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Governor Signs Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act (TRAIGA)
webReports on Texas signing the TRAIGA into law, making it the fourth U.S. state with cross-sectoral AI regulation, relevant to AI governance and policy efforts to establish baseline safety guardrails.
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Summary
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed House Bill 149, the Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act, on June 22, 2025, making Texas the fourth U.S. state with a cross-sectoral AI law. The TRAIGA takes effect January 1, 2026, and includes disclosure requirements for state agencies, bans on non-consensual biometric capture, prohibitions on AI systems designed to manipulate behavior or produce child-exploitative deepfakes, and establishes a regulatory sandbox. Unlike Colorado's risk-based approach, Texas focuses on preventing and responding to harms caused by AI misuse, with an 'intent element' limiting private sector liability.
Key Points
- •Texas becomes the fourth U.S. state with a cross-sectoral AI law; TRAIGA takes effect January 1, 2026, one month before Colorado's AI Act.
- •Key provisions include disclosure requirements for state agencies using AI, bans on non-consensual biometric data capture, and prohibitions on manipulative or discriminatory AI systems.
- •The law includes an 'intent element,' meaning private entities must have knowingly disregarded requirements to be found in violation.
- •A regulatory sandbox is established under a new Artificial Intelligence Council within the state Department of Information Resources.
- •Public-sector entities face heavier scrutiny than private companies, with agencies required to develop acceptable use policies and AI ethics guidelines.
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Published 23 June 2025 Subscribe to IAPP Newsletters Contributors:
Alex LaCasse
Staff Writer
IAPP
Texas became the fourth U.S. state to pass a cross-sectoral law regulating the use of artificial intelligence when Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, signed House Bill 149 , the Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act, into law 22 June.
Amid the backdrop of a proposed federal moratorium on state governments' abilities to draft legislation regulating various applications of AI, Texas is forging ahead with some guardrails in place on the use of the technology, following on heels of AI governance-related laws in California, Colorado and Utah. The TRAIGA enters into force 1 Jan. 2026, one month before the Colorado AI Act.
State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Texas, sponsored the TRAIGA in the House and identified notable differences between Texas' approach versus that of Colorado. He told the IAPP, while Colorado's law seeks to regulate high-risk uses of AI, Texas' law aims to prevent and respond to harms caused by misuse of AI systems.
Capriglione opined the broader push among states to explore passing AI regulations was partly borne out of the recognition they were behind on passing consumer data privacy laws in the past. He said he wanted Texas to be proactive in attempting to get ahead of the rapidly changing AI ecosystem to have some baseline guardrails in place going forward.
"We didn't want to be overburdensome, and we wanted to try to do this in a way that is reasonable and protects people from some of the biggest harms," Capriglione said. "We thought that we had to hit the very high-level issues, and that means looking at some of the outputs that are problematic, making sure there are some disclosure requirements, we were updating our privacy laws and that we were listening to industry."
Public, private sector impacts
Key provisions of the TRAIGA include disclosure requirements for state agencies when citizens interact with AI tools a specific agency may be using, bans on capturing biometric identifiers without consent and AI developers are prohibited from creating systems designed to manipulate human behavior, make discriminatory decisions and produce deepfakes that exploit children.
The TRAIGA also establishes a regulatory sandbox contained within the newly created Artificial Intelligence Council under the state Department of Information Resources for companies to test AI models without fear of violating the law.
Capriglione said the TRAIGA will likely have different impacts on public entities and the private sector.
Under the law, public-sector entities' use of AI will be more heavily scrutinized to ensure systems being used uphold citizens' rights. In the private sector, Capriglione indicated much of TRAIGA was written to prevent businesses from knowingly deploying AI systems that cause harm to consumers, he said.
"Making sure the government is restricted in how it uses A
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