Latest news with #SB53
Axios
7 days ago
- Business
- Axios
California AI bills advance as Congress considers state-level regulation ban
Two California bills aiming to regulate artificial intelligence passed the state Senate this week. Why it matters: Those bills — both authored by Sen. Steve Padilla (D-San Diego) are clashing with efforts in D.C. to stop state-level AI legislation. House Republicans' reconciliation bill would prohibit states or localities from regulating AI for a decade. State of play: One bill, SB 243, aims to counter tech marketing of chatbots as an alleviation to loneliness and mental health struggles. It would prohibit operators from relying on addictive practices to boost engagement, require notifications and reminders the bot is not human. Between the lines: The other bill, SB 420, seeks to create a regulatory framework for AI systems. It would require for individuals to be notified when a public or private automated system is used to make decisions about them, how the tool works and in some cases to appeal for review by a person. The bill would also force an impact assessment on the purpose, use of data and potential for bias present in those automated systems. What they're saying: "Tech companies would have us believe any regulation at all would be disastrous," Padilla said in a statement. "The truth is it would be disastrous to allow tech titans to operate AI without oversight, accountability, or restraint." What's next: Both bills now move to the Assembly before a potential trip to the governor's desk. The big picture: All over the country, states are advancing and implementing AI safeguards while Congress considers a national moratorium in the reconciliation bill. Padilla told Axios he "can't think of a more irresponsible or stupid thing to do at this juncture" than for Congress to pass the AI moratorium and stop state lawmakers from regulating the tech. Threat level: The proposed federal moratorium could hinder California's broader efforts to develop a framework for governing AI models. In March, a working group appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom released a report outlining guidance for policymakers on how to regulate the burgeoning industry, which Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) said strikes "a thoughtful balance between the need for safeguards and the need to support innovation." "AI presents tremendous opportunities to transform our world for the better. At the same rapid pace of technological advancement in AI means policymakers must act with haste to impose reasonable guardrails to mitigate foreseeable risks," Wiener, who introduced AI whistleblower bill SB 53 in February, said in a statement . The bottom line: California has historically led on tech regulation while Congress gets stuck in debate mode — first on privacy and now on AI. The state has enacted a wide range of bills addressing everything from digital replicas of individuals to election ads, and has more legislation in the works. Today, 260 state lawmakers from both sides of the aisle across all 50 states sent a letter to Congress urging lawmakers to oppose the moratorium.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Alabama Legislature only passes two immigration bills despite GOP push on issue
Protesters march during a non violent protest in Birmingham, Alabama, U.S., on Saturday February 22, 2025. Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice organized the event for the public to show empathy to immigrants in the wake of all the anti immigration bills currently in legislature. The Alabama Legislature considered several proposals during the 2025 session to place further restrictions on peple without legal status. Photographer: Andi Rice for Alabama Reflector Despite spending a great deal of time on the issue in the 2025 session, the Alabama Legislature only passed two bills targeting those without appropriate authorization to reside in the country. SB 63, sponsored by Sen. Lance Bell, R-Pell City, requires law enforcement in Alabama to take fingerprints and DNA samples of people without the documentation to live in the U.S. and submit them to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and the Alabama Department of Forensic Science. SB 53, sponsored by Wes Kitchens, R-Arab, made it a crime, a Class C felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $15,000 fine, for people to knowingly transport a person without the appropriate documentation to reside in the country into the state. The bill also required county or municipal jail administrators to investigate those placed into custody to determine a person's immigration status and check with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security if the individual was issued an immigration detainer or warrant. 'Many of these bills were created to address problems that don't exist in Alabama,' said Allison Hamilton, executive director of the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice. 'The majority of these bills were copycat bills that were developed at national thinktanks and distributed out to different legislators around the country to implement in their states.' But several other immigration bills stalled before getting a final vote. HB 7, sponsored by Rep. Ernie Yarbrough, R-Trinity, would have allowed state and local law enforcement to enter into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to enforce the country's immigration laws, an authority that currently belongs only to the Alabama Attorney General's Office. The House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee approved the legislation in February, soon after the 2025 session began, but the full chamber did not vote on the measure until April. The legislation did not come to a vote in the full Senate. HB 3, sponsored by Rep. Chip Brown, R-Hollingers Island, would have enhanced penalties for people convicted of felonies if they cannot prove they have legal authorization to be in the U.S. A Class D felony, punishable by up to five years in prison to a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $15,000 fine. Those convicted of a Class C felony would have their punishment upgraded to a Class B felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $30,000 fine. People who commit a Class B felony would have their convictions upgraded to a Class A felony, punishable by up to 99 years in prison and a $60,000 fine. Individuals found guilty of a Class A felony, the most serious offense, would have had to serve at least 15 years in prison. Other legislation would have made labor brokers register with the Alabama Department of Workforce and must then report the foreign nationals they place with companies through contract work. Another bill, HB 297, sponsored by Rep. Jennifer Fidler, R-Silverhill, would have originally imposed a fee on international wire transfers, often used by immigrants to support families overseas. But the legislation was heavily amended to require reports on certain overseas cash transactions. All the bills eventually stalled in the Senate. One bill attempted to restrict those without proper authorization by limiting their ability to drive in the state. SB 55, sponsored by Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, would have prohibited people who have a driver's license from another state from driving in Alabama if the state that authorized it did not review a person's legal status. The legislation stalled in the House chamber after it passed the Senate. Legislators from a slate of other states introduced nearly identical legislation, so Hamilton said the bills are not tailored to the problems that residents face in Alabama. 