Committee advances AI disclosure, reauthorizes limited child-care certification and clears pari‑mutuel measure to ballot

The Senate Business and Labor Standing Committee met Feb. 14 and voted to advance several bills, most notably a narrowed consumer‑AI disclosure measure, a change to residential child‑care certification thresholds, and a pari‑mutuel racing bill that would go to local ballot approval.

S.B. 226: Artificial‑intelligence consumer protections

Senator Cullimore presented a second substitute to S.B. 226 that narrows state disclosure requirements when consumers interact with automated systems. The substitute keeps an upfront disclosure requirement for what the bill defines as “high‑risk” interactions — specifically financial, legal, medical or mental‑health services — and creates a safe harbor if providers “conspicuously disclose at the outset of an interaction” and meet the bill’s other conditions, Cullimore said. "There is a safe harbor … a person is not subject [to] enforcement if they demonstrate that they did conspicuously disclose at the outset of an interaction that they're dealing with AI," he said.

The committee substituted the bill and then voted to favorably recommend the second substitute by voice vote; the clerk recorded the committee action as unanimous, 5–0. The committee record shows the Division of Consumer Protection and the attorney general would retain enforcement authority under the measure as written.

Why it matters: The substitute narrows a broader set of requirements from last year so smaller regulated businesses (from barbers to nail salons, as discussed in the hearing) are less likely to be swept into wide disclosure duties while preserving notifications for higher‑risk consumer interactions.

S.B. 221: Child‑care residential certificate (first substitute)

Senator Escamilla introduced a first substitute of S.B. 221 to restore a residential child‑care certification threshold the bill sponsor said existed prior to recent deregulation. The…