Gov. Ron DeSantis ratcheted up his concerns last week about potential “serious harms” on humans from the growth of artificial intelligence and the need for state regulations.
Yet as the Legislature approaches the scheduled midpoint of the regular session, only the Senate has moved DeSantis’ desired “Artificial Intelligence Bill of Rights” and his call to lessen the impact of massive data centers on utility ratepayers.
In the Senate, legislation seeking to create a regulatory framework that would address key issues such as electricity and water use needed to operate massive data centers (SB 484) and a corresponding effort that creates a public-records exemption that could keep information about potential large data centers confidential for up to a year (SB 1118) are one committee stop, Rules, from reaching the chamber’s floor.
The Senate effort involving an “AI Bill of Rights,” which ranges from parental controls to limits on state agency contracts with certain foreign countries (SB 482), also awaits a final hearing in the Appropriations Committee.
However, the House hasn’t put forward similar legislation, even though Speaker Daniel Perez in December had committee leaders consider the “potentially positive and negative impacts” of artificial intelligence, ahead of the 2026 legislative session.
The House version of the “AI Bill of Rights” (HB 1395) has been assigned to four committees, which has historically been a sign of leadership opposition to a proposal.
A factor in the House delay appears to be a need to balance DeSantis’ proposals with a federal push for national regulations regarding AI that put a hold on state laws.
President Donald Trump wouldn’t go that far when he issued a Dec. 11 directive to require the U.S. Department of Justice create an “AI Litigation Council” that reviews “onerous” state laws that don’t align with the White House's positions. States not in alignment could become ineligible for money intended to expand high-speed internet or face lawsuits.
This has left lawmakers having to balance the desires of the two Republican leaders.
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In December, Perez, a Miami Republican who has clashed with DeSantis on numerous issues over the past year, said he disagreed with DeSantis’ approach that seemed to be at odds with the president.
“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 told the News Service of Florida.
“Am I open to having the conversation on AI, the good, the bad, and the ugly? Of course, but the way that the president opined on AI and on technology as a whole, he was coming at it from the perspective of national security and an executive order that has to deal with, of course, technology, but more importantly, with the national security of this country,” Perez continued. “I don't believe that we should be negating the president's opinion or diminishing its value. I think it's something that we should absolutely take into consideration. And the House stands with the president in acknowledging that technology is a national security issue and has to be discussed in deep, deep thought, but can't just be negated off the top.”
On Wednesday, DeSantis held a roundtable on artificial intelligence at New College of Florida in Sarasota where he stressed that the state has a responsibility to channel technology to benefit people and enhance, rather than supplant, the human experience.
“It's being proposed and purported to be not just something that could kind of take us to the next level,” DeSantis said. “There are some people who are big advocates of that, who almost relish in the fact that they think this just displaces human beings and then ultimately you're going to have AI run society and that you're not going to be able to control it. Count me out on that.”
Among his concerns are the use of chatbots to sexually groom teens and the impact of mass data centers, which he maintains will result in higher costs for electricity, increased demand on the regional water supply, and produce few new jobs.
ALSO READ: DeSantis proposes Florida AI bill of rights to address 'obvious dangers'
“If you're increasing demand exponentially, you are going to have individuals pay more. The cost is going to be higher,” DeSantis said. “And I don't think there's very many people that want to have higher energy bills just so a chatbot can try to corrupt some 13-year-old kid online.”
The proposal seeking an “AI Bill of Rights” by Sen. Tom Leek, R-Ormond Beach, seeks to establish a right for parents to control children’s interactions with artificial intelligence; that people have a right to know when they’re communicating with a human or an AI system or chatbot; and sets rules about the unauthorized use of people’s names, images or likenesses.
The measure also says people have a right to know whether political advertisements were created in whole or in part with the use of artificial intelligence and would prohibit Florida government agencies from contracting with AI firms tied to what is known as a “foreign country of concern,” such as China or Russia.
Tom Mann, state policy manager for the Computer & Communications Industry Association, a national tech industry group, advised the Senate last month that Leek’s bill “would create a standalone state framework that increases compliance burdens without delivering clear safety benefits.”
“Fragmented state laws make it challenging for a company to deploy more features and services in a particular state and risk undermining online free expression,” Mann said in a news release.
The data center bill, in part, would require the Florida Public Service Commission, which regulates electric utilities, to develop what are known as “tariffs” and service requirements to “reasonably ensure that each large load customer bears its own full cost of service and that such cost is not shifted to the general body of ratepayers.” That would include costs related to issues such as connecting to electric systems and increased power transmission and generation costs.
