Key point: Last week, chatbot bills crossed chambers in four states and advanced out of committees in four other states, Utah’s provenance bill crossed chambers, and Florida’s AI Bill of Rights moved out of a second Senate committee.
Below is the sixth update on the status of proposed state AI legislation in 2026. These posts track state AI bills that can directly or indirectly affect private-sector AI developers and deployers. These posts do not track AI bills that focus on government use of AI; insurance; workgroups; education; legal settings; name, image, and likeness; deepfakes; CSAM and sexual material; and election interference. As always, the content provided below is time-sensitive and subject to change.
What’s New
The year of the chatbot bill continued last week with bills crossing chambers in four states (Oregon, Utah, Virginia, and Washington). Meanwhile, bills advanced out of committees in four states (Idaho, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Hawaii) and new bills were introduced in four states (California, Colorado, Iowa, and Georgia).
Utah’s Digital Content Provenance Standards Act also crossed chambers last week. However, there continued to be no movement on the Trump-challenged AI Transparency Act.
Florida’s AI Bill of Rights inched forward, passing unanimously out of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Virginia and Washington’s deadlines for bills to cross chambers passed last week. Three of the 14 Virginia bills we are tracking survived that deadline: SB 85 (amends VCDPA relating to social media/AI), SB 796 (chatbots), and SB 269 (use of AI in mental health). In Washington, three of the 19 bills we are tracking crossed chambers this year: HB 2225 / SB 5984 (chatbots) and HB 1170 (disclosures). Two bills crossed chambers last year — HB 1622 (employment) and SB 5469 (pricing). It is unclear whether those two bills are still alive, but we will continue to monitor them for movement.
Last week was also the deadline for lawmakers to introduce bills in California. We track seven new bills in the below article.
Finally, New Mexico’s legislature closed without passing any of the four bills we were tracking.
More details on those bills plus updates on all bill movements last week in the below post.
High Risk / Consequential Decisions
These bills regulate AI in high-risk situations such as financial services or health care and can require disclosures, assessments, and consumer rights.
There were no developments last week for this category.
Chatbot
These bills come in different varieties but, in general, they regulate AI interacting directly with individuals. For example, chatbots that act as companions or interact with individuals in a commercial or health care setting.
Oregon’s SB 1546 quickly passed the Senate last week. The bill passed out of committee on Tuesday and passed the Senate by a 26-1 vote on Thursday. The companion chatbot bill requires that users be provided notice that the chatbot is not human if a reasonable person would believe the chatbot is human, and that chatbot providers have procedures in place to address suicidal ideation and self-harm ideation. The bill also has specific provisions around companion chatbots that interact with children such as providing reminders every three hours that the chatbot is not human. The bill contains a private right of action with $1,000 statutory damages.
Utah’s HB 438 (Companion Chatbot Safety Act) passed the House by a 68-1 vote last week. The bill requires companion chatbot operators to comply with certain provisions of Utah’s consumer data privacy law, restricts advertising by companion chatbot operators, and creates obligations for companion chatbots directed at minors. For reference, this is not the bill that the Trump administration recently said should not pass.
Virginia’s SB 796 (AI Chatbots and Minors Act) passed the Senate by a 39-1 vote. Subject to exceptions, the bill applies to operators of chatbots that have 500,000 or more monthly active users worldwide. The bill addresses issues such as suicidal ideation, notice to users, and incident reporting.
Washington’s companion chatbot bills continued to advance last week. HB 2225 passed the House on February 17 by a 69-28 vote, after which it received a do-pass vote in the Senate Environment, Energy, and Technology Committee on February 20. Meanwhile, the Senate companion bill SB 5984, which previously passed the Senate, is scheduled for executive action in in the House Technology, Economic Development, and Veterans Committee on February 24.
Idaho’s S 1297 (Conversational AI Safety Act) was reported out of committee with a do-pass recommendation and is now on a second reading.
Iowa’s HSB 647 was unanimously voted out of committee.
Oklahoma committees advanced two chatbot bills. SB 1521 passed out of the Senate Technology and Telecommunications Committee while HB 3544 passed out of the House Judiciary and Public Safety Oversight Committee.
In Hawaii, an amended HB 1782 (companion chatbot / kids) passed out of one committee and was referred to another. The bill now has a July 1, 3000 effective date.
Turning to new bills, California lawmakers introduced two bills last week: AB 2023 and SB 1119. The bills currently lack text and are just placeholders to meet the deadline to introduce bills. Iowa lawmakers are also considering a new mental health chatbot bill (SF 2415). A bipartisan group of four Colorado lawmakers introduced a new chatbot bill (HB 1263), and a group of eight Republican Georgia lawmakers introduced a bill (SB 540).
Pricing
These bills deal with the use of AI to set prices and in some cases deal with employment.
Two bills advanced last week. In Nebraska, LB 771 (dynamic pricing for transportation networks) advanced to enrollment and engrossment. Hawaii’s HB 2458 (surveillance pricing / food) passed out of one committee and was referred to a second committee.
Meanwhile, bills were introduced in five states. In Michigan, a group of six Democrat lawmakers introduced a bill (SB 794) to regulate rental price setting. In Minnesota, three Democrats introduced a bill (HF 3408) to prohibit surveillance pricing. Iowa lawmakers are also considering a new surveillance pricing bill (HF 2469). New Jersey lawmakers introduced companion bills (S 3612 / A 4085) to prohibit business entities from using consumer’s personal data to set prices for merchandise or services. Finally, California is considering a new surveillance pricing bill (AB 2564).
Disclosures
These bills generally require organizations to identify when content is generated by AI or otherwise make disclosures regarding the use of GenAI.
In Louisiana, HB 230 requires AI systems that produce images, videos, audio, or multimedia AI-generated content to include a disclosure on such content that identifies the content as being generated by AI.
Provenance
These bills require entities to make disclosures regarding the data used to train AI.
Utah’s HB 276 unanimously passed the House last week. The bill does several things but, as it relates to the scope of our posts, the bill enacts the Digital Content Provenance Standards Act.
Employment
These bills regulate the use of AI in employment settings such as hiring, firing, promotion, compensation or displacement issues.
There were no developments last week for this category.
Health
These bills focus on the use of AI in health care.
Tennessee’s HB 1470 was recommended for passage by a House subcommittee. Its companion bill (SB 1580) previously passed the Senate.
In Hawaii, an amended SB 2281 (use of AI in health care) passed a second reading and was referred to two committees.
California lawmakers are considering three new bills. SB 1146 regulates the use of AI in health-related advertisements. SB 1181 is a placeholder bill on the topic of AI’s impact on youth mental health. AB 2575 regulates the use of AI in health care services.
A Louisiana Republican prefiled a bill (HB 197) on the use of AI by health care providers.
Personhood
These bills generally provide that AI cannot be granted legal status or deemed a person under state law.
California lawmakers are considering a new personhood bill (SB 1159).
AI Bill of Rights
These bills cover multiple issues such as chatbots and providing individuals with rights relating to AI.
Florida’s AI Bill of Rights (S 482) was unanimously voted out of the Senate Appropriations Committee (18-0). The bill is now on a second floor reading.
Frontier Models
These bills apply to frontier models and the bills commonly apply only to global-scale tech corporations.
There were no developments last week for this category.
Other
Iowa’s HSB 635 (ownership of output) was voted out of committee.