AI economic development

AN ACT Relating to promoting the economic development of 1
innovative uses of artificial intelligence; amending 2024 c 163 s 2 2
(uncodified); adding a new section to chapter 43.330 RCW; creating 3
new sections; and providing expiration dates. 4
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:5
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature recognizes that fostering 6
technological innovation is essential for Washington state's economic 7
growth and long-term competitiveness. By investing in emerging 8
technologies, including artificial intelligence, the state can access 9
new sources of revenue, create high paying jobs, and position itself 10
as a national leader in cutting-edge industries. Artificial 11
intelligence-driven solutions have the potential to address critical 12
statewide challenges, such as predicting and managing wildfires, 13
improving the effectiveness of cybersecurity, and improving public 14
health responses. Promoting the development of these technologies 15
will not only strengthen Washington's economy, but also enhance 16
public safety and government efficiency.17
Therefore, the legislature intends to promote the economic 18
development of innovative uses of artificial intelligence by 19
supporting organizations that create transformative new technologies. 20
By encouraging innovation, this act will drive economic expansion, 21
H-1263.1
HOUSE BILL 1942
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Representatives Keaton, Barnard, Salahuddin, and Volz
Read first time 02/11/25. Referred to Committee on Technology,
Economic Development, & Veterans.
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advance broad public benefits, attract private investment, ensure 1
that Washington remains at the forefront of technological progress, 2
and equip the state with cutting-edge tools to address its most 3
pressing challenges. 4
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 43.330 5
RCW to read as follows: 6
(1) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this 7
specific purpose, the department shall promote the economic 8
development of innovative uses of artificial intelligence.9
(2) The department shall solicit input from the artificial 10
intelligence task force, created in chapter 163, Laws of 2024, no 11
less than once per quarter through June 30, 2027, to identify state 12
priorities to further the economic development of technology that 13
will provide a state benefit, such as wildfire tracking, 14
cybersecurity, or health care advancements. 15
(3) The department shall pursue all available opportunities for 16
federal funding and solicit private donations to support small 17
businesses in the development of innovative uses of artificial 18
intelligence. 19
(4) The department shall identify relevant federal grants related 20
to the economic development of innovative uses of artificial 21
intelligence in its inventory of grant opportunities required by RCW 22
43.330.260. 23
(5) Beginning October 31, 2026, the department shall report on 24
the economic development of innovative uses of artificial 25
intelligence in the state in accordance with RCW 43.01.036. The 26
report must be updated every two years, posted on the department's 27
website, and transmitted to the governor and the legislature. The 28
report must identify the state priorities identified during the 29
reporting period, the number of federal grants identified during the 30
reporting period, the number and amount of federal grants and private 31
donations obtained during the reporting period, and recommended 32
legislation to promote the economic development of innovative uses of 33
artificial intelligence in the state. 34
(6) For the purposes of this section, "artificial intelligence" 35
means the use of machine learning and related technologies that use 36
data to train statistical models for the purpose of enabling computer 37
systems to perform tasks normally associated with human intelligence 38
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or perception, such as computer vision, speech or natural language 1
processing, and content generation. 2
(7) This section expires June 30, 2035. 3
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. (1)(a) Subject to the availability of 4
amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, the Washington state 5
institute for public policy shall study and report on the 6
opportunities to promote the economic development of innovative uses 7
of artificial intelligence in the state.8
(b) The goal of the study and report is to identify emerging 9
technologies and uses of artificial intelligence that will provide 10
benefits to the state, such as wildfire tracking, cybersecurity, or 11
health care advancements. 12
(2) The report must be submitted to the appropriate committees of 13
the legislature in accordance with RCW 43.01.036 by June 30, 2027.14
(3) The artificial intelligence task force and Washington 15
technology solutions shall provide resources and data to assist the 16
Washington state institute for public policy to conduct this study.17
(4) This section expires December 31, 2027. 18
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. Section 2 of this act may be known and 19
cited as the spark act.20
Sec. 5. 2024 c 163 s 2 (uncodified) is amended to read as 21
follows: 22
(1) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this 23
specific purpose, a task force to assess current uses and trends and 24
make recommendations to the legislature regarding guidelines and 25
potential legislation for the use of artificial intelligence systems 26
is established. 27
(2) The task force is composed of an executive committee 28
consisting of members as provided in this subsection.29
(a) The president of the senate shall appoint one member from 30
each of the two largest caucuses of the senate. 31
(b) The speaker of the house of representatives shall appoint one 32
