House File 2549 - Introduced HOUSE FILE 2549 BY COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC GROWTH AND TECHNOLOGY (SUCCESSOR TO HSB 599) A BILL FOR An Act relating to the conduct of elections, including the use 1 of artificial intelligence and deceptive statements, and 2 providing penalties. 3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 4 TLSB 5506HV (1) 90 ss/ns

H.F. 2549 Section 1. NEW SECTION . 52.7 Use of artificial intelligence 1 prohibited. 2 1. Automatic tabulating equipment, ballot marking devices, 3 and optical scan voting systems approved for use in this state 4 shall not utilize artificial intelligence. 5 2. For the purposes of this section, “artificial 6 intelligence” means a machine-based system that can, for a 7 given set of human-defined objectives, make predictions, 8 recommendations, or decisions influencing real or virtual 9 environments. 10 Sec. 2. Section 68A.405, Code 2024, is amended by adding the 11 following new subsections: 12 NEW SUBSECTION . 5. a. Published material generated through 13 the use of artificial intelligence and designed to expressly 14 advocate the nomination, election, or defeat of a candidate 15 for public office or the passage or defeat of a ballot issue 16 must contain a disclosure on the published material that the 17 published material was generated using artificial intelligence. 18 b. Notwithstanding section 68A.701, a person who violates 19 this subsection is guilty of a class “D” felony. 20 c. For the purposes of this subsection, “artificial 21 intelligence” means as defined in section 52.7. 22 NEW SUBSECTION . 6. a. Published material designed to 23 expressly advocate the nomination, election, or defeat of a 24 candidate for public office or the passage or defeat of a 25 ballot issue that includes a materially deceptive depiction 26 of a candidate must include a statement that the published 27 material has been manipulated. 28 b. For the purposes of this subsection, published material 29 is materially deceptive if it has been manipulated to change 30 the physical appearance of a candidate or depict a candidate 31 performing an act that did not occur, or, in the case of 32 an image, if it has been altered to change the saturation, 33 brightness, contrast, color, or other visible quality of an 34 image of a candidate. 35 -1- LSB 5506HV (1) 90 ss/ns 1/ 3

H.F. 2549 c. Notwithstanding section 68A.701, a person who violates 1 this subsection is guilty of a class “D” felony. 2 Sec. 3. NEW SECTION . 68A.507 False representations 3 prohibited. 4 A person shall not make or publish, or cause to be made or 5 published, a false representation about a candidate or ballot 6 issue that is intended to or actually affects voting at an 7 election. 8 EXPLANATION 9 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 10 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 11 This bill relates to the use of artificial intelligence in 12 technologies used in elections and the publication of certain 13 materials related to elections. The bill prohibits the use 14 of artificial intelligence, defined in the bill, in automatic 15 tabulating equipment, ballot marking devices, and optical scan 16 voting systems approved for use in this state. 17 The bill also requires published material generated through 18 the use of artificial intelligence and designed to expressly 19 advocate the nomination, election, or defeat of a candidate for 20 public office or the passage or defeat of a ballot issue to 21 include a disclosure that the published material was generated 22 using artificial intelligence. A person who fails to include 23 such a disclosure is guilty of a class “D” felony. A class “D” 24 felony is punishable by confinement for no more than five years 25 and a fine of at least $1,025 but not more than $10,245. 26 The bill requires published material designed to expressly 27 advocate the nomination, election, or defeat of a candidate 28 for public office or the passage or defeat of a ballot issue 29 that includes a materially deceptive depiction of a candidate 30 to include a disclosure that the published material has been 31 manipulated. Under the bill, published material is materially 32 deceptive if it has been manipulated to change the physical 33 appearance of a candidate or depict a candidate performing an 34 act that did not occur, or, in the case of an image, if it has 35 -2- LSB 5506HV (1) 90 ss/ns 2/ 3

H.F. 2549 been altered to change the saturation, brightness, contrast, 1 color, or other visible quality of an image of a candidate. A 2 person who fails to include such a disclosure is guilty of a 3 class “D” felony. 4 The bill prohibits a person from making or publishing, 5 or causing to be made or published, a false representation 6 about a candidate or ballot issue that is intended to or 7 actually affects voting at an election. By operation of law, a 8 person who violates this provision of the bill is guilty of a 9 serious misdemeanor. A serious misdemeanor is punishable by 10 confinement for no more than one year and a fine of at least 11 $430 but not more than $2,560. 12 -3- LSB 5506HV (1) 90 ss/ns 3/ 3