Texas HB 149 (Relating to regulation of the use of artificial intelligence systems in this state; providing civil penalties.)

• Authority: Texas
• Parent authority: State governments
• Jurisdiction: United States
• Collections: U.S. state and local documents
• Most recent activity: Enacted
• Most recent activity date: 2026-01-01

Risk subdomain coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the risk subdomain are explicitly described.

• Unfair discrimination and misrepresentation
• Exposure to toxic content
• Compromise of privacy
• Disinformation, surveillance, and influence at scale
• Fraud, scams, and targeted manipulation
• Competitive dynamics
• Lack of transparency or interpretability

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the risk subdomain are described.

• AI system security vulnerabilities
• Overreliance and unsafe use
• Power centralization and unfair distribution
• AI pursuing its own goals
• Lack of capability or robustness

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

The document has good coverage of approximately 10-12 subdomains, with strong focus on discrimination (1.1), toxic content (1.2), privacy (2.1), malicious use prevention (4.1, 4.3), transparency (7.4), and competitive dynamics through innovation support (6.4). Coverage is concentrated in discrimination prevention, privacy protection, misuse prevention, and transparency/disclosure requirements.

Sector coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the sector are explicitly described.

• Information
• Finance & Insurance
• Scientific Research & Development Services
• Health Care & Social Assistance
• Public Administration (excl. National Security)

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the sector are described.

• Agriculture, Mining, Construction & Manufacturing
• Trade, Transportation & Utilities
• Real Estate, Rental & Leasing
• Professional & Technical Services
• Management, Administrative & Support Services
• Educational Services
• Arts, Entertainment & Recreation
• Accommodation, Food & Other Services

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

This is a cross-sectoral AI governance regulation that applies broadly to all AI development and deployment in Texas. It has explicit, detailed provisions for Public Administration (governmental entities), Health Care (health care services disclosure requirements), and Finance and Insurance (specific compliance provisions). It also governs the Information sector (AI developers/deployers) and implicitly applies to all other sectors through its broad applicability criteria.

Legislative Status

Hard Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is a binding legislative act enacted by the Texas Legislature establishing mandatory legal obligations with substantial civil penalties ($10,000-$200,000) and formal enforcement mechanisms through the Attorney General.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Summary: This is a legislative act proposed and enacted by the Texas state legislature, as indicated by the formal legislative language and structure.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Developer, AI_Deployer, AI_Governance_Actor
• Summary: The Act explicitly defines and regulates 'developers' and 'deployers' of AI systems, imposes specific requirements on governmental entities, and includes provisions for financial institutions and insurance entities.

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Summary: The Act explicitly grants exclusive enforcement authority to the Attorney General for the main provisions, with state agencies having secondary enforcement authority over their licensees. The Department of Information Resources oversees the regulatory sandbox program.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Summary: The Act establishes the Texas Artificial Intelligence Council specifically for oversight, monitoring, and recommendations. The Department of Information Resources monitors the sandbox program. The Attorney General maintains a complaint mechanism for ongoing monitoring.

AI Lifecycle Stages

Lifecycle stages covered by the documents, as defined in the OECD Framework for the Classification of AI Systems

• Plan and Design
• Collect and Process Data
• Build and Use Model
• Verify and Validate
• Deploy
• Operate and Monitor

AI Lifecycle Summary

The document covers all stages of the AI lifecycle with particular emphasis on deployment and operational monitoring. It regulates data collection (biometric data provisions), model development (training data), testing and validation (adversarial testing, sandbox program), deployment (disclosure requirements, prohibitions), and ongoing monitoring (quarterly reports, performance metrics). The sandbox program explicitly addresses pre-deployment research and testing phases.

Technical Scope

Terms relating to technical scope that are mentioned or implicitly referenced in the document

• AI Models
• AI Systems
• Generative AI
• Predictive AI

Technical Scope Summary

The document extensively covers 'artificial intelligence systems' with a broad definition but does not explicitly mention frontier AI, general purpose AI, foundation models, or compute thresholds. It implicitly addresses generative AI through provisions on deep fakes and content generation. The document defines 'artificial intelligence models' separately from systems in certain provisions. No explicit mention of open-weight/open-source models or specific model architectures.