What Texas lawmakers want to change as growing AI concerns reshape debates over jobs, safety, and regulation

Texas lawmakers take different AI paths

Texas lawmakers are proposing federal rules for artificial intelligence that address workforce disruption, incident reporting, and technical safeguards as Congress considers how to oversee advanced systems used across industries.

Greg Casar and Nathaniel Moran, both United States Representatives, are pursuing approaches centered on worker protections, incident disclosure, and emergency controls rather than a single comprehensive artificial intelligence measure.

Casar introduces an AI tax bill

United States Representative Greg Casar introduced H.R. 10044, the AI Tax and Work Protection Act, on August 6, 2026, with Representatives Valerie P. Foushee and Sara Jacobs as cosponsors.

The House Committee on Education and Workforce received the measure, while tax provisions went separately to the Committee on Ways and Means for jurisdictional review under chamber rules.

The proposal defines covered transactions

Casar’s bill would tax covered persons for foundation model transactions, including commercial access and certain internal uses that enable or cause workforce reductions for a taxpayer or related party.

The bill would exclude specified research and development uses by governments, higher education institutions, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers, and qualifying nonprofit organizations from its covered transaction definition.

Tax rates would respond to unemployment

The proposed tax would use the greater of two calculations, starting with 2% of the fair market value of processed tokens or 3% of amounts tied to covered transactions.

Those rates would increase when the unemployment measure exceeds 5%, while the Secretary of the Treasury, consulting the Secretary of Labor, could exclude increases caused by unrelated economic shocks.

Tax revenue would fund worker programs

The measure would place amounts equal to 100% of taxes imposed under its AI provisions into a Treasury trust fund beginning with fiscal year 2027, if it becomes law.

Within 90 days after enactment, the Secretary of Labor would establish a Work Protection Administration in the Department of Labor to oversee competitive employment grants under the proposal.

Grants would support direct employment

Grant recipients would use awarded money to hire people for positions whose main duties must be performed by natural persons, keeping the proposed program focused on direct employment opportunities.

Eligible work includes child care, education, health services, elder support, housing, infrastructure, research, conservation, parks, workforce training, local journalism, arts programs, and other listed public service areas across communities.

Fun fact: Shakey was an AI robot at SRI and the first mobile robot to reason about actions without step-by-step human instructions.

Worker standards would shape grant use

Eligible entities would need policies covering collective bargaining rights, employee notices, local hiring preferences, and other conditions before receiving awards through the proposed federal employment program for new positions.

Jobs supported by grants would carry wage standards, health insurance, family and medical leave, plus paid time off, with rules preventing displacement of existing workers at participating workplaces.

Little-known fact: The term artificial intelligence was first coined in a 1955 Dartmouth workshop proposal submitted by McCarthy, Minsky, Rochester, and Shannon.

Frazier’s work covers AI policy

Kevin T. Frazier is a lecturer and AI Innovation and Law Fellow at the University of Texas School of Law, where his work covers artificial intelligence and regulatory design.

His research examines artificial intelligence regulation and policy design, while the program he leads addresses legal questions surrounding the development, deployment, and diffusion of emerging systems in practice.

Moran proposes incident reporting

H.R. 9477, the AI Incident Reporting Act, was introduced by United States Representative Nathaniel Moran on June 25, 2026, and was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

The Secretary of Commerce would establish thresholds for covered models and their developers after consulting federal agencies, private-sector entities, academic researchers, cybersecurity specialists, and relevant public safety experts.

The bill defines reportable behavior

Reportable activity would include attempts to evade human oversight, bypass safeguards, obtain unauthorized access, or undermine reliable operator control when behavior meets the measure’s reporting standard for federal disclosure.

Other reportable areas include compromised model weights, capabilities that enable advanced cyber operations, self-improvement abilities, and additional circumstances that may create serious national security or public safety risks.

Reporting deadlines would apply

Covered developers would submit reports no later than seven days after they know or reasonably believe reportable activity occurred. The Secretary of Commerce could require faster initial notice.

The proposal would protect sensitive information from unauthorized disclosure and require congressional notification within 48 hours after Commerce receives reports describing imminent or ongoing risks of serious harm.

Lieu and Moran propose technical controls

United States Representatives Ted Lieu and Nathaniel Moran introduced H.R. 9917 on July 23, 2026, and the measure was referred to the House Committee on Homeland Security for review.

If enacted, the bill would require covered entities to maintain technical capabilities for stopping inference, ending user access, restricting risky accounts, and suspending such technology under federal rules.

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The measures remain under review

H.R. 9917 would authorize the Secretary of Homeland Security to order proportionate measures after a covered incident, following consultation with the Secretary of Commerce and Director of National Intelligence.

All three measures remain House proposals under committee review, leaving their tax, disclosure, and system control provisions dependent on further congressional action before any federal obligations take effect.

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What stands out more, Texas lawmakers’ focus on AI’s impact on jobs or the debate over safety and regulation? Share your thoughts.

This slideshow was made with AI assistance and human editing.

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