firma tracks. They have different scopes, effective dates, and penalties — and many businesses fall under both. Here is the side-by-side, drawn directly from the regulatory registry.
Find which laws apply to my businessSide by side
Summary of publicly available regulatory text. Verify against current official sources before relying on this for compliance decisions. Not legal advice.
The key difference
Tennessee ELVIS Act takes effect first, so it is usually the more urgent of the two. Pennsylvania Digital Forgery Law tracks 16 compliance requirements and Tennessee ELVIS Act tracks 4. They are not interchangeable — meeting one does not discharge the other. The practical question is not which law is “stricter,” but which of them — or both — actually applies to your business.
Pennsylvania — AI Duty Profile (Act 35 of 2025 Digital Forgery; Act 125 of 2024; Insurance AI Notice 2024-04; Insurance Data Security Act; BPINA; DOS AI Enforcement Task Force)
Pennsylvania has NO comprehensive AI statute and NO comprehensive consumer-privacy or biometric-privacy statute as of August 25, 2026. What it has instead is a set of narrow, real, currently-binding duties that catch AI-using businesses at specific points. (1) DIGITAL FORGERY — 18 Pa.C.S. § 4101.1, added by Act 35 of 2025 (SB 649), signed 2025-07-07, effective 2025-09-05: a person commits digital forgery if, WITH INT…
Full Pennsylvania Digital Forgery Law requirementsTennessee ELVIS Act — Ensuring Likeness, Voice, and Image Security Act of 2024
Tennessee's ELVIS Act (HB 2091/SB 2096, Public Chapter 588, signed March 21, 2024, effective July 1, 2024) was the first US law specifically protecting individuals' voices from AI replication without consent. Rather than creating a new chapter, it renamed and rebuilt the Personal Rights Protection Act of 1984 as the "Ensuring Likeness, Voice, and Image Security Act of 2024" (§ 47-25-1101) and inserted "voice" through…
Full Tennessee ELVIS Act requirementsCommon questions
Could both Pennsylvania Digital Forgery Law and Tennessee ELVIS Act apply to my business?
Yes. Pennsylvania Digital Forgery Law and Tennessee ELVIS Act are separate regulations with separate scopes — a business can fall under both at once. Pennsylvania Digital Forgery Law covers WHAT PENNSYLVANIA DOES NOT HAVE (as of 2026-08-25): no comprehensive AI act; no comprehensive consumer data-privacy act (HB 78 passed the House in October 2025… Tennessee ELVIS Act covers Applies to any person or business that (a) knowingly uses an individual's name, photograph, voice or likeness for advertising, merchandise, goods, services, or… If your operations meet both scopes, you must comply with both. Aegis Firma's free scan checks all 169 tracked regulations against your business profile so you do not have to read each law to find out.
Which has the higher maximum penalty — Pennsylvania Digital Forgery Law or Tennessee ELVIS Act?
Pennsylvania Digital Forgery Law: Digital forgery (18 Pa.C.S. § 4101.1): third-degree felony — up to 7 years imprisonment and a fine up to $15,000 — where committed through a scheme to defraud, coerce or commit theft; otherwise a first-degree misdemeanor, up to 5 years and a fine up to $10,000 (fine figures per the Crowell & Moring alert read this cycle; 18 Pa.C.S. § 1101 itself was not re-read this session). Criminal enforcement only — no private right of action under this section. Separately: UTPCPL civil penalties reported at up to $1,000 per violation and up to $3,000 per violation where the affected consumer is 60 or older (the Attorney General's vehicle for AI marketing deception and for breach-notification failures), and Insurance Department authority to impose monetary penalties and to suspend or revoke a licensee's licence, authorisation or registration under the Insurance Data Security Act. Tennessee ELVIS Act: Criminal: Class A misdemeanour under Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-14-152 — up to 11 months 29 days in jail and/or a $2,500 fine. (PC 588 § 12 amended only § 39-14-152(g) to substitute the new Act name; the criminal offence itself predates and sits outside § 47-25-1106.) Civil under § 47-25-1106: injunctive relief, seizure/impoundment and destruction of infringing materials, actual damages plus the violator's profits attributable to the unauthorised use, and punitive damages where available. Enhanced remedy at § 47-25-1106(d)(2): three times actual damages plus reasonable attorney fees where a person knowingly uses or infringes the rights of a "member of the armed forces" — defined as a member of the US armed forces or of a reserve or Tennessee National Guard unit who is in, or was called into, active service. NOTE (R514): that treble provision is pre-existing Personal Rights Protection Act law, not something the ELVIS Act created; PC 588 does not contain it. Penalty structures differ by regulator and violation type — read each law's full page for the cure periods and per-violation detail.
When does each law take effect?
Pennsylvania Digital Forgery Law — effective 2025-09-05. Tennessee ELVIS Act — effective 2024-07-01. Dates last verified against official sources on 2026-08-26 and 2026-08-25 respectively.
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