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sSB86 / File No. 339 1
General Assembly File No. 339
February Session, 2026 Substitute Senate Bill No. 86
Senate, April 2, 2026
The Committee on General Law reported through SEN.
MARONEY of the 14th Dist., Chairperson of the Committee on
the part of the Senate, that the substitute bill ought to pass.
AN ACT ADDRESSING INNOVATIONS IN AND THE RESPONSIBLE
USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 4 -67p of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2027): 2
(a) The Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management shall 3
designate an employee of the Office of Policy and Management to serve 4
as Chief Data Officer. The Chief Data Officer shall be responsible for (1) 5
directing executive branch agencies on the use and management of data 6
to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of state programs and 7
policies, (2) facilitating the sharing and use of executive branch agency 8
data (A) between executive branch agencies, and (B) with the public, (3) 9
coordinating data analytics and transparency master planning for 10
executive branch agencies, and (4) creating the state data plan in 11
accordance with subsection (c) of this section. The Chief Data Officer 12
shall carry out the responsibilities set forth in subdivisions (1) to (3), 13
inclusive, of this subsection in accordance with the state data plan 14
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created pursuant to subsection (c) of this section. 15
(b) Each executive branch agency shall designate an employee of the 16
agency to serve as the agency data officer, who shall be responsible for 17
implementing the provisions of this section and who shall serve as the 18
main contact person for inquiries, requests or concerns regarding access 19
to the data of such agency. The agency data officer, in consultation with 20
the Chief Data Officer and the executive agency head, shall establish 21
procedures to ensure that requests for data that the agency receives are 22
complied with in an appropriate and prompt manner. 23
(c) Not later than December 31, 2018, and every two years thereafter, 24
the Chief Data Officer, in consultation with the agency data officers and 25
executive branch agency heads, shall create a state data plan. The state 26
data plan shall (1) establish management and data analysis standards 27
across all executive branch agencies, (2) include specific, achievable 28
goals within the two years following adoption of such plan, as well as 29
longer term goals, (3) make recommendations to enhance 30
standardization and integration of data systems and data management 31
practices across all executive branch agencies, (4) provide a timeline for 32
a review of any state or federal legal concerns or other obstacles to the 33
internal sharing of data among agencies, including security and privacy 34
concerns, and (5) set goals for improving the online repository 35
established pursuant to subsection (i) of this section. Each state data 36
plan shall provide for a procedure for each agency head to report to the 37
Chief Data Officer regarding the agency's progress toward achieving the 38
plan's goals. Such plan may make recommendations concerning data 39
management for the legislative or judicial branch agencies, but such 40
recommendations shall not be binding on such agencies. 41
(d) The Chief Data Officer shall submit a preliminary draft of such 42
plan to the Connecticut Data Analysis Technology Advisory Board 43
established under section 2 -79e not later than November 1, 2018, and 44
every two years thereafter. Said board shall hold a public hearing on 45
such draft and shall submit any suggested revisions to the Chief Data 46
Officer not later than thirty days after receipt of such draft. 47
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(e) After the public hearing and if applicable, receiving any 48
recommended revisions from the board, the Chief Data Officer shall 49
finalize such plan and submit the final plan to the board. The Chief Data 50
Officer shall send a copy of the final state data plan to all agency data 51
officers and shall post such plan on the Internet web site of the Office of 52
Policy and Management. 53
(f) Information technology -related actions and initiatives of all 54
executive branch agencies, including, but not limited to, the acquisition 55
of hardware and software and the development of software, shall be 56
consistent with the final state data plan. 57
(g) On or before December 31, 2018, and not less than annually 58
thereafter, each executive branch agency shall conduct an inventory of 59
any high value data that is collected or possessed by the agency. Such 60
inventory shall be in a form prescribed by the Chief Data Officer. In 61
conducting such inventory, data shall be presumed to be public data 62
unless otherwise classified by federal or state law or regulation. On or 63
before December 31, 2018, and not less than annually thereafter, each 64
executive branch agency shall submit such inventory to the Chief Data 65
Officer and the Connecticut Data Analysis Technology Advisory Board. 66
(h) Each executive branch agency shall develop an open data access 67
plan. Such plan shall be in a form prescribed by the Office of Policy and 68
Management and shall detail the agency's plan to publish, as open data, 69
any public data that the agency has identified and any protected data 70
that can be made public through aggregation, redaction of individually 71