member from each of the two largest caucuses of the house of 33
representatives. 34
(c) The attorney general shall appoint the following members, 35
selecting only individuals with experience in technology policy:36
(i) One member from the office of the governor;37
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(ii) One member from the office of the attorney general;1
(iii) One member from Washington technology solutions;2
(iv) One member from the Washington state auditor;3
(v) One member representing universities or research institutions 4
that are experts in the design and effect of an algorithmic system;5
(vi) One member representing private technology industry groups;6
(vii) One member representing business associations;7
(viii) Three members representing community advocate 8
organizations that represent communities that are disproportionately 9
vulnerable to being harmed by algorithmic bias; 10
(ix) One member representing the LGBTQ+ community;11
(x) One member representing the retail industry;12
(xi) One member representing the hospitality industry;13
(xii) One member representing statewide labor organizations; and14
(xiii) One member representing public safety. 15
(d) The task force may meet in person or by telephone conference 16
call, videoconference, or other similar telecommunications method, or 17
a combination of such methods. 18
(e) The executive committee may convene subcommittees to advise 19
the task force on the recommendations and findings set out in 20
subsection (4) of this section. 21
(i) The executive committee shall define the scope of activity 22
and subject matter focus required of the subcommittees including, but 23
not limited to: Education and workforce development; public safety 24
and ethics; health care and accessibility; labor; government and 25
public sector efficiency; state security and cybersecurity; consumer 26
protection and privacy; and industry and innovation.27
(ii) Subcommittees and their members may be invited to 28
participate on an ongoing, recurring, or one-time basis.29
(iii) The executive committee in collaboration with the attorney 30
general shall appoint members to the subcommittees that must be 31
comprised of industry participants, subject matter experts, 32
representatives of federally recognized tribes, or other relevant 33
stakeholders. 34
(iv) Each subcommittee must contain at least one member 35
possessing relevant industry expertise and at least one member from 36
an advocacy organization that represents communities that are 37
disproportionately vulnerable to being harmed by algorithmic bias 38
including, but not limited to: African American; Hispanic American; 39
Native American; Asian American; Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander 40
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communities; religious minorities; individuals with disabilities; and 1
other vulnerable communities. 2
(v) Meeting summaries and reports delivered by the subcommittees 3
to the executive committee must be made available on the attorney 4
general's website within 30 days of delivery. 5
(vi) The executive committee shall identify and direct the 6
appropriate subcommittee to provide input, no less than once per 7
quarter, to assist the department of commerce in the identification 8
of state priorities to form the basis of the spark act that will 9
promote the economic development of innovative uses of artificial 10
intelligence that will provide a state benefit, pursuant to section 2 11
of this act.12
(vii) The executive committee shall identify and direct the 13
appropriate subcommittees to provide support and assistance to the 14
Washington state institute for public policy for its study and report 15
on the opportunities to promote the economic development of 16
innovative uses of artificial intelligence in the state pursuant to 17
section 3 of this act.18
(3) The office of the attorney general must administer and 19
provide staff support for the task force. The office of the attorney 20
general may, when deemed necessary by the task force, retain 21
consultants to provide data analysis, research, recommendations, 22
training, and other services to the task force for the purposes 23
provided in subsection (4) of this section. The office of the 24
attorney general may work with the task force to determine 25
appropriate subcommittees as needed. 26
(4) The executive committee and subcommittees of the task force 27
shall examine the development and use of artificial intelligence by 28
private and public sector entities and make recommendations to the 29
legislature regarding guidelines and potential legislation for the 30
use and regulation of artificial intelligence systems to protect 31
Washingtonians' safety, privacy, and civil and intellectual property 32
rights. The task force findings and recommendations must include:33
(a) A literature review of public policy issues with artificial 34
intelligence, including benefits and risks to the public broadly, 35
historically excluded communities, and other identifiable groups, 36
racial equity considerations, workforce impacts, and ethical 37
concerns; 38
(b) A review of existing protections under state and federal law 39
for individual data and privacy rights, safety, civil rights, and 40
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intellectual property rights, and how federal, state, and local laws 1
relating to artificial intelligence align, differ, conflict, and 2
interact across levels of government; 3
(c) A recommended set of guiding principles for artificial 4
intelligence use informed by standards established by relevant 5
bodies, including recommending a definition for ethical artificial 6
intelligence and guiding principles; 7
(d) Identification of high-risk uses of artificial intelligence, 8
including those that may negatively affect safety or fundamental 9
rights; 10
(e) Opportunities to support and promote the innovation of 11
