AI Legislative Update: May 2, 2025
During the state legislative season TCAI will offer weekly updates every Friday on a variety of AI-related bills making progress in capitol buildings around the nation.
This week: Congress passes the Take It Down Act, California AI bills face scrutiny in committee hearings, and Texas TRAIGA gets its first second-chamber look in the Senate.
U.S. Congress
Take It Down Act passes with overwhelming support
In a rare show of bipartisan agreement, Congress earlier this week gave final approval to the Take It Down Act, a measure designed to protect individuals against the harm of intimate images published without their consent. The House of Representatives approved the measure on a vote of 409 to 2.
The bill, S. 146, will speed up the removal of a troubling type of online content: non-consensual intimate imagery, or NCII. The bill passed the Senate in February and now moves to the desk of President Trump, who is expected to sign it.
TCAI has full coverage here: Congress passes ‘Take It Down Act’ with overwhelming bipartisan support
california
Sen. Josh Becker’s SB 468 would require deployers of AI systems that process personal information to take steps to secure that information. The bill would bring AI systems and their deployers in line with existing state and federal laws regarding the secure handling and protection of personal information.
SB 468 was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 22 and is scheduled to be heard by the Senate Appropriations Committee on May 5.
SB 11: Artificial Intelligence Abuse Act
Sponsored by Sen. Angelique Ashby (D-Sacramento), SB 11 would codify the inclusion of computer-manipulated or AI-generated images or videos in the state’s right of publicity law and criminal false impersonation statutes. The bill would require AI developers and deployers to include a consumer warning in public-facing systems. The warning would remind users about state laws prohibiting the creation and distribution of unauthorized or harmful deepfakes.
SB 11 was approved by the Senate Committee on Public Safety on April 22, and will be heard by the Senate Appropriations Committee on May 5.
AB 1405, co-authored by Assm. Rebecca Bauer-Kahan and Sen. Scott Wiener, would establish an enrollment process for AI auditors within the Government Operation Agency. A full analysis of AB 1405 is available here. The bill was approved by the Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee on April 1 and was referred to the Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense file on April 23.
SB 813: Standards for Third Party AI Auditors
SB 813, sponsored by Sen. Jerry McNerney (D-Stockton), designates the California Attorney General to establish a process to certify private third-party MROs (multistakeholder regulatory organizations) in the AI space. These MROs would operate as the AI equivalent of financial auditors or accounting firms, ensuring that an MRO-approved AI model and/or application appropriately mitigates specific high-risk impacts. Those safety risks include cybersecurity, chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats, malign persuasion, and artificial intelligence model autonomy and exfiltration.
SB 813 was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 29 and now moves to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
California’s AI Copyright Act is aimed at increasing transparency around the use of copyrighted materials to train generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) systems and models.
The bill, authored by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda), was approved by the Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee on March 18, following testimony from TCAI’s Jai Jaisimha and SAG-AFTRA’s Joely Fisher.
Read more here: TCAI, SAG-AFTRA back AI Copyright Transparency Act in Sacramento
AB 412 continues to undergo revisions while with the Assembly Judiciary Committee.
AB 316: Artificial Intelligence Liability
AB 316, sponsored by Assm. Maggie Krell (D-Sacramento), would prevent AI developers and deployers from escaping liability claims by saying, essentially, “the machine acted on its own.”
The bill establishes that in civil actions, where a plaintiff alleges harm caused by AI, AI developers and users are prohibited from asserting that the AI acted autonomously as a defense. An analysis of the bill is available here.
The bill was approved by the Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee on March 25, but was re-referred to the same committee for further consideration. The bill continues to sit with the P&CP Committee.
AB 1064: Leading Ethical AI Development (LEAD) for Kids Act
This bill from Assm. Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda) would create a new AI standards board within the state’s Government Operations Agency, and charge its members with evaluating and regulating AI technologies for children. It would also impose a series of checks and balances—with an emphasis on transparency and privacy protections—to ensure only the safest AI tools make it into the hands of children.
TCAI has full coverage of the bill here: New California bill seeks protections for kids interacting with AI systems
AB 1064 was approved by the Assembly Judiciary Committee on April 23. It moved to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, where it was approved and re-referred to Appropriations for further amendments on April 30.
AB 853: California AI Transparency Act
This bill, sponsored by Assm. Buffy Wicks, would require AI developers to retain provenance data in content provided to, or posted on, a large online platform. The bill would also require a capture device manufacturer to include in the device’s default capture app the ability for a user to enable the inclusion of provenance data in the user’s captured content.
AB 853 was approved by the Assembly Judiciary Committee earlier this week, and now goes to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
texas
HB 149: Texas Responsible AI Governance Act (TRAIGA)
After gaining approval from the Texas House on a 146-3 vote on April 23, the Texas Responsible AI Governance Act (TRAIGA) received its first hearing in the Senate on Thursday, May 1.
Rep. Giovanni Capriglione’s bill (HB 149) is intended to regulate government-deployed AI while allowing the nascent industry to grow.
Sen. Charles Schwertner, chair of the Senate Business and Commerce Committee, has stepped up to become the bill’s primary sponsor in the Senate.
“HB 149 establishes a comprehensive framework to ensure AI is developed and deployed reasonably in Texas without stifling innovation or growth,” Schwertner said while introducing the bill.
The bill received mild commentary from proponents, some of whom requested minor amendments to the bill. David Dunmoyer of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, which worked with Rep. Capriglione to bring many stakeholders into the process, said that “we seek an AI bill that ensures technology serves humanity and not the other way around.”
Dominic Cruciani, a Houston-based attorney with Baker Botts, stressed the importance of “Texan leadership” in establishing an early state-based set of rules for this emerging technology.
“The country and the world need to see the Texan values of liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise balanced with safety and transparencym” he told the committee. And to be a bulwark against other states and countries that are pushing values that are antithetical to the Texas ethos.”
A video of the TRAIGA / HB 149 portion of the May 1 Senate Business and Commerce Committee hearing can be viewed below.
Like what you’re reading? sign up for our free monthly newsletter
