AUSTIN (KXAN) Texas legislators passed their first AI-related bill of the session to Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday, one with a specific focus on helping the state’s laws catch up with technology.

HB 581 would require AI tools and websites that can create sexually explicit images to ensure users and subjects are of legal age. An individual who is used as a source for the AI generation must have consented to the usage.

The Texas House of Representatives also passed SB 20 Thursday afternoon, which bans the possession of AI-generated child sexual abuse material.

Legislators filed at least 68 bills related to AI this session, including HB 1265, to regulate AI use in mental health services, and HB 1709, the Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act (TRAIGA).

Unless vetoed, HB 581 and SB 20 will take effect in September.

What other AI bills are being considered?

Lawmakers in both chambers passed at least 25 AI-related bills; however, none of these bills have been passed by the other chamber.

For instance, HB 366 would require politicians, political action committees and campaigns to disclose if they used AI-generated images in political ads. It passed in the Texas House of Representatives on April 30, but was never assigned to a committee in the Senate. HB 2298, which would have created a grant program for developing cancer-detecting AI, also shared this fate after it passed the House on May 8.

The rest of the 25 bills, which represent the remaining AI legislation still in play this session, got committee assignments. Twelve are still in committee, including HB 421, one of the bills aimed at preventing nonconsensual AI-generated explicit images.

Bills still pending in House committees have until Sunday before they can’t be considered. Others in Senate committees have until May 28.

Bills still moving forward

Bills on the calendar for floor consideration in the Senate include:

• HB 149 would regulate bad faith use cases of AI and allow Texans to sue if an AI product uses their likeness or voice without consent; and,
• HB 449 would add AI-generated sexual images to the crime of unlawful production of sexually explicit images or videos.

These bills have a deadline of May 28, after which they can’t be considered further.

In the House, three bills are on the calendar for consideration and another four (SBs 22, 441, 1964 and 2373) have yet to be placed.

The other three bills include:

• SB 815 would block insurers from using AI to decide claims;
• SB 1188, which mostly focuses on a patient’s biological sex in electronic health records, would require providers to disclose if they use AI; and,
• SB 1621, which relates to the prosecution and punishment of AI-generated CSAM.

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