Senate Bill 4, which would regulate certain government uses of artificial intelligence and require disclosures and safeguards, advanced from the Appropriations Committee after a close vote and several sponsor amendments. Committee members adopted technical and scope‑narrowing amendments (L11, L18, L20) and the J‑amendment consolidating fiscal adjustments (J6); the final committee vote was 4–3.

Bill purpose and sponsor intent: The sponsor said SB 4 seeks to limit use of automated or algorithmic decision‑making for “consequential” government actions without disclosure, to require transparency, and to set standards for procurement and data handling. The majority leader and other sponsors described the bill as necessary to ensure human oversight and transparency when state agencies use automated tools that affect health care, benefits, supervision or other covered services.

Fiscal and implementation concerns: Legislative Council and the governor’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) told the committee the bill, as drafted, applies to numerous existing state systems and would require centralized OIT staff and additional agency IT resources. LCS staff reported a preliminary appropriation need of about $2,667,747 general fund for fiscal year 2025–26 to stand up OIT and agency resources; staff said the out‑year cost could rise to approximately $5.6 million and 40.3 FTE. OIT’s legislative liaison explained the centralized billing model the office uses and said some costs are distributed back to affected agencies; OIT offered to provide department‑level breakdowns on request. John Armstrong of Legislative Council said the earlier fiscal note for a prior draft did not include agency information because the bill’s scope was less clear; changes to definitions and coverage raised projected costs.

Scope adjustments and judicial concerns: Senator Gonzalez and others proposed L18 to exclude judicial probation assessment tools (LSI tools) and other statutorily required supervision assessments that are human‑driven, removing them from coverage. Sponsors said the exclusion was intended to avoid sweeping in judicial probation tools that predate the bill and are not an AI procurement the bill was intended to regulate. The committee adopted that amendment.

Schedule and additional time: Sponsors added L20 to move the bill’s effective policy date to May 1, 2026 (from February 26 in an earlier draft) to allow additional stakeholder work and agency preparation. Sponsor and committee members described further interagency negotiation as necessary because agencies use different systems and funding sources to operate affected tools.

Concerns from members: Several senators said the fiscal note remains incomplete and that the administration should provide a clearer split of general fund versus federal and cash fund impacts by agency. Senator Kirk Meyer objected to advancing the bill without a more detailed funding plan and expressed concern that agencies with heavy federal funding (for example, Health Care Policy & Financing) should use federal or cash funds where permissible rather than relying on general fund appropriations. Others argued that advancing the bill now would permit continued negotiations and refinement, and that failing to move it would stall needed transparency work.

Committee action and outcome: The committee approved L11 (technical/clarifying), L18 (judicial carve‑out), and L20 (effective‑date change), and adopted J6 (consolidated fiscal adjustments); the committee passed the bill 4–3 and sent it forward to the Committee of the Whole. The vote and the discussion highlighted persistent disagreement about scope, funding and implementation timing.

Implementation risk and next steps: Legislative Council, OIT and affected agencies will need to produce department‑level cost breakdowns and to identify allowable funding sources (general fund, federal, or cash funds) for the staff and technical work needed to comply with SB 4. Sponsors and staff said they expect continued interagency discussions and possible technical changes on the House floor or in conference.