identifiable information or other means sufficient to satisfy applicable 72
state or federal law or regulation. 73
(i) The Office of Policy and Management shall operate and maintain 74
an online repository for the publication of open data by executive 75
branch agencies. 76
(j) Not later than January 1, 2028, the Chief Data Officer, in 77
consultation with the agency data officers designated pursuant to 78
subsection (b) of this section, shall review the inventory of all high value 79
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data collected or possessed by executive branch agencies pursuant to 80
subsection (g) of this section to identify and publish any data that could 81
be useful for artificial intelligence systems, machine learning and other 82
statistical means of data analysis to create economic opportunity and 83
support state economic development goals, through private businesses, 84
nonprofit organizations and other entities that will use such data, 85
consistent with all applicable laws and regulations. The Chief Data 86
Officer and agency data officers shall: 87
(1) Identify appropriate data to make available for use by artificial 88
intelligence systems, machine learning and other statistical means of 89
data analysis; 90
(2) Develop policies and procedures for data quality and data 91
governance to ensure data are appropriate for the intended purpose and 92
do not lead to any unlawful discrimination or disparate impact, as 93
described in subparagraph (B) of subdivision (1) of subsection (c) of 94
section 51-10e; 95
(3) Determine any necessary aggregation, redaction of individually 96
identifiable information or application of other techniques required to 97
ensure and preserve privacy and to satisfy all applicable state or federal 98
laws and regulations for the public disclosure of data; and 99
(4) Determine the procedures through which agencies shall make any 100
such data available via publication on the online repository established 101
pursuant to subsection (i) of this section. 102
[(j)] (k) Any state agency that is not an executive branch agency and 103
any quasi-public agency or municipality may voluntarily opt to comply 104
with the provisions of this section and, upon submission of written 105
notice of the agency's or municipality's decision to the Office of Policy 106
and Management, the provisions of this section shall apply to such 107
agency or municipality. Any state or quasi -public agency or any 108
municipality that voluntarily opts to comply with the provisions of this 109
section may opt out of complying with this section upon submission of 110
written notice of the agency's or municipality's decision to the Office of 111
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Policy and Management. The Office of Policy and Management shall 112
create and maintain a list of all agencies subject to the provisions of this 113
section, including those agencies and municipalities that have 114
voluntarily opted to comply, and shall publish such list on the office's 115
Internet web site and update such list as necessary. 116
Sec. 2. ( Effective July 1, 2027 ) The Commissioner of Economic and 117
Community Development, in consultation with the Banking 118
Commissioner, Commissioner of Administrative Services, 119
Commissioner of Public Health and Insurance Commissioner, shall 120
develop a plan to establish an artificial intelligence regulatory sandbox 121
program, which program shall allow an applicant to temporarily test an 122
innovative product or service on a limited basis under reduced 123
licensure, regulatory and other legal requirements than may otherwise 124
be required under the laws of the state. Such plan shall be developed for 125
the purpose of establishing a competitive business environment in the 126
state for the development and deployment of artificial intelligence 127
technologies relative to other jurisdictions. Not later than January 1, 128
2028, the Commissioner of Economic and Community Development 129
shall submit recommendations, in accordance with the provisions of 130
section 11 -4a of the general statutes, to the Governor and the joint 131
standing committees of the General Assembly having cognizance of 132
matters relating to commerce, banking, insurance and public health for 133
any legislation necessary to implement such plan. 134
Sec. 3. (NEW) (Effective January 1, 2027) (a) As used in this section: 135
(1) "Artificial intelligence system" (A) means a machine -learning-136
based system that, for any explicit or implicit objective, infers from 137
inputs how to generate outputs, such as content, decisions, predictions 138
or recommendations, capable of influencing physical or virtual 139
environments, and (B) does not include any rules-based or deterministic 140
software system, data analytics tool or scripted decision tree; 141
(2) "Companion chatbot" (A) means an artificial intelligence system 142
with a natural language interface that (i) provides adaptive, human-like 143
responses to user inputs, and (ii) is capable of meeting a user's social 144
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needs by, among other things, exhibiting anthropomorphic features and 145
having the ability to sustain a relationship across multiple interactions, 146
and (B) does not include any chatbot that (i) is used solely for (I) any 147
purpose related to a business's internal operations concerning, for 148
example, productivity, source information analysis, research or 149
