Supporters tell Senate committee a regulatory 'sandbox' could ease market entry while keeping disclosures

Advocates for Senate Bill 90 told the Senate General Government Committee a regulatory sandbox could help innovators test products and services with agency oversight, disclosures and an expectation that participants would “graduate” to full market access.

Greg Lawson of the Buckeye Institute described a universal sandbox that would expand on earlier financial sandboxes by enabling regulated testing across sectors — including, but not limited to, technology and AI‑adjacent products — while preserving disclosure requirements and oversight. Lawson said the sandbox would be collaborative, iterative and designed to produce a regulatory path for successful products.

Committee members questioned what consumer protections would remain, whether agencies could waive health and safety rules, and how long an entity could remain in the sandbox. Lawson said criminal liability would not be removed, civil immunity would not be automatic, and waivers would be issued case‑by‑case with explicit disclosures to participants. He noted the bill’s text originally allowed an initial five‑year period with a possible 12‑month extension, while a House version under consideration shortened the initial period to two years with one‑year extensions.

Senators pressed concerns about broad waiver authority and the potential for consumer risk; Lawson said the intention is to require clear disclosures and agency oversight, and to use the sandbox for contained testing that informs longer‑term regulatory frameworks. The committee closed the third hearing on SB90 with no vote recorded.