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2025 · Regular session · House bill
HB2818
HB2818 requires the Department of Information Resources, or DIR, to establish an artificial intelligence division under its executive director.
Official caption: Relating to the artificial intelligence division within the Department of Information Resources.
Official report lists House author(s): Capriglione. This does not identify sponsors or amendment drafters.
Bill explanation published · Version and amendment review scope is stated below · Individual amendment records may not be separately annotated.
Bill highlights
Selected points from the published explanation. Follow each point to its source-linked context; conditions and limits may matter.
- HB2818 requires the Department of Information Resources, or DIR, to establish an artificial intelligence division under its executive director.
- The modernization work covers replacing or improving “legacy systems”—computer systems or applications using obsolete or inefficient hardware or software.
- For each completed project, the division must prepare a cost analysis comparing the time, money and resources used with what equivalent tasks would have required using traditional systems, including an overview of cost and time efficiencies.
- DIR may hire staff, including through public higher-education institutions covered by the referenced definition.
What does it do?
HB2818 requires the Department of Information Resources, or DIR, to establish an artificial intelligence division under its executive director. It took effect September 1, 2025. The division must help state agencies and other entities using DIR’s services implement generative AI for modernization projects and other projects DIR considers appropriate. This is a government technology-assistance program, not a general license requirement for private AI businesses. Final law
The modernization work covers replacing or improving “legacy systems”—computer systems or applications using obsolete or inefficient hardware or software. DIR may use AI it develops or buys, or contract with a vendor. When it contracts with a vendor under this authority, the vendor’s generative AI must perform a majority of the work needed to complete the project. The law does not say 90%, require every state technology project to use AI, or eliminate the need for people to supervise the work. Legacy-system definition
For each completed project, the division must prepare a cost analysis comparing the time, money and resources used with what equivalent tasks would have required using traditional systems, including an overview of cost and time efficiencies. That is a reporting duty, not proof that every project will save money. The act does not specify a public-posting deadline or a method for measuring the “majority of the work.”
DIR may hire staff, including through public higher-education institutions covered by the referenced definition. It must coordinate this division’s work with its activities under other AI laws to use personnel and information efficiently. Implementation rules are due as soon as practicable, not on a fixed calendar date. The law does not itself appropriate money or establish a separate private-sector enforcement program.
What changed along the way?
The filed bill required a vendor’s AI to complete at least 90% of the work required for the contract. The House substitute lowered that to a majority and shifted the reporting emphasis from procurement-process examples to project-wide cost and time efficiencies. Filed text; House substitute
Representative Capriglione’s adopted House amendment 1 clarified that the majority requirement concerned completing the project, rather than the contract. The Senate substitute retained that project-based measure, removed the extra phrase “to complete a project” after the contracting reference, and added the requirement to coordinate activities under other AI laws. The final operative text matches the Senate substitute. House amendment; amendment index; Senate text; Senate amendments printing
The House initially passed the bill 111–14, with one present but not voting; the Senate passed it 30–1. The House agreed to the Senate changes 105–32, with two present but not voting. The governor signed it June 20, 2025. All versions; official history
For the full amendment record, open the official amendment index.
Official bill versions
Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.
Who could benefit—and who could bear the costs?
Agencies and people relying on aging government systems could benefit if AI-assisted modernization makes services quicker or less costly. Vendors and technical staff may gain work. Those gains depend on actual performance, including accuracy, security, privacy and appropriate human review; the bill does not establish that using more AI automatically produces better results.
The May 27 fiscal note estimates a $8,140,645 General Revenue cost for fiscal years 2026–2027. Its yearly estimates are $3,333,999 in 2026 and $4,806,646 each year from 2027 through 2030—about $22.56 million over the five years. These are estimated costs, not amounts appropriated by HB2818 or independently measured spending.
The estimate assumes nine additional full-time-equivalent staff, with about $3.64 million in personnel costs over the first two years. Technology and professional-service costs add $1.5 million in 2026 and $3 million annually thereafter, covering assessments, data preparation, testing and cloud environments. The fiscal notes do not quantify offsetting AI savings and anticipate no significant local-government fiscal effect. Earlier listed notes carry the same cost estimate despite the changes in bill wording.
Official sources
- Bill history and latest recorded action
- Bill versions, analyses and fiscal notes
- Action history and votes
- Amendment index
Catalog report retrieved 2026-10-25. Check the official record for corrections or later changes.