technical assistance, or (II) customer service, shopping or product 150
discovery, or (ii) is a feature of a video game, provided such chatbot (I) 151
can only maintain a dialogue concerning topics related to the video 152
game, and (II) cannot maintain a dialogue concerning mental health, 153
self-harm or sexually explicit conduct; 154
(3) "Companion chatbot platform" means a platform that allows a 155
user to engage with a companion chatbot; 156
(4) "Minor" means an individual who is younger than eighteen years 157
of age; 158
(5) "Operator" means a person who makes a companion chatbot 159
platform available to a user; 160
(6) "Person" means an individual, association, corporation, limited 161
liability company, partnership, trust or other legal entity; 162
(7) "Sexually explicit conduct" has the same meaning as provided in 163
18 USC 2256, as amended from time to time; 164
(8) "User" means an individual who uses a companion chatbot while 165
the individual is physically present in the state; and 166
(9) "Video game" means a game that is played on an electronic 167
amusement device that (A) utilizes a computer, microprocessor or 168
similar electronic circuitry, (B) either utilizes an integrated monitor or is 169
designed to be used with a television set or a computer monitor, and (C) 170
interacts with the user of such device. 171
(b) If an operator makes a companion chatbot platform available to a 172
user and the companion chatbot platform allows the user to engage with 173
a companion chatbot that would mislead a reasonable person to believe 174
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that the person is interacting with a human, the operator shall issue a 175
clear and conspicuous notice to such user disclosing that the companion 176
chatbot is artificial and not human. 177
(c) Each operator shall: 178
(1) Prevent each companion chatbot such operator makes available 179
on its companion chatbot platform from engaging with users, unless 180
such operator (A) establishes and maintains a protocol to (i) prevent 181
such companion chatbot from providing to users any content 182
concerning suicidal ideation, suicide or self -harm, and (ii) on the basis 183
of evidence-based methods for measuring suicidal ideation or intention 184
to engage in self-harm, refer a user to a crisis service provider, including, 185
but not limited to, by way of a suicide hotline or crisis text line, if the 186
user expresses to such companion chatbot any suicidal ideation or 187
intention to engage in self -harm, (B) publishes a description of the 188
protocol established and maintained pursuant to subparagraph (A) of 189
this subdivision at a publicly accessible location on such operator's 190
Internet web site, and (C) discloses to each user of such companion 191
chatbot that companion chatbots may not be suitable for certain minors; 192
(2) For each user of a companion chatbot such operator makes 193
available on its companion chatbot platform who such operator knows 194
to be a minor, (A) disclose to such user that such user is interacting with 195
an artificial intelligence system, (B) notify such user, in a clear and 196
conspicuous manner and not less frequently than once following each 197
three-hour period of continuous interaction between such user and the 198
companion chatbot, (i) that such user is interacting with an artificial 199
intelligence system, and (ii) to take a break from using such companion 200
chatbot, and (C) institute reasonable measures to prevent the 201
companion chatbot from (i) providing to such user a visual depiction of 202
any sexually explicit conduct, or (ii) directly stating to such user that 203
such user should engage in any sexually explicit conduct; and 204
(3) (A) Not later than February 1, 2028, and annually thereafter, 205
prepare and submit a report to the Attorney General, in a form and 206
manner prescribed by the Attorney General, disclosing the following 207
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information for the immediately preceding calendar year: 208
(i) The protocols established and maintained by such operator 209
pursuant to subparagraph (A) of subdivision (1) of this subsection; and 210
(ii) The number of times such operator referred a user to a crisis 211
service provider as set forth in subparagraph (A)(ii) of subdivision (1) 212
of this subsection. 213
(B) No report submitted to the Attorney General pursuant to 214
subparagraph (A) of this subdivision shall include (i) any information 215
other than the information required under subparagraph (A) of this 216
subdivision, or (ii) any personal data, as defined in section 42-515 of the 217
general statutes. 218
(d) The Attorney General shall post each report submitted to the 219
Attorney General pursuant to subparagraph (A) of subdivision (3) of 220
subsection (c) of this section on the Attorney General's Internet web site. 221
(e) Any violation of subsection (b) or (c) of this section shall constitute 222
an unfair trade practice for purposes of section 42 -110b of the general 223
statutes and shall be enforced solely by the Attorney General. The 224
provisions of section 42 -110g of the general statutes shall not apply to 225
any such violation. Nothing in this section shall be construed as 226
providing the basis for a private right of action for any violation of 227
subsection (b) or (c) of this section. 228
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2027 4-67p
Sec. 2 July 1, 2027 New section
Sec. 3 January 1, 2027 New section
GL Joint Favorable Subst.
