HB2592

THE CONTEXT: The Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA) is tasked with developing, implementing and maintaining coordinated statewide plans for information technology, including serving as the state coordinator for information technology resources. The ADOA also develops lists of information technology that is owned, leased or employed by the state and adopts statewide technical and coordination standards for information technology.

WHAT THE BILL DID: The final vetoed version would mandate the ADOA Director to require each budget unit to; a; identify opportunities to implement AI system solutions that reduce administrative burdens; b; eliminate regulations that unnecessarily restrict AI system innovation; c; streamline procurement processes to enable the adoption of AI systems; d; establishes enterprise AI system governance to ensure consistent, efficient and appropriate use of AI to achieve internal and external objectives; e; review existing regulations affecting AI system development to identify instances of regulatory capture or negative impacts on competition or innovation; and f; modify or eliminate any AI system regulation that creates an unreasonable barrier to AI system innovation, instruct each budget unit in implementing AI systems to: a; focus on reducing cost and improving service delivery; b; not create new regulatory requirements that are solely applicable to private sector artificial intelligence system development; and c; use existing staff and resources without creating new administrative bodies, and prohibit a budget unit from adopting rules specifically regulating AI systems or computational resources unless outlined requirements are met.

WHY IT MATTERED: The practical reason for this bill was to set a clear legal boundary for artificial intelligence instead of leaving the conduct unaddressed. It would mandate the ADOA Director to require each budget unit to; a. identify opportunities to implement AI system solutions that reduce administrative burdens; b. eliminate regulations that unnecessarily restrict AI system innovation; c. streamline procurement processes to enable the adoption of AI systems; d. establishes enterprise AI system governance to ensure consistent, efficient and appropriate use of AI to achieve internal and external objectives; e. review existing regulations affecting AI system development to identify instances of regulatory capture or negative impacts on competition or innovation; and f. modify or eliminate any AI system regulation that creates an unreasonable barrier to AI system innovation, and would also instruct each budget unit in implementing AI systems to: a. focus on reducing cost and improving service delivery; b. not create new regulatory requirements that are solely applicable to private sector artificial intelligence system development; and c. use existing staff and resources without creating new administrative bodies, rather than leave the current rule unchanged.