Texas TRAIGA (HB 149) — Responsible AI Governance Act
Summary
Section titled “Summary”House Bill 149 — Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act (TRAIGA) was signed by Governor Greg Abbott on 2025-06-22 and enters into force on 2026-01-01.
Significance:
- The third US comprehensive state AI law (after the Colorado AI Act and California SB 53).
- But structurally clearly different from Colorado / California — TRAIGA focuses on the explicit prohibition of harmful uses, rather than layered obligations on a generic “high-risk AI system”.
- It exhibits features of the Republican version of US AI legislation: prohibition > compliance > disclosure.
Definition of AI system
Section titled “Definition of AI system”“Artificial intelligence system” means any machine-based system that, for any explicit or implicit objective, infers from the inputs the system receives how to generate outputs, including content, decisions, predictions or recommendations, that can influence physical or virtual environments.
→ Close to the OECD / EU AI Act definition; broad coverage.
Core prohibitions (applicable to all entities)
Section titled “Core prohibitions (applicable to all entities)”TRAIGA expressly prohibits the development or deployment of AI systems in the following categories:
1. Inducing self-harm / criminal activity
Section titled “1. Inducing self-harm / criminal activity”- AI systems that, by intent, induce or encourage self-harm or criminal activity.
- Corresponds to EU AI Act Article 5(1)(a).
2. Child sexual-exploitation content
Section titled “2. Child sexual-exploitation content”- AI systems that generate child sexual abuse imagery (CSAI).
- AI systems that generate deep fake pornography.
- Text-conversation AI that produces simulative / descriptive content which also imitates or impersonates a child.
These prohibitions are more concrete than federal COPPA or comparable California laws.
3. Government “social scoring”
Section titled “3. Government “social scoring””- Government entities are prohibited from using AI systems for “social scoring”.
- Does not apply to the private sector.
- Corresponds to EU AI Act Article 5(1)(c).
Additional obligations for government entities
Section titled “Additional obligations for government entities”1. Mandatory disclosure of AI interactions
Section titled “1. Mandatory disclosure of AI interactions”- Consumers (citizens) must be clearly informed that they are “interacting with an AI” before or at the point of interaction with a government AI system.
- This is stricter than the Colorado AI Act’s consumer-notice requirement (TRAIGA explicitly says “before or at the point”).
2. Prohibition of social scoring
Section titled “2. Prohibition of social scoring”See above.
3. Limits on biometric identification
Section titled “3. Limits on biometric identification”- Government is prohibited from using AI to independently identify individuals based on biometric data obtained from publicly available sources (web, surveillance, etc.) unless the individual has consented.
- Precisely targets Clearview-AI-style law-enforcement AI.
Enforcement
Section titled “Enforcement”Sole enforcement
Section titled “Sole enforcement”- The Texas Attorney General.
- 60-day cure period — notice must be given before suit.
No private right of action
Section titled “No private right of action”- Citizens may not directly sue entities for TRAIGA violations.
Local preemption
Section titled “Local preemption”- TRAIGA expressly preempts AI ordinances of cities and counties within the state.
- Prevents Austin, Dallas, Houston and others from legislating on their own.
- Similar logic to EO 14365 (here the state preempts localities, rather than the federal government preempting states).
Penalties
Section titled “Penalties”| Violation type | Penalty (per violation) |
|---|---|
| Curable violation (not cured / breach of cure statement) | $10,000 – $12,000 |
| Uncurable violation | $80,000 – $200,000 |
| Continuing violation (beyond the cure period / without a cure statement) | $2,000 – $40,000 / day |
Comparison with the Colorado AI Act / California SB 53
Section titled “Comparison with the Colorado AI Act / California SB 53”| Dimension | Colorado AI Act | California SB 53 | Texas TRAIGA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Positioning | Anti-discrimination / high-risk AI | Frontier AI transparency | Prohibition of specific harmful uses |
| Scope | Developer + Deployer | Large frontier developers ≥ $500M | All entities (some provisions government-only) |
| Compliance burden | High (risk management + impact assessment + notice) | Medium (framework disclosure + incident reporting) | Low (as long as you avoid the prohibited acts) |
| Penalties | Per CPA | $1M / violation | Up to $200K / violation + per-day accrual for continuing violations |
| Local preemption | Unclear | None | Explicitly preempts cities and counties |
| Party lean | Democratic Party lead | Democratic Party lead | Republican Party lead |
TRAIGA’s Republican character:
- Prohibition of harmful uses (clear red lines) rather than procedural compliance (documentation burden).
- Preserves commercial freedom.
- A clear federal / state / local hierarchy (state preempts localities).
Relation to EO 14365
Section titled “Relation to EO 14365”Because of its concise prohibition list, TRAIGA is comparatively less vulnerable to preemption by EO 14365 (since what it regulates is a broadly shared notion of harmful use). However, if the DOJ AI Litigation Task Force challenges the government AI-interaction disclosure clause, a federal / state conflict could be triggered.
Primary text and archives
Section titled “Primary text and archives”| Source | Link |
|---|---|
| Full text (state legislature PDF) | capitol.texas.gov/…/HB00149I.pdf |
| Bill history (legislature) | capitol.texas.gov/…/HB149 |
| LegiScan full text | legiscan.com/TX/text/HB149 |
| Norton Rose Fulbright commentary | nortonrosefulbright.com/…/traiga |
| K&L Gates commentary | klgates.com/…/TRAIGA-signed |
| IAPP News | iapp.org/news/a/governor-signs-texas-traiga |
Revision history
Section titled “Revision history”| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2025-06-22 | Signed by Governor Abbott |
| 2026-01-01 | In force |