It's a very grey area that hasn't gone to court lately, if I recall. Throw HID's in the wrong housing and you're gonna get stopped for being a hazard and absolutely blinding everyone. Go to strong on them and you're likely to get a cop saying that the really blue or purple tint violates our law against colored headlights. As long as your housings are correct, DOT approved, and you run about 4-6k kelvin HID's you're fine.
*disclaimer, this is not legal advice, I am not a lawyer, I will not bail you out of jail