AI Frontier Institute · Story
The Texas narrow path
Texas filed a Colorado-style AI framework, cut it down to prohibited uses and government duties, and other states have moved toward that narrower shape since.
December 23, 2024
Texas files HB 1709, a Colorado-style high-risk framework
Representative Giovanni Capriglione filed the Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act as HB 1709. The draft reached private developers and deployers of high-risk AI systems, with duties around algorithmic discrimination modeled in part on Colorado's 2024 law and the EU AI Act.
March 14, 2025
HB 149 replaces it with a narrower bill
The framework returned as HB 149 with the private-sector duty of care gone. What remained: a list of prohibited uses such as manipulation toward self-harm and unlawful discrimination, disclosure duties for government agencies, a regulatory sandbox, and an advisory council, with enforcement by the Attorney General.
June 22, 2025
Governor Abbott signs HB 149, effective January 1, 2026
Texas enacted a broad AI statute built on prohibitions and public-sector rules rather than a risk-based duty for every deployer. Civil penalties run through the Attorney General, with a cure period before enforcement.
December 11, 2025
A federal order names the Colorado model
Executive Order 14365 directed the Justice Department to challenge state AI laws that conflict with federal policy and singled out a Colorado law banning algorithmic discrimination. Texas's statute carries no such duty, and the order does not name it.
March 18, 2026
Utah rewrites how its AI sandbox admits companies
Utah's HB 320 amended the 2024 Artificial Intelligence Policy Act: the Learning Laboratory Program stays, but participation now runs through a regulatory mitigation agreement (carried over from the 2024 act and amended) or a new joint interpretation agreement, each with disclosure and audit terms. It is the other narrow path, an office that negotiates with companies one at a time.
May 14, 2026
Colorado itself narrows to disclosure with SB 26-189
The origin state repealed its 2024 Act and reenacted a disclosure-centered law on automated decision-making, with the effective date pushed to January 1, 2027. The broad duty of care that Texas declined in 2025 did not survive in Colorado either.