artificial intelligence technologies through grants and incentives;12
(f) Recommendations on appropriate uses of and limitations on the 13
use of artificial intelligence by state and local governments and the 14
private sector; 15
(g) Recommendations relating to the appropriate and legal use of 16
training data; 17
(h) Algorithmic discrimination issues which may occur when 18
artificial intelligence systems are used and contribute to 19
unjustified differential treatment or impacts disfavoring people on 20
the basis of race, color, national origin, citizen or immigration 21
status, families with children, creed, religious belief or 22
affiliation, sex, marital status, the presence of any sensory, 23
mental, or physical disability, age, honorably discharged veteran or 24
military status, sexual orientation, gender expression or gender 25
identity, or any other protected class under RCW 49.60.010 and 26
recommendations to mitigate and protect against algorithmic 27
discrimination; 28
(i) Recommendations on minimizing unlawful discriminatory or 29
biased outputs or applications; 30
(j) Recommendations on prioritizing transparency so that the 31
behavior and functional components artificial intelligence can be 32
understood in order to enable the identification of performance 33
issues, safety and privacy concerns, biases, exclusionary practices, 34
and unintended outcomes; 35
(k) Racial equity issues posed by artificial intelligence systems 36
and ways to mitigate the concerns to build equity into the systems;37
(l) Civil liberties issues posed by artificial intelligence 38
systems and civil rights and civil liberties protections to be 39
incorporated into artificial intelligence systems;40
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(m) Recommendations as to how the state should educate the public 1
on the development and use of artificial intelligence, including 2
information about data privacy and security, data collection and 3
retention practices, use of individual data in machine learning, and 4
intellectual property considerations regarding generative artificial 5
intelligence; 6
(n) A review of protections of personhood, including replicas of 7
voice or likeness, in typical contract structures, and a review of 8
artificial intelligence tools used to support employment decisions;9
(o) Proposed state guidelines for the use of artificial 10
intelligence to inform the development, deployment, and use of 11
artificial intelligence systems to: 12
(i) Retain appropriate human agency and oversight;13
(ii) Be subject to internal and external security testing of 14
systems before public release for high-risk artificial intelligence 15
systems; 16
(iii) Protect data privacy and security; 17
(iv) Promote appropriate transparency for consumers when they 18
interact with artificial intelligence systems or products created by 19
artificial intelligence; and 20
(v) Ensure accountability, considering oversight, impact 21
assessment, auditability, and due diligence mechanisms;22
(p) A review of existing civil and criminal remedies for 23
addressing potential harms resulting from the use of artificial 24
intelligence systems and recommendations, if needed, for new means of 25
enforcement and remedies; and 26
(q) Recommendations for establishing an ongoing committee that 27
must study emerging technologies not limited to artificial 28
technology. 29
(5) The executive committee of the task force must hold its first 30
meeting within 45 days of final appointments to the task force and 31
must meet at least twice each year thereafter. The task force must 32
submit reports to the governor and the appropriate committees of the 33
legislature detailing its findings and recommendations. A preliminary 34
report must be delivered by December 31, 2024, an interim report by 35
December 1, 2025, and a final report by July 1, 2026. Meeting 36
summaries must be posted to the website of the attorney general's 37
office within 30 days of any meeting by the task force.38
(6) Legislative members of the task force shall be reimbursed for 39
travel expenses in accordance with RCW 44.04.120. Nonlegislative 40
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members are not entitled to be reimbursed for travel expenses if they 1
are elected officials or are participating on behalf of an employer, 2
governmental entity, or other organization. Any reimbursement for 3
other nonlegislative members is subject to chapter 43.03 RCW.4
(7) To ensure that the task force has diverse and inclusive 5
representation of those affected by its work, task force members, 6
including subcommittee members, whose participation in the task force 7
may be hampered by financial hardship and may be compensated as 8
provided in RCW 43.03.220. 9
(8) The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this 10
section unless the context clearly requires otherwise.11
(a) "Artificial intelligence" means the use of machine learning 12
and related technologies that use data to train statistical models 13
for the purpose of enabling computer systems to perform tasks 14
normally associated with human intelligence or perception, such as 15
computer vision, speech or natural language processing, and content 16
generation. 17
(b) "Generative artificial intelligence" means an artificial 18
intelligence system that generates novel data or content based on a 19
foundation model. 20
(c) "Machine learning" means the process by which artificial 21
intelligence is developed using data and algorithms to draw 22
inferences therefrom to automatically adapt or improve its accuracy 23
without explicit programming. 24
(d) "Training data" means labeled data that is used to teach 25
artificial intelligence models or machine learning algorithms to make 26
proper decisions. Training data may include, but is not limited to, 27
annotated text, images, video, or audio. 28
(9) This section expires June 30, 2027. 29
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