Ohio labor groups back bill regulating AI use by state agencies
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Organized labor is backing a new bill in the Ohio Legislature that would regulate how state agencies are allowed to use artificial intelligence. House Bill 1032, sponsored by Representatives Tristan Rader (D-Lakewood) and Christine Cockley (D-Columbus) would require more transparency on the AI policies of state agencies and would restrict the technology’s use in certain circumstances.
Brian Pearson of the North Shore AFL-CIO says one of the most common concerns he hears from workers regarding AI is not only the fear of being replaced by the technology, but also what their employers are already doing with that technology.
“It’s such a black box, all of it, our folks don’t know necessarily when it’s being used or what the scope is,” Pearson said. “Whether it’s being used for hiring, promotions, discipline, in many cases they don’t know.”
According to Pearson, a lot of workers fear how an AI model or an algorithm might approach life-altering employment decisions.
“There’s all sorts of circumstances around why a worker might show up late for work or not meet a quota on something,” Pearson said. “There needs to be that kind of compassion, the mercy piece of it needs to be part of all of that, and that’s just being decent human beings to each other.”
Cockley says H.B. 1032 would make state employers report how they’re using AI, put in place safeguards to keep humans at the forefront of employment decisions, and restrict state agencies from using AI to make any decisions about the distribution of taxpayer-funded benefits.
“For example, if you reach out to job and family services and say I need help with my benefits, it would prohibit AI from making a decision about whether or not you’re eligible,” Cockley said. “That decision should come from a human themselves.”
According to Rep. Thaddeus Claggett (R-Licking County), chair of the House Technology & Innovation Committee, it’s unlikely that a bill introduced this late in the year will be able to pass before the end of the General Assembly. Claggett, however, echoed the idea that humans should be making decisions for other humans.
“This is a very challenging thing to predict, but there is a fundamental here,” Claggett said. “The human must remain preeminent in all these type things and so we wanna maintain that issue on hiring or anything else.”
Despite widespread interest in the future of AI, the state legislature has so far not passed any laws regulating the technology this year.
“We saw during Gov. DeWine’s State of the State compliment my bill about AI chatbots and suicide and he practically said I’m ready to sign this and still the General Assembly has not moved that bill to a vote,” Cockley said. “The reality is we’re already behind on healthcare, we’re behind on schools, we’re behind on housing and Ohio cannot afford to get behind on AI as well.”
Claggett rejects arguments from Gov. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) and President Donald Trump that AI regulations should largely be handled by the federal government. He also said, however, that it has been incredibly difficult for state lawmakers to predict all the potential ramifications of AI legislation.
“The public should understand that this is not gonna be a simple solution, and we’re not gonna have a silver bullet here that knocks out these problems,” Claggett said. “We’re gonna work on it and continue to work on it, and we’re gonna take the wins where we can get them and continue to narrow these really difficult problems.”