The Florida Senate voted 35-2 on March 4 to pass SB 482, an “Artificial Intelligence Bill of Rights” that would require parental consent for minors to use AI companion chatbots, mandate hourly disclosures that users are not speaking with a human, and prohibit state agencies from contracting with AI firms tied to foreign countries of concern.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Tom Leek, also bars the commercial use of AI-generated likenesses without consent and requires disclosure when political advertisements are created with artificial intelligence. Senate President Ben Albritton said the legislation is intended to ensure people can tell whether they are communicating with a person or a computer.
House Speaker Daniel Perez has refused to advance the legislation. A companion bill, HB 1395, was assigned to four committees, historically a sign of leadership opposition in Tallahassee.
Perez, a Miami Republican, said the House stands with President Donald Trump’s position that AI regulation belongs at the federal level. “I think technology as a whole, especially national technology policy, is not something that states should be getting involved in on a state level,” Perez said in December. Trump signed an executive order on December 11 directing the Department of Justice to create an AI Litigation Task Force to challenge state AI laws deemed inconsistent with federal policy, and ordering the Secretary of Commerce to identify potentially unconstitutional state AI regulations by March 11, 2026.
The standoff has placed Gov. Ron DeSantis and the House on opposite sides. DeSantis held a roundtable on artificial intelligence at New College of Florida in February, warning that unchecked AI poses “serious harms” and that data centers will raise electricity costs for consumers.
The tech industry has pushed back against the bill from a different angle. Tom Mann, state policy manager for the Computer & Communications Industry Association, whose members include Google, Meta, and Amazon, said the legislation “would create a standalone state framework that increases compliance burdens without delivering clear safety benefits.” The association has pressed similar arguments in other states considering AI regulation.
SB 482 would give platforms 45 days to correct violations before facing fines of up to $50,000 for conduct the Florida attorney general deems egregious. With fewer than two weeks remaining in the session, the bill has no path through the House.
