Senate Bill 3001 (2026), Act 248: consumer protections for AI companions

Record US-HI-01 · SB 3001 (2026); Act 248, Session Laws of Hawaii 2026

Issued by: Hawaii State Legislature (2026 Regular Session); signed by Governor Josh Green
Jurisdiction: Hawaii (US)
Level · region: Sub-national · North America
Country: United States
Published / adopted: 2026-07-14
In force: 2026-07-14
Language: English
Official identifier: SB 3001 (2026); Act 248, Session Laws of Hawaii 2026

Summary

Establishes consumer protections for AI companions. Operators must disclose that users are interacting with AI, provide crisis resources, adopt response protocols for user prompts about suicidal ideation or self-harm and report annually to the Behavioral Health Administration of the Department of Health. The Act sets guidelines against addictive software patterns aimed at minors and against chatbots presenting themselves as human; AI companions may not pose as licensed mental health professionals or encourage harmful behaviour, and violations are subject to Hawaii's consumer protection laws.

Safety topics

child safetytransparency & labellingaccountability & liability

Status notes

SB 3001, 'Relating to Artificial Intelligence', was signed by Governor Josh Green on 14 July 2026 as Act 248, at a bill-signing ceremony on AI together with HB 2137 (Act 247), which provides civil remedies against unauthorized AI-generated realistic digital imitations of individuals. Senator Jarrett Keohokalole co-introduced the bill. The Governor's release of 15 July 2026 closing the 2026 bill-signing period lists it among the 266 of 267 measures of the 2026 session that became law.

Sources

Open the official source https://governor.hawaii.gov/?p=12935

Secondary source: https://www.transparencycoalition.ai/news/watershed-year-for-chatbot-safety-measures-14-new-state-laws-enacted-so-far-in-2026

Local copy

Archived. Last attempt 2026-10-18 07:41:52 UTC

Official source (third-party copy, not published) archive/US-HI-01/2026-10-12/official.html

Retrieved 2026-10-12 04:49:04 UTC

SHA-256 ae9cb1133b61f0712e5601a2a76c081749dce9de7ce4685cc33a7595db76c75b

Secondary source (third-party copy, not published) archive/US-HI-01/2026-10-17/secondary.html

Retrieved 2026-10-17 22:16:21 UTC

SHA-256 98330d942d5c06d08961807761011d1a305895585c3920d046be3370b6534dd6

Verification

Another official source, such as an announcement by the issuer, confirms the title, date and status. checked 2026-10-18 · alternative-official-url-fetched

Refresh of 18 Oct 2026 under the rule that level A needs the instrument's own text or an official register. Re-read the Office of the Governor of Hawaii news release of 15 Jul 2026 ('Gov. Green Completes Bill Signing Season and Issues Veto Decision', governor.hawaii.gov, stored 12 Oct 2026), which says SB 3001 became Act 248 and describes its content, and the Transparency Coalition's tracker article (transparencycoalition.ai, not an official site; stored 17 Oct 2026), which gives 14 Jul 2026 as the enactment and effective date. Stored again in this run: the Governor's release of 14 Jul 2026 (governor.hawaii.gov/?p=12919), which says the Governor 'today signed' three measures, among them SB 3001: Relating to Artificial Intelligence, Act 248, and describes its disclosures, response protocols, annual reports and protections for minors. Both Governor's releases are announcements, not the Act's text, so their quotes count as alt-official. The conference draft of SB 3001 on data.capitol.hawaii.gov, which would carry the Act's text and its effective-date section, could not be stored (HTTP 403, also in the browser), as Governor's Message No. 1350 could not before. The 14 Jul 2026 effective date therefore rests only on the tracker, and the summary follows the two Governor's releases.

Second check: Independent check by Claude Code (claude-sonnet-5-5), 2026-10-18: 7 field(s) supported.

History

2026-10-18verification.level: A → B — level computed from the evidence by tools/pipeline.py2026-10-18-refresh-level-rule-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
2026-10-18verification.level: B → A — level computed from the evidence by tools/pipeline.py2026-10-18-recheck-north-america-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
2026-10-18notes: Listed as Act 248 in the Governor's 15 Jul 2026 release closing the 2026 bill-si → SB 3001, 'Relating to Artificial Intelligence', was signed by Governor Josh Gree — the sentences on secondary sources and unreadable pages moved to verification.note; the signing on 14 Jul 2026, the bill's title, the co-introducer and Act 247 (HB 2137) added2026-10-18-recheck-north-america-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
2026-10-18summary: Establishes consumer protections for AI companions. According to the Governor's → Establishes consumer protections for AI companions. Operators must disclose that — hedges removed ('According to the Governor's end-of-session release', 'Secondary trackers describe ... in line with the 2026 wave of state companion-chatbot statutes'); rewritten from the Governor's releases of 14 and 15 Jul 2026: response protocols for suicidal ideation or self-harm, annual reports to the Department of Health's Behavioral Health Administration, and guidelines against addictive patterns aimed at minors and human-likeness misrepresentation added2026-10-18-recheck-north-america-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)

Related records

California SB 243 (companion chatbots) California (US) · In force

Washington AI companion chatbot law (HB 2225) Washington (US) · Adopted, not yet in force

Oregon AI chatbot safety law (SB 1546) Oregon (US) · Adopted, not yet in force

Citation

Hawaii State Legislature (2026 Regular Session); signed by Governor Josh Green. Senate Bill 3001 (2026), Act 248: consumer protections for AI companions [SB 3001 (2026); Act 248, Session Laws of Hawaii 2026]. 2026-07-14. https://governor.hawaii.gov/?p=12935. Status: In force; verified 2026-10-18 (level B). Local copy archive/US-HI-01/2026-10-12/official.html retrieved 2026-10-12 04:49:04 UTC, SHA-256 ae9cb1133b61f0712e5601a2a76c081749dce9de7ce4685cc33a7595db76c75b. Every AI Policy Ever, version 1.18 (snapshot 2026-10-18), record US-HI-01.

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