Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Committee hears bill to curb autonomous AI therapy; clinicians and tech firms seek narrower definitions
Summary
The House Health Care & Wellness Committee took public testimony on HB 2599, which would bar AI systems from independently providing therapy or making therapeutic decisions. Clinicians urged broad prohibitions to protect patients; medical and tech groups asked for tighter definitions to avoid blocking clinician-supervised tools.
Representative Shelly Kloba, the bill's prime sponsor, presented House Bill 2599 during the committee's Jan. 28 public hearing, saying the measure aims to preserve human therapeutic judgment and protect patients from unregulated AI-driven services.
"This absolutely is something that we have been experiencing for a while now," Kloba said, framing the bill as a way to keep therapy "offered by an experienced, trained, licensed, ethical, healthcare provider." The staff summary described prohibitions on AI making independent therapeutic decisions, directly interacting with clients in therapeutic communication, generating treatment recommendations without clinician review, or detecting emotions or mental states.
Multiple professional associations and clinicians testified in strong support of the bill, arguing…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
