Colorado House attempts late-night move to delay AI regulations, but effort fails

In a dramatic th hour move House Democrats late Tuesday night tried to resurrect a dead-and-buried plan to slow Colorado s first-in-the-nation artificial intelligence regulations from taking effect a day after a senior Democratic lawmaker killed the planned delay and threw parts of the Capitol into chaos But the plan collapsed in even more dramatic fashion The House needed to insert the regulatory delay into an unrelated bill before midnight to ensure it had time to pass before the legislature adjourns Wednesday night But another House Democrat effectively filibustered the effort until the clock struck midnight ending the attempted bill hijacking The late drama escalates what had already been a tense showdown between the legislature and a swath of senior Democratic politicians and the tech industry It throws the implementation of Colorado s first-in-the-nation AI regulations into further chaos as the legislature moves into its final day and it effectively means that the regulations will go into effect as planned early next year unless lawmakers return to the Capitol for a special session in the coming months Rep William Lindstedt brought forward the attempted resurrection as an amendment to Senate Bill That bill concerned the attorney general s office and was up for a vote Tuesday Linstedt s amendment would ve delayed the implementation of AI regulations at this moment set to take effect Feb by almost a year Lindstedt s amendment was introduced with about hours left in the legislative session He noted pausing the implementation of the AI regulations was the right thing to do and that cooler heads need to prevail The proposal mimicked what specific AI backers had sought with Senate Bill before that bill s sponsor Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez unexpectedly killed his bill Monday Monday was the last day a standalone bill could start and finish the legislative process this session The amended SB- also faced a tight timeline It needed to pass the House by midnight to have enough time to clear at least two more votes Wednesday Before Lindstedt unveiled the amendment House Majority Leader Monica Duran limited debate on the underlying bill to one hour an exceptional move typically reserved for hyper-partisan bills that prompt lengthy Republican filibusters Once that hour was over Duran then tried to call for a vote swiftly to ensure the bill passed by midnight But the House rejected Duran s request Rep Brianna Titone a Democrat who co-sponsored Rodriguez s now-dead bill and the regulations law that passed last year then took to the mic and ran out the clock Lindstedt s amendment represented a Hail Mary attempt to undo Rodriguez s decision to kill a negotiated pause on new AI regulations that were signed into law last year by Gov Jared Polis The regulations require companies to notify users when they interact with AI and remove underlying bias from AI tools Related Articles Colorado transgender protections bill after demanding journey through Capitol is heading to Gov Jared Polis Live updates Colorado lawmakers pass trans rights pro-labor law Senate advances ride-hailing bill In cash-strapped Colorado lawmakers tap an unorthodox pot of money for priorities But is it too risky Live updates Bureaucrats react to killed AI bill hospitals-pharma fight nears end immigrant protections finalized Colorado House advances labor bill after negotiations collapse with business leaders Gov Jared Polis When he signed the regulations a year ago Polis urged lawmakers to fine-tune the provisions before they went into effect so they didn t stifle a growing industry After Rodriguez killed the bill that would ve allowed for that tweaking this week it set off a scramble across the the bulk powerful offices in the state In a joint letter circulated after the bill died Monday leading Democratic politicians including Polis and U S Sen Michael Bennet implored state legislators to take action now to delay implementation of the state s AI regulations until January as Lindstedt s amendment would now do Rep Shannon Bird who s sponsoring the bill that Lindstedt sought to amend spoke in encouragement of using SB- to accomplish that SB- in its latest form was ostensibly intended to make technical changes to the attorney general s office As a outcome of Titone s filibuster SB- died Tuesday night too That bill had also drawn the attention of several tech companies and groups ahead of the debate Tuesday night according to a Colorado Secretary of State s Office registry that tracks interested parties positions on decree IBM Motorola and the Colorado Independent AI Coalition all registered an official interest in the bill in the hours before Tuesday s vote Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter The Spot