The Government and Veterans Affairs Committee amended House Bill 1167 on artificial-intelligence protections to make it unlawful to “impersonate visually or audibly a human” using AI while exempting routine text uses such as text generation solely for grammar correction, spelling checks, stylistic editing or enhancing existing content.

Representative Josh Warrie, the bill sponsor, told the committee the goal is narrow: to block human impersonation online without banning everyday uses of AI tools. "The core thing they're trying to block is human impersonation," Warrie said, adding the amendment was developed with input from the Secretary of State's office and from TechND, an information-technology trade group, which had urged not burdening ordinary text-editing uses.

The amendment adds a visual/audible impersonation prohibition and spells out that the disclosure requirement does not apply to content that uses AI solely for text generation, grammar correction, spelling checks, stylistic editing or enhancing existing content without creating new impersonations. Committee members raised questions about whether the language would capture items such as politically motivated fake emails and deepfakes; Representative Steiner said his office had seen campaign-related fake emails that IT staff believed to be AI-generated.

Committee discussion also touched on criminal penalties. A staff member identified chapter 16.11 in state code, and noted that "the penalty for violation of any part of that chapter is a class A misdemeanor." Warrie said both houses in earlier drafts were reluctant to lock in criminal penalties at this stage and expected further changes if the bill reaches the Senate.

The committee approved a due-pass recommendation for House Bill 1167 as amended. The motion to give the bill a due pass as amended was moved by Representative Wolff and seconded; a roll call recorded yes votes from Chairman Schauer, Vice Chairman Satrim, Representatives Greenberg, Carls, Rohr, Schneider, Steiner, Van Winkle and Wolf (9 yes, 0 no). The committee indicated the bill will go forward as amended and may be refined further as the Legislature addresses AI issues on the floor and in other chambers.

Because the amendment narrows the bill to impersonation and excludes routine text editing, committee members said they expect additional edits as legislators reconcile similar proposals and related bills on deepfakes and campaign conduct.