Florida Speaker of the House Daniel Perez, a Republican, announced that he will not bring Gov. Ron DeSantis’ artificial intelligence safeguard bill to a vote.
“There were no bills filed on these policies prior to the start of the special session,” Perez said. “Consequently, we will not be taking up those issues.”
Instead, the House will only focus on redistricting. DeSantis unveiled a new congressional map Monday which is likely to net Republicans four more seats.
When DeSantis called a special session, legislating AI safeguards was listed as one of the purposes. The governor’s AI Bill of Rights would affirm existing protections against AI porn, including explicit images featuring minors; prohibit Florida government offices from using Chinese-created AI tools; and provide parental controls on AI for minors.
The Senate passed the legislation Tuesday with almost unanimous support.
The Daily Signal first reported in February that the White House contacted Perez and his staff members about opposing the AI Bill of Rights. The White House has exerted similar pressure against AI child safety bills in other states including Missouri, Tennessee, and Utah.
Perez already opposed the AI Bill of Rights due to his belief that the federal government should lead the AI conversation, a source close to Florida House leadership previously told The Daily Signal.
Venture capital firm Andreesen Horowitz’s super PAC, Leading the Future, endorsed Perez last week.
DeSantis decried the House’s inaction on AI legislation as “typical political shenanigans.”
“Voters elected Republicans to protect freedom against both the Big Tech cartel and the medical industrial complex,” he said. “Yet, when given the chance to deliver for their constituents, not a single Republican House member could even be bothered to file a bill.”
DeSantis’ options include calling more special sessions until the bill is passed or applying pressure to state representatives by rallying constituents in favor of the bill. A third option is to wait until November, when Perez is no longer speaker, to call another special session to pass the bill, a Florida GOP operative told The Daily Signal.
“I’d be very surprised if he gave up after this special session and said he was just okay with it not happening,” the operative said.
State Sen. Jason Brodeur, who filed the Senate version of the bill, said it is “probably dead” for the time being. However, he thinks this is an issue the Florida legislature will need to address every year as technology develops.
“The issue is going to be around for a long, long time,” he told The Daily Signal.
Carson Good, a DeSantis appointee to the Board of Governors of the State University System, said he doesn’t understand why Republicans in the Sunshine State are leaving AI legislation to the federal government.
“I’m scratching my head trying to figure out why so many Florida Republican leaders have so much trust in the federal government instead of Florida, to protect our Florida children,” he told The Daily Signal. “Like they think the federal government does some kind of awesome job at regulating.”
