Legislators target artificial intelligence with new oversight proposals
Sen. Gayle Harrell
As they ramp up for the January session, Florida lawmakers are keeping an eye on artificial intelligence, with some proposing guardrails to protect taxpayers, policy holders, and patients.
Republican Sen. Gayle Harrell, a health care IT consultant from Stuart, filed SB 146 on October 10.
The bill would require the Florida Digital Service, an IT arm of the Department of Management Services, to examine how state agencies procure, implement, and operate “AI-powered technology.”’
Most of the two-page bill is devoted to defining AI.
The first of five definitions lists, “An artificial system that performs tasks under varying and unpredictable circumstances without significant human oversight or that can learn from experience and improve performance when exposed to data sets.”
The final definition describes an artificial system “designed to act rationally, including an intelligent software agent or embodied robot that achieves goals using perception, planning, reasoning, learning, communication, decision making, and acting.”
The bill requires FDS to submit a report to the governor and legislative leaders that details how state agencies use AI, and how much they spend on it and associated costs, by March 1, 2027.
SB 146 faces hearings in the Government Oversight and Accountability Committee, the Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment & General Government, and the Fiscal Policy Committee. It has no House companion.
Sen. Jennifer Bradley
Republican Sen. Jennifer Bradley, a Fleming Island attorney, filed SB 202 on October 15.
The bill mandates that a “qualified human professional” be the one who determines whether to deny an insurance claim, or any portion of an insurance claim.
Before issuing a denial, the qualified human professional would be required to analyze the claim and the policy “independently of any artificial intelligence system, machine learning system, or algorithm.”
Insurers would be required to carefully document the denial process, including the name of the person conducting the review, and “any information provided by an algorithm, an artificial intelligence system, or a machine learning system.”
Another provision makes it clear that an “algorithm, an artificial intelligence system, or a machine learning system may not serve as the sole basis for determining whether to adjust or deny a claim.”
The bill defines artificial intelligence as a “a machine-based system that may have varying levels of autonomy and that can, for a given set of objectives, generate outputs, such as predictions, recommendations, or content, influencing decisions made in real or virtual environments.”
SB 202 has yet to be referred to committees. It has no House companion.
Rep. Christine Hunschofsky
Democratic Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, a former Parkland mayor and city council member, filed HB 281 on October 28.
It prohibits the use of artificial intelligence “in the practice” of psychology, clinical social work, marriage and family therapy, and mental health counseling.
A second section bars a “licensee” from using artificial intelligence “in the practice of psychology or school psychology.”
HB 281 permits the use of AI for “administrative and supplementary support services,” such as billing, scheduling appointments, and analyzing data for “operational purposes.”
Practitioners could also use AI for “drafting general communications related to therapy logistics that do not involve therapeutic advice.”
The bill also permits using AI to transcribe session notes, but only after obtaining the patient’s written consent.
The bill lacks a definition of the term, “practice.”
It states that “artificial intelligence” means “any machine-based system that varies in level of autonomy and that, for any explicit or implicit objective, infers from the inputs the system receives how to generate outputs, including, but not limited to, content, decisions, predictions, or recommendations that can influence physical or virtual environments.”
The bill has yet to be referred to committees. It has no Senate companion.
The 60-day regular session convenes January 13.
