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Business group urges study before requiring model AI policies for all professional boards as Assembly advances bill
Summary
NJBIA urged lawmakers to study how different licensing boards use AI before directing the Division of Consumer Affairs to promulgate model policies; the committee amended and released Assembly Bill 4731 with one abstention.
A business group told the Assembly Science, Innovation and Technology Committee that policymakers should study how professional and occupational boards use artificial intelligence before compelling the Division of Consumer Affairs to issue model policies, as lawmakers advanced Assembly Bill 4731 with committee amendments.
Althea Ford, vice president of government affairs for the New Jersey Business & Industry Association, told the committee that DCA may lack subject-matter capacity to create a single model policy that fits the diverse needs of boards that regulate professions from barbers to neurosurgeons. "We remain concerned about putting the onus on the Division of Consumer Affairs, which may not necessarily have the subject-matter expertise," Ford said, and she suggested conducting a study to inform any later rulemaking.
Committee members pressed Ford on whether boards are already working on AI policies and how the Division might consult stakeholders. Lawmakers and Ford discussed potential statutory language to require explicit stakeholdering so executive implementation aligns with legislative intent.
On the motion to amend and release AB 4731, the committee voted to move the bill forward but Assemblyman McGuckin announced an abstention, citing concerns about timelines and breadth of the delegation to administrative agencies. The committee recorded the amendment and released the bill for later legislative stages.
Next steps: The bill, as amended, will proceed through additional legislative consideration; sponsors and stakeholders indicated they will continue drafting and negotiating amendment language.
