Texas Legislature Passes Data Broker, Government AI Bills
Texas bills on data brokers and government use of AI passed the legislature and will go to Gov. Greg Abbott (R).
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The Senate voted 31-0 Saturday to concur with House amendments to the data broker bill (SB-2121). Senators voted 30-1 Friday to concur with House changes to the government AI bill (SB-1964). The House passed both bills earlier last week (see 2505290047).
SB-2121 would amend the definition of data broker in state law (Chapter 509) “to mean a business entity that collected, processed, or transferred, rather than whose principal source of revenue was derived from the collecting, processing, or transferring of, personal data that it did not collect directly from the individual linked or linkable to the data,” said a bill digest.
It would also say that Chapter 509 covers any data broker that has, over the last 12 months, derived “more than 50 percent of its revenue directly from processing or transferring personal data not collected by the data broker” or “revenue directly from processing or transferring the personal data of more than 50,000 individuals not collected by the data broker,” the digest said. The changes would take effect Sept. 1.
SB-1964 would require the Texas Department of Information Resources to write an AI “system code of ethics for state agency use and establish regulations and programs related to the use of AI systems by state agencies,” a bill digest said.