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The following Fiscal Impact Statement and Bill Analysis are prepared for the benefit of the members of
the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and explanation and do not
represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose. In general,
fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of informational sources, including the analyst’s professional
knowledge. Whenever applicable, agency data is consulted as part of the analysis, however final
products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any specific department.
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact: None
Municipal Impact: None
Explanation
The bill makes various changes to statutes regarding artificial
intelligence resulting in no fiscal impact to the state.
Section 1 requires the chief data officer within the Office of Policy
and Management (OPM) to review an inventory of certain high value
data and complete other requirements. This does not result in a fiscal
impact as OPM has the resources necessary to meet these requirements.
Section 2 has no fiscal impact by requiring the Department of
Economic and Community Development (DECD) to develop a plan to
establish an artificial intelligence regulatory sandbox program. It is
anticipated that DECD will consult with the state agencies outlined i n
the bill in order to develop the plan within existing resources.
Section 3 makes various requirements of companion chatbot
operators and makes violations an unfair trade practice enforced solely
by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) resulting in no fiscal impact
to the state. The OAG has the resources and expertise to mee t the
requirements of the bill.
The Out Years
State Impact: None
Municipal Impact: None
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OLR Bill Analysis
sSB 86
AN ACT ADDRESSING INNOVATIONS IN AND THE RESPONSIBLE
USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.
SUMMARY
This bill requires:
1. the state’s chief data officer to review executive branch agencies’
inventory of high value data and identify and publish any that
could be useful for artificial intelligence ( AI) systems, machine
learning, and other statistical means of data analysis;
2. the economic and community development (DECD)
commissioner to develop a plan to establish an AI regulatory
sandbox program (one that allows for temporary testing of
products or services with fewer legal requirements); and
3. companion chatbot operators to establish protocols to prevent
certain outcomes, make related disclosures, and have additional
safeguards when the operator knows the user is a minor.
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2027, except that the chatbot provision is
effective January 1, 2027.
§ 1 — HIGH VALUE DATA ANALYSIS FOR AI USE
By January 1, 2028, the bill requires the chief data officer, in
consultation with executive branch agency data officers, to review the
inventory of all high value data that these agencies have or collect under
existing law. Under existing law, “high value data” is any data that the
department head determines:
1. can increase an agency’s accountability and responsiveness,
improve public knowledge about an agency and its operations,
further its core mission, or create economic opportunity;
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2. is critical to the agency’s operation or used to satisfy any
legislative or other reporting requirements; or
3. is frequently requested by the public or responds to a need and
demand identified through public consultation.
Under the bill, the chief data officer must identify and publish any of
this data that could be useful for AI systems, machine learning, and
other statistical means of data analysis . He must do so to create
economic opportunity and support state economic development goals,
through private businesses, nonprofit organizations, and other entities
that will use the data, consistent with applicable laws and regulations.
In reviewing the data, the chief data officer and agency data officers
must:
1. identify appropriate data to make available for use by AI
systems, machine learning, and other statistical means of data
analysis;
2. develop policies and procedures for data quality and governance
to ensure data are appropriate for the intended purpose and do
not lead to any unlawful discrimination against any person or
group of people, or disparate impact on any individual or group,
based on any actual or perceived differentiating characteristic
(such as age, race, disability);
3. determine any needed aggregation, redaction of individually
identifiable information, or use of other techniques needed to
ensure and preserve privacy and to satisfy all applicable state or
federal laws and regulations for publicly disclosing data; and
4. determine the procedures for agencies to publish their data on
the online repository that the Office of Policy and Management
operates and maintains under existing law.
