Conn. Senator Expects Floor Votes in May on AI, Privacy Bills
The Connecticut Senate is likely to vote on data privacy and AI legislation in mid-May, state Sen. James Maroney (D) told Privacy Daily on the sidelines of the IAPP Global Privacy Summit on Tuesday.
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Maroney is pushing for passage of his SB-1356, a bill that would update the Connecticut Data Privacy Act, and his SB-2, a comprehensive AI bill that failed to pass in 2024 under a veto threat from Gov. Ned Lamont (D). The legislature’s joint General Laws Committee approved those two bills and a separate Lamont AI bill (SB-1249) at a hearing last month (see 2503210065).
Maroney said legislators are working through language on SB-1356 that would tighten its definitions and exemptions. Other key provisions include data minimization requirements, partly inspired by Maryland’s data privacy bill, and the addition of a data broker registry. Both SB-1356 and SB-2 will need to pass the Senate Judiciary and Appropriations committees in order to advance to the floor.
Maroney said Lamont is still opposed to SB-2 as written, but the senator is hopeful “there may be a middle ground that we’ll be able to find” between now and mid-May.
Maroney said the multistate AI policymaker working group is “on pause” after the Future of Privacy Forum withdrew from helping to facilitate the effort. U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, earlier this month said he’s investigating whether the FPF used federal grant money to push for AI laws aligned with the Biden administration’s regulatory agenda (see 2504070074).
FPF was “purely providing administrative support,” Maroney said. “It’s a shame when a bipartisan process of bringing in experts can be attacked” when “you have a non-partisan convener assisting legislators with doing their due diligence” in getting various viewpoints for legislative work. He said the working group will continue with a new entity to help convene legislators and stakeholders.
One issue regarding AI legislation that lawmakers will need to grapple with is the tension between strict data minimization requirements and the ability for entities to collect data when testing for algorithmic bias, Maroney said: The two are “at odds.” There’s language on this in the EU AI Act, but American legislators are yet to address it directly, he said. “It is something everyone should be thinking about. I will have some form of the language in [SB-2] for guidance on when and how to collect that data for testing.”