'If they were really trying to address it, there were other bills that other representatives introduced that would have been more effective, but this bill was really about continuing to oppress immigrant communities and make life difficult,' she said.' But those who favor more restrictions said actions are necessary to disincentivize people without appropriate authorization to live in the country. 'The objective here is to present people here with rational choices, and if they believe they are not going to succeed in what they are doing, then they either will not come to the United States at all, or if individual states within the country adopt policies that make it clear they are going to be partners in enforcement, those people will settle elsewhere in the county,' said Ira Mehlman, media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that advocates for immigration legislation like those introduced. Debu Ghandi, senior director for immigration at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank, cited a 2020 report from the organization that found undocumented immigrants contribute almost $80 million in federal taxes and $41 billion in state and local taxes each year. They also pay another $315 billion annually nationally through spending. 'Many industries often rely on their hard, and often dangerous, work,' he said. 'Undocumented immigrants, in fact, cannot receive social and Medicare benefits, but they have to pay into these programs through the payroll taxes that they are required to pay even though they are not eligible for the benefits that these programs fund.' Hamilton said there are potential negative consequences of these bills for the state. 'What Alabama would like in that case is a lot fewer workers and a lot fewer people, fewer restaurants, and just a sadder place,' she said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alabama House passes two bills targeting immigrants without legal status
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways Protesters march during a nonviolent protest in Birmingham, Alabama, in protest of bills targeting immigrants on Saturday February 22, 2025. The Alabama House of Representatives Tuesday passed two bills targeting immigrants without legal status. (Andi Rice for Alabama Reflector) The Alabama House of Representatives passed two bills on Tuesday that target immigrants without legal status in the state. SB 53, sponsored by Sen. Wes Kitchens, R-Arab, would require law enforcement to determine the legal status of those they have a 'reasonable suspicion' of being in the country without status during stops. The bill also makes it a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, for a person to 'knowingly transport into this state another individual if he or she knows is an illegal alien,' which the bill defines as human smuggling. 'It codifies the practice that jail administrators are already doing now in terms of reporting illegal immigrant detainees and verifying their immigration status,' said Rep. Ben Robbins, R-Sylacauga, who carried the bill in the House. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Rep. Thomas Jackson, D-Thomasville, questioned what 'reasonable suspicion' is. 'If you're not profiling, what is your reasonable suspicion that they're unlawful?' Jackson said. 'Being Hispanic is not a crime. Being Spanish is not a crime.' The language is similar to language in HB 56, the 2011 state law that attempted to criminalize the lives of immigrants without legal status. Federal courts gutted much of the law. The House adopted a Judiciary Committee substitute 92-0 that provided exceptions for people to transport people without legal status. One is for health care providers transporting patients, if people are transporting people for religious or charitable reasons, or people that an attorney who represents an individual authorizes. The Senate approved the legislation in February, after the body removed language in the original bill that echoed language in the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act that threatened those who helped enslaved people escape with fines and imprisonment. The bill offers several exceptions for people who are transporting people who are not legally authorized to live in the U.S. into Alabama, such as attorneys transporting clients to different immigration facilities or educators escorting their students for a school related activity. The legislation was criticized by the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice at a public hearing and in a statement Tuesday. 'SB 53 puts U.S. citizen family and friends at risk of felony charges for simply driving their loved ones. It was unconstitutional when the Alabama Legislature did it in 2011, and it is unconstitutional now,' Executive Director Allison Hamilton wrote in the statement. Rep. Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, said he is concerned about the situations that are not listed as an exception in the legislation, like going to a wedding across state lines and one person in the car is undocumented but is married to a U.S. citizen. 'Does that not concern you that people just doing innocent things, visiting family, doing joyous occasions like a wedding that they can be charged with a felony for smuggling?' Ensler asked Robbins. The Coalition had similar concerns. 'I live really close to the Georgia border and not everyone in my family is documented. I can't believe it would be illegal for me to drive my in-laws to the nearest hospital since it crosses the state line,' Jordan Stallworth, civic engagement coordinator at the Coalition, wrote in the statement. 'This type of targeting is dehumanizing and demoralizing. My family deserves better. All our families deserve better.' Robbins said there is a 'serious problem' in the state and the country with bad actors. 'I think that we've got a serious problem in the state and the country of people transporting individuals for commercial reasons and exploiting them for cheap labor,' Robbins said. 'I think we have to do something to try to address that problem. I am more focussed on addressing those bad actors.' According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 4% of Alabama's population is foreign-born. The national average is 14.3%. The bill passed 80-18. It goes to the Senate for concurrence or conference committee. There are two days left of legislative session. The House also passed SB 63, sponsored by Sen. Lance Bell, R-Riverside, which requires fingerprinting and DNA collection from non-citizens in custody, adding them to a state's forensic database. Rep. Mark Shirey, R-Mobile, carried the legislation in the House. He said the bill will expedite the process for DNA results. 'Right now when they detain an illegal immigrant for the feds, they wait for the feds. The feds come to get them and they do the DNA and fingerprints and send it to the national lab,' Shirey said. 'They're backup is two and a half years and the backup in the state is two and a half hours.' The bill passed 76-7 with no discussion. It goes to Gov. Kay Ivey. 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Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Yahoo
