‘First Comprehensive AI Legislation’ of 2024, FL’s Aggressive Children’s Online Safety Bill Passes House & More

VA and VT Introduce ‘First Comprehensive AI Legislation’ of 2024

Legislation has been introduced in Virginia (HB 747) and Vermont (HB 710) that would set standards for developers of “high risk”—meaning designed to make consequential decisions—or generative artificial intelligence systems. Among other things the bills would require developers to take steps to avoid “algorithmic discrimination” and complete impact assessments identifying potential risks posed by their systems.

“This is, so far, the first...comprehensive AI legislation [of 2024],” Tatiana Rice, senior counsel with the Future of Privacy Forum’s U.S. legislation team, said of the bills.

The bills are as significant as a measure introduced in California last year (AB 331) aimed at regulating automated decision-making tools, according to Rice. The California measure didn’t pass, but it’s author, Assembly member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D) intends to reintroduce it this year. A similar bill (HB 1951) was introduced this month in Washington.

The author of Vermont AB 710, Rep. Monique Priestley (D), who has worked in the tech industry for twenty years, also introduced an AI consumer protection bill (AB 711). The bill would require developers “of any inherently dangerous artificial intelligence system that could be reasonably expected to impact consumers” to “exercise reasonable care to avoid any reasonably foreseeable risk arising out of the development, intentional and substantial modification, or deployment” of that system. (PLURIBUS NEWS, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET)

FL House Passes Aggressive Children’s Online Safety Bill

Florida’s House passed a bill (HB 1) that would prevent those under 16 from having a social media account and require social media platforms to confirm the age of new and existing users. The measure—a top priority for House Speaker Paul Renner (R)—goes significantly further than legislation passed last year in other states, including Arkansas (SB 396), Ohio (HB 33) and Utah (SB 152), which require minors to obtain parental consent to access social media platforms. One lawmaker said the bill was a “shot across the bow” of tech companies. (ORLANDO SENTINEL, PLURIBUS NEWS)

Data Privacy Bills Introduced in MD

Maryland lawmakers introduced a pair of data privacy bills similar to laws passed in California, Connecticut and other states. The Maryland Online Data Privacy Act (SB 541) would prohibit large companies from collecting consumer data for which there is no legitimate business need and require those companies to take steps to keep data they do collect secure from cyberattacks. The measure would also give consumers the right to view, correct, or delete their data or opt out of data collection altogether. The other bill (HB 603), dubbed the Maryland Kids Code, would provide new online protections for children. (WASHINGTON POST, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET)

IA Lawmakers Advance Tech-Related Protections for Children

A subcommittee of the Iowa House Judiciary Committee approved a bill (HF 2051) that would require entities that publish or distribute obscene content on the internet to verify the age of anyone seeking access to that content. House members also advanced a bill (HF 2049) that would specify that child pornography generated by artificial intelligence constitutes sexual exploitation. (GAZETTE [CEDAR RAPIDS], LEXISNEXIS STATE NET)

—Compiled by SNCJ Managing Editor KOREY CLARK

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