House committee hears HB 47 to criminalize AI‑generated child sexual abuse material; amendment deadline set

The Alaska House Judiciary Committee held the first hearing on House Bill 47 on Jan. 26, a measure sponsored by Representative Sarah Vance to criminalize AI‑generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and to extend existing statutes to cover both identifiable likenesses and wholly synthetic obscene images.

Vance said advances in artificial intelligence have made synthetic child‑abuse images more realistic and widespread, and she presented a short video compiled from research and advocacy sources to illustrate harm and enforcement gaps. “These images are often indistinguishable from real ones,” Vance told the committee, and she said state law currently relies on federal prosecutions when the existing statute does not clearly cover AI‑generated material.

The bill would: expand definitions of covered material to include an identifiable child likeness created by AI; apply obscenity criteria (the Miller test) to wholly synthetic images that depict sexual conduct and are obscene; and add narrow safe‑harbor exemptions for technology employees or contractors who access prohibited material solely to remove it.

Witnesses and public commenters supported the bill. Trevor Storrs, president and CEO of the Alaska Children’s Trust, testified in strong support and said Alaska’s child‑protection needs make it necessary to update statutes. A caller from Homer, Coletta Walker, also urged passage to close enforcement loopholes.

Committee action: Chair Gray set an amendment deadline of Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, at 5 p.m., and said the committee will set the bill aside and hold a second hearing on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. No formal vote on the merits was taken during the first hearing.

Sponsor and staff provided technical notes: legislative staff summarized changes that add an employee/contractor exception for tech workers who access prohibited material only to remove it and said much of the bill’s text is conforming language to align other statutes.

Sources: Sponsor testimony from Representative Sarah Vance, staff summary by Isaiah Smardo, invited testimony by Trevor Storrs (Alaska Children’s Trust), and public comment from Coletta Walker at the Jan. 26 House Judiciary Committee hearing.