3-year-old critical after getting shot in Hanford. A man was arrested, police say
A 3-year-old girl is in critical condition after she was shot inside a home in Hanford, according to police. Hanford police on Monday described the shooting as 'accidental' and said the gun was fired Saturday morning by one of four other children at the home. The ages of the other children range from 6 to 10 years. A 29-year-old man tried fleeing the residence with the discharged handgun, police said. He has since been arrested on suspicion of multiple charges, including criminal storage of a firearm. Under California laws, it is a crime to carelessly store a firearm on property if it's known or should be known that anyone younger than 18 years old is likely to gain access to it without parental permission. With a child seriously injured in this case, the suspect, whose relation to the child was not immediately known, could face the harshest of three levels of punishment for criminal storage of a firearm. That's a felony that could result in 16 months to three years in jail and a fine of up to $10,000. The Bee is not naming the suspect to protect the identity of the children. Should the suspect face a lesser misdemeanor charge, he could get up to one year in jail and a fine up to $1,000. That's for the reckless gun storage violation. The shooting happened early Saturday at a home in the 1900 block of Emma Lee Lane, where officers found the 3-year-old girl shot in her abdomen. Detectives also located the mother of the 3-year-old, as well as the four other children, along with a 20-year-old. Investigators determined the children had gotten up early and found the gun unsecured in the kitchen. As the children were handling the firearm, one of them accidentally shot the 3-year-old, Hanford police said. Police said the man who was arrested entered the room after the shooting occurred, grabbed the gun and fled the home. Hanford Police Street Crimes Unit investigators tracked him down and arrested him Monday. He was booked into Kings County Jail and faces additional charges of destruction of evidence, prohibited person in possession of a firearm and felony child endangerment. Just last month in Northern California, a 3-year-old boy died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and his grandfather was charged with felony first-degree criminal storage of a firearm. Starting in January 2026, Senate Bill 53 goes into effect and requires a person who possesses a firearm in a residence to keep the firearm securely stored when the firearm is not being carried or readily controlled by the person or another lawful authorized user. SB 53 also requires gun owners to properly store their firearms whether or not it's known a child could obtain access to the firearms and cause injury.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alabama House committee approves bill targeting immigrants
The Hernandez Family joins a protest against anti immigration bills now proposed before Congress in Birmingham, Alabama,, on Saturday February 22, 2025. An Alabama House committee Wednesday approved legislation targeting immigrants. (Andi Rice for Alabama Reflector) The House Judiciary Committee Wednesday approved legislation that requires law enforcement to verify people's immigration status during a stop if they have 'reasonable suspicion' they are not authorized to be in the country. SB 53, sponsored by Sen. Wes Kitchens, R-Arab, also makes it a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, for someone to knowingly transport a person without proper authorization into the state. 'The intent of this bill, what we are trying to do, is to provide tools for our law enforcement officers,' Kitchens told members of the committee. 'If someone has broken the law, if the person has been arrested and taken to jail, to give the law enforcement officers and the jails, county, municipal, state jails, the authority they need to be able to verify immigration status when that individual was there.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Jasmin Hernandez-Alamillo, the community health coordinator for the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice, a group that advocates for immigrants, attended the meeting and said he felt 'utter devastation' at the vote. 'They are not recognizing human beings as human beings,' he said. 'That makes me extremely upset because I come from immigrants. My family are immigrants. I work with immigrants every single day, and they do not see us as humans.' The committee approved Kitchens' bill one week after the committee hosted a public hearing in which members heard from several who spoke against the legislation, with one pastor telling the committee it violates Christian values, and a second person saying it could prevent people from obtaining the necessary paperwork to bring their children back to their home country in the event they are deported. The Senate approved the legislation in February, after the body removed language related to the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, that forced the public to assist slave catchers return people to bondage to the south. The bill offers several exceptions for people who are transporting people who are not legally authorized to live in the U.S. into Alabama, such as attorneys transporting clients to different immigration facilities or educators escorting their students for a school related activity. Members of the House Judiciary Committee approved other exemptions to the crime of human smuggling as part of an amendment. One is for health care providers transporting patients, if people are transporting people for religious or charitable reasons, or people that an attorney who represents an individual authorizes. 'Many times people are already afraid of law enforcement and are already afraid to tell them, 'Hey, something is going on, something is going wrong in my community, I need help.'' Hernandez-Alamillo said. ' Particularly as it involves human trafficking, and I think this will dampen those efforts to try and eliminate that issue in our society.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
