Texas House Passes Pared-Down AI Governance Act

"This is a significantly pared down version of the original TRAIGA bill," said Robert Brown, partner in the privacy and cyber practice at Latham & Watkins, in a LinkedIn post Thursday. "The key takeaway is that many of the more onerous obligations that appeared in the original bill have been dropped or now apply exclusively to governmental agencies. While commercial enterprises are still subject to certain prohibitions, the element of 'intent' is notably prominent."

HB-149 was introduced by Rep. Giovanni Capriglione (R), who said he collaborated with stakeholders and anyone who had an opinion when drafting the legislation (see 2503280037). According to Brown, the bill prohibits entities connected to Texas from developing or deploying AI systems with the intent of infringing on constitutional rights or unlawful discrimination; encouraging or inciting self-harm, harm to others or crime; producing or distributing child porn or sexual deepfakes; and/or engaging in sexually-explicit text conversations posing as a minor.

Brown also said TRAIGA "establishes a Texas AI Council, and materially modifies the Texas biometric data law," and creates an AI regulatory sandbox program.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, condemned the original version of TRAIGA as "heavy-handed" in an April 7 statement (see 2504070074).