The Pelican Center for Technology and Innovation, a project of the fiscally conservative New Orleans-based Pelican Institute, has issued a paper urging policymakers to adopt a “light regulatory touch” with emerging technologies.

“Today, the American technology sector is directly or indirectly responsible for 18 million American jobs, and it accounts for more than 10 percent of American Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” a summary of the paper’s findings says. “State policy makers are facing mounting questions over technology and innovation policy. For example, what steps should they take when considering new technologies, such as drones, autonomous vehicles, and 5G?”

The institute recommends four key principles for state lawmakers to consider:

• Avoid preemptive regulations of emerging technology.
• Examine whether current laws can be applied to new technologies.
• Use emerging technology as an opportunity to reduce regulation in legacy industries.
• Create statewide frameworks to ensure regulatory certainty.

“While there is no one size fits all solution to questions surrounding these vastly differing technologies, there are principles that can be utilized to help lawmakers think through these emerging technologies and the issues surrounding them,” the institute says.