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Leaders weigh protections for kids online and urge caution on ALPR retention limits
Summary
GOP leaders said they support protecting children online and scrutinizing AI/chatbot and social‑media bills for First Amendment and drafting risks; they also voiced concerns about restricting police retention of automatic license‑plate‑reader data (SB 6002).
Republican leaders addressed several technology and privacy questions, balancing child-protection goals with concerns about legal vulnerability and law‑enforcement needs.
On online safety and the governor's AI chatbot bill, Representative Stokesberry said Republicans are "directionally" supportive of protections for children but emphasized the importance of definitions, right‑to‑cure provisions and avoiding broad private causes of action that could stifle innovation and invite litigation. "If you fix some of those technical details, I suspect a lot of Republicans would support it," he said about an AI/chatbot companion bill supported by the governor.
Stokesberry also urged school districts to consider cell‑phone policies that reduce classroom distraction, endorsing a bill by Stephanie McClintock that would require districts to adopt policies rather than imposing a statewide ban.
Separately, on Senate Bill 6002 (automatic license‑plate‑reader retention limits), both leaders said they had not read the bill in detail but expressed concerns about restricting law‑enforcement tools. "If we don't like the law, we should change the law, but the idea that we wanna restrict their ability to enforce the law seems counterintuitive to me," Senator Braun said, while others cited local sheriffs' reports that ALPR data helped solve hit‑and‑run accidents and robberies.
Leaders called for hearings and stakeholder input on each measure before making final judgments.
