Sacramento Report: These AI Bills Flunked the Test in Sacramento

Early this year, state Sen. Steve Padilla hoped to pass two bills to regulate artificial intelligence technology.  

Neither one made it into law. Padilla’s bills were among more than a dozen that aimed to set guardrails around the use of AI, as the technology grows more powerful and ubiquitous in American business, government and elections.  

One of Padilla’s bills, SB892, proposed setting “safety, privacy, and nondiscrimination standards” for state contractors using AI technology. Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed it last month, saying it would cost too much and conflict with existing state efforts to establish ethical standards for artificial intelligence. 

The second bill, SB893, would have created a “California AI Research Hub,” to coordinate AI use and development between public agencies, universities and private companies. It died in the appropriations committee in August. The fiscal analysis showed the project would cost several million per year, so it’s not surprising it didn’t move forward in the face of a gaping state budget deficit. 

The rush to regulate artificial intelligence comes amid an election season where the technology has become a chaotic addition to campaigns. 

In August former President Donald Trump falsely claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign used AI to embellish photos of crowds at her Detroit campaign rally. A month later, Taylor Swift endorsed Harris after Trump shared a doctored image of the singer in an Uncle Sam hat urging voters to elect Trump. 

AI has emerged in more commonplace fashion in local races, Union Tribune reporter Kristen Taketa found. She sent questionnaires to nearly 200 school board candidates but found that about 20 of them returned answers that appeared to be the product of programs such as ChatGPT. It wasn’t really an attempt to deceive voters, she concluded; the candidates were just trying to cut corners on campaign communications. But they acknowledged the answers may have misrepresented their positions.  

Padilla, D-San Diego, wasn’t the only lawmaker to fall short trying to establish AI safeguards. A host of other bills fell by the wayside before the end of the legislative session. 

A bill by state Sen. Scott Wiener, SB 1047, generated headlines with its sweeping scope and doomsday scenarios. It would have created protocols to keep bad actors from using large-scale AI systems to launch cyberattacks on public infrastructure, commit cybercrime or develop chemical, nuclear or biological weapons. Newsom vetoed that one too. 

In his rejection letter, the governor said the bill focused too narrowly on the biggest AI models, excluding the possibility of catastrophic harm from niche technology. 

“Smaller, specialized models may emerge as equally or even more dangerous than the models targeted by SB 1047 – at the potential expense of curtailing the very innovation that fuels advancement in favor of the public good,” Newsom wrote. 

Many other bills never made it out of their committees. That included legislation that would have required watermarks to identify material generated by AI, create guidelines for AI use in schools, or impose a moratorium on training powerful AI systems. 

There were some successes among the many attempts to regulate AI. A law by Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Palo Alto, makes it a crime to digitally create images of child pornography. Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, D-Thousand Oaks, a former systems engineer, passed a law that requires artificial intelligence developers to disclose the data they use to train their systems.  

The failures to rein in artificial intelligence show the difficulty of chasing quickly evolving technology that’s changing how people learn, trade, communicate and vote.  

“Ultimately, any framework for effectively regulating Al needs to keep pace with the technology itself,” Newsom wrote. 

Easier said than done.  

Few lawmakers are technical experts, so staying ahead of AI developments is a constant race. But there’s also something unique about the systems. Unlike most technology, AI has the potential to redesign itself. 

“AI isn’t just a black box technology – opaque to outsiders – its outcomes are unknown even to its creators,” an article in the World Economic Forum noted. 

Top Ticket Ballot Measures I’m Following 

Voters have 10 ballot measures to decide on this year. A few in particular could change the political and physical landscape in California. 

Top among those is Proposition 5, which would make it easier to pass local infrastructure bonds for affordable housing as well as water projects, fire and police stations, utilities and parks. It would lower the threshold to pass local bond measures from two-thirds to 55 percent; the same mark that school districts have to meet. It’s polling at 60 percent among likely voters now. 

Another game-changer is Proposition 36, which would make it easier to prosecute retail theft and burglaries, stiffen penalties for fentanyl trafficking and other drug crimes and introduce court-ordered treatment for some drug offenses. Supporters call it common sense crime prevention, while opponents denounce it as a return to the failed “war on drugs.” Polls show almost three quarters of likely voters in favor. 

There are also two blockbuster bond measures that would raise $10 billion each for schools and environmental protection. Proposition 2 would authorize bond sales for $8.5 billion for K-12 schools and $1.5 billion for community colleges to remove lead, improve seismic safety, add air conditioning and broadband access, and build career technical facilities. This one’s a close call, with 52 percent support in recent polls. 

Proposition 4 would add $10 billion for water projects, wildfire prevention, coastal resources and wildlife. It has 60 percent support among likely voters in recent polls. 

Next Steps for Border Pollution Fix 

San Diego leaders marked the first phase of cleanup for the long-festering pollution problem at the border. On Tuesday Reps. Juan Vargas, Scott Peters and Sara Jacobs joined Maria Elena Giner, commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission, and local officials to launch a $400 million, five-year project to rehabilitate the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant near the border with Mexico. It’s expected to double the plant’s capacity and prevent untreated sewage from contaminating the coast. 

A day earlier Gov. Gavin Newsom visited the Tijuana River Valley to view cleanup efforts. His office said he reviewed plans to fix the wastewater treatment plant, collect trash, and monitor water safety. His visit comes after extensive local lobbying. Last month all 18 mayors in San Diego County sent him a letter pleading with him to declare a state of emergency over the decades-long sewage crisis at the border, the Union Tribune reported. 

The Sacramento Report runs every Friday and is part of a partnership with CalMatters. Do you have tips, ideas or questions? Send them to me at deborah@voiceofsandiego.org