California Lawmakers Advance Big AI Bills With Some Cost-Cutting

Major bills that would place guardrails on the potential harm caused by artificial intelligence passed a key procedural test in the California Legislature on Thursday, but only after some were trimmed to save the state money.

The bills survived the suspense hearing process, where bills that have significant fiscal cost to the state can get killed swiftly and without debate by the Assembly and Senate appropriations committees. The most ambitious AI-related bills—several that would be among the most significant anywhere in the nation—were left largely intact.

That was even though the state’s projected budget deficit, estimated to be as much ...