As California’s AI bill, SB 1047, continues to move through the California state legislature, the AI industry and its allies are trying to convince Governor Gavin Newsom to veto the legislation.
The bill, which requires makers of very large frontier models to establish and report AI safety guidelines, passed out of the appropriations committee last week and is now slated for a floor vote in the Assembly sometime this month. If it passes the Assembly, the next stop is Newsom’s desk. (The bill earlier this year passed a vote on the Senate floor by a 32-1 margin.)
The tech industry believes the bill should focus on the application of AI, not the underlying models being developed. It fears that developers building on top of open-source frontier models could be held liable for safety shortcomings of the base model. The bill’s author and champion, Senator Scott Wiener, addressed these concerns in an amendment last week stipulating that the developer would have to have spent at least $10 million to fine-tune the base model to be held liable for safety issues. (Wiener also added amendments softening the legal language developers can use to declare safety, and changing perjury penalties from criminal to civil only.) But many in AI circles remain in opposition to the bill because it still requires frontier model developers to prove the AI is safe, even before it’s done any harm.
Now, some of the loudest voices against the bill have tapped their lobbyist network to help. Two of California’s most high-profile and influential lobbyists, both of whom have ties to Newsom, are working to sink SB 1047.
The powerful and well-monied venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz has retained Axiom Advisors, a Sacramento-based firm led by Jason Kinney, a long-time California Democratic political operative and a friend and political advisor to Newsom for more than two decades. It was at Kinney’s birthday party at French Laundry that Newsom was famously caught violating state Covid guidelines in 2021. (The event proved Kinney’s “inner-circle” status with Newsom, and the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Kinney’s firm’s billings soared during the following year.)
State of California lobbyist filings show that Kinney’s firm, Axiom Advisors, has lobbied on behalf of Andreessen Horowitz regarding SB 1047 since April of 2024. The firm is registered to lobby the governor’s office, legislature, and all state agencies on Andreessen Horowitz’s behalf. Andreessen Horowitz paid $39,750 for that work from April through June. (Fees for Axiom’s SB 1047 work on behalf of the VC during July and August have not yet been reported.) Axiom’s co-founder and managing partner Catherine “Cassie” Gilson has been meeting with lawmakers on SB 1047, a source with knowledge says. Kinney’s direct lobbying activities on the matter, if any, are not known. Axiom and Gilson have also lobbied for Meta on SB 1047 during 2024.
Y Combinator, another vocal opponent of SB 1047, also has retained a high-profile California lobbyist, Darius Anderson, to lobby against the bill. In January Newsom appointed Anderson to the five-person board of the California Fish and Game Commission. Anderson, who also owns Santa Rosa’s Press Democrat newspaper, has been lobbying in Sacramento since 1998 via his firm, Platinum Advisors, which is now among the top California lobbying firms. Y Combinator retained Anderson and Platinum only recently. Filings show the engagement became effective July 30th.
A number of high-profile politicians on the national level have also come out against the bill. California representatives Ro Khanna (D-Santa Clara), Anna Eshoo (D-Palo Alto), and Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) have each issued statements opposing SB 1047. The three, along with Rep. Scott Peters (D-San Diego) wrote a letter directly to Newsom Thursday, urging him to veto the bill on the grounds that it “creates unnecessary risks for California’s economy with very little public safety benefit,” the letter reads. (Those same members of Congress have also received donations from the tech sector. Khanna lists Alphabet, Apple, and Stanford among the top five contributors to his campaign fund and leadership PAC. Lofgren lists Alphabet, Cisco, and Ron Conway’s SV Angel VC. Eshoo’s top contributor is the VC Kleiner Perkins. Peters lists Kleiner Perkins and Qualcomm.)
Most recently, ex-Speaker of the House and Democratic Party heavyweight Nancy Pelosi came out against the bill. “AI springs from California,” her statement reads. “We must have legislation that is a model for the nation and the world,” acknowledging the fact that California’s AI bill could become a model for other states, or even the federal government. On a purely political level, Newsom may be forced to think twice before defying Pelosi’s wishes and signing the bill.
Newsom, for his part, has said little about the bill. A spokesperson in the governor’s office told Fast Company that the governor “doesn’t typically comment on pending legislation.” In the meantime, he has until the end of September to sign or veto it.
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