§ 2 — AI REGULATORY SANDBOX PROGRAM
The bill requires the DECD commissioner, in consultation with the
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banking, administrative services, public health, and insurance
commissioners, to develop a plan to establish an AI regulatory sandbox
program. The program must allow an applicant to temporarily test an
innovative product or service on a limited basis under reduced
licensure, regulatory, and other legal requirements.
The plan must be developed to make Connecticut’s business
environment competitive, relative to other places, for developing and
deploying AI technologies.
By January 1, 202 8, the DECD commissioner must submit
recommendations for any required legislative proposals for
implementing the plan to the governor and the Banking, Commerce ,
Insurance and Real Estate, and Public Health committees.
§ 3 — COMPANION CHATBOT
The bill generally requires a companion chatbot operator to disclose
to in -state users that the chatbot is not human and to have certain
protocols to prevent certain content. The bill also requires an operator
to have additional safeguards when it knows the user is a minor.
Under the bill, a “companion chatbot” is an AI system with a natural
language interface that gives adaptive, human -like responses to user
inputs, and can meet a user ’s social needs by, among other things,
exhibiting anthropomorphic features and having the ability to sustain a
relationship across multiple interactions. It does not include any chatbot
that is used solely for (1) a business’ internal operations for matters such
as productivity, source information analysis, research , or technical
assistance, or (2) customer service, shopping , or product discovery . It
also does not include a chatbot in a video game, as long as it (1) can only
maintain a dialogue about topics related to the game and ( 2) cannot
maintain a dialogue on mental health, self -harm, or sexually explicit
conduct.
An “AI system” is a machine -learning-based system that, for any
explicit or implicit objective, infers from inputs how to generate outputs,
such as content, decisions, predictions, or recommendations, capable of
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influencing physical or virtual environments . It does not include any
rules-based or deterministic software system, data analytics tool , or
scripted decision tree.
Disclosure
The bill generally requires an operator (individual or entity) that
makes a companion chatbot platform available to a user to clearly
disclose to the user that the chatbot is artificial and not human. The
operator must do this if it allows the user to enga ge a chatbot in a way
that would mislead a reasonable person into believing that he or she was
interacting with a human.
Protocols
Additionally, the bill requires operators to establish and maintain
protocols to prevent the companion chatbot from giving users any
content about suicidal ideation, suicide, or self -harm. The protocols
must also, using evidence -based methods for measuring suicidal
ideation or intention to perform self-harm, refer a user to a crisis service
provider, including a suicide hotline or crisis text line, if the user
expresses to the chatbot any suicidal ideation or intent of self-harm.
The operator must (1) publish a description of its protocol at a
publicly accessible location on the operator’s website and (2) disclose to
each companion chatbot user that these chatbots may not be suitable for
certain minors.
Operator Requirements When User is a Minor
Under the bill, when the operator makes a companion chatbot
available to a user it knows is a minor, the operator must:
1. disclose to the user that he or she is interacting with an AI system;
2. notify the user, in a clear and conspicuous manner at least once
every three continuous hours of interaction with the chatbot, that
he or she is interacting with an AI system and to take a break
from using the companion chatbot; and
3. institute reasonable measures to prevent the chatbot from giving
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the user a visual depiction of any sexually explicit conduct, or
directly stating to the user that he or she should engage in any
sexually explicit conduct.
Report
Starting by February 1, 2028, the bill requires each operator to prepare
and submit an annual report to the attorney general, in a way he
prescribes, disclosing the following information for the prior calendar
year: (1) the protocols the operator establish ed and maintained and (2)
how often the operator referred a user to a crisis service provider as the
bill requires.
The bill prohibits these reports from including any (1) information
other than what is required under the bill or (2) personal data (non -
public information that is linked or reasonably linkable to an identified
or identifiable individual).
The attorney general must post each submitted report on the office’s
website.
Penalty
Under the bill, an operator’s violation of the chatbot provisions is
considered a Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act violation, solely
enforced by the attorney general (and not by a private right of action or
class action).
BACKGROUND
Related Bill
sSB 2, favorably reported by the General Law Committee, has an
identical regulatory sandbox provision and similar AI companion
provisions.
COMMITTEE ACTION
General Law Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 20 Nay 1 (03/16/2026)