Ex-Speaker Seeks to Head Off AI Deceit
with Political Ad Bill that House Endorses
Capitol Inside
April 30, 2025
A gaggle of conservatives lined up at the back microphone in the Texas House for the chance to take shots at former Speaker Dade Phelan on Wednesday when he made a pitch for legislation that would outlaw the use of fake pictures and recordings to try to influence an election.
But the refs might have stopped the fight if the debate on House Bill 366 had been a boxing match. The measure's critics failed to connect on any the swings they took at the Phelan proposal that cleared the Legislature's lower chamber on a vote of 102-40.
HB 366 would create a class A misdemeanor for attempts to affect the outcome of elections with the use of artificial intelligence to create images, videos or broadcasts that purport to show an officeholder or candidate in a situation that never happened. No violation would occur as long as the advertising contained a disclosure that admitted that it was a fabrication that did not reflect reality.
"We have to get ahead of it," Phelan said. "We're always playing catch up to technology."
Phelan proved to be the ideal example - having been targeted in a re-election bid last year with an attack ad that made it look like he was hugging former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi - a Democrat. Phelan had been accused of allowing Democrats who helped elect to him to run the House while he was speaker.
HB 366 may face a less certain fate in the Senate where Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick must approve a bill before it can pass there. Patrick acted as though he despised Phelan when he was leading the House during the regular sessions in 2021 and 2023. Patrick sought without success to defeat Phelan success in the GOP primary election when the Beaumont Republican sought re-election in his home district last year. Patrick hammered Phelan repeatedly during the past year for the House's stalling in a push for a full accounting of funds that the House poured into outside lawyers and other expenses for the impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton during the Beaumont Republican's second term as speaker.
The final score made the competition look closer than it actually had been, however, as Phelan swatted away attempts to discredit the measure with an easy nonchalance. Republicans accounted for all of the opposing votes on HB 366. Sixteen of the House Republicans who voted to kill HB 366 are rookie legislators who campaigned last year on a pledge to oppose Phelan's election to a third term with the gavel.
The Phelan bill's foes argued that the measure would infringe on constitutional rights. "We should stand against anytime the government wants to regulate speech," GOP State Rep. Steve Toth of Conroe said in a speech in opposition to HB 366.
But the House members who took turns taking swings at the bill were more entertaining than persuasive in the failed fight to stop the Phelan proposal.
Republican State Rep. Tony Tinderholt of Arlington asked Phelan if he picked the bill number based on his 366-vote margin of victory in the primary runoff election in House District 21 last spring. The ex-speaker's answer sparked scattered cheers and applause throughout the chamber.
"That's a heck of a correlation you made there," Phelan responded enthusiastically. "But I will say, the official vote was 386."
But Tinderholt persisted. "Did you consider that using the margin of victory as the bill number might make the bill look like a personal vendetta versus a true mission to try to change the election process?"
Tinderholt said.
Rookie Republican State Rep. Shelley Luther of Tom Bean grilled Phelan on the fact that someone could be sentenced to an entire year in jail for putting a mime on line. "I've been to jail - for three days - for working," Luther said.
Luther did not go into detail about the fact that she was arrested in Dallas for operating a beauty salon during the early stages of the covid pandemic in 2020 in direct violation of Governor Greg Abbott's order that "non-essential businesses" remain closed during the public health emergency.
"By the way, your circumstances have nothing to do with this bill,"
Phelan said after hearing about the ordeal.
more to come ...
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