(The Center Square) – A bill that aims to make it easier for the University of California to establish an artificial intelligence research institute is getting support from lawmakers and AI experts alike.
Senate Bill 607 advanced out of the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday morning with no opposition from lawmakers on the committee or the public. There was no public testimony. Because of the bill’s seemingly noncontroversial nature, the committee passed it as part of its consent agenda. Consent agenda items often don’t even receive testimony from the author of the bills.
“We’re realizing that artificial intelligence is starting to have an impact on so many facets of our life,” committee chair Sasha Renée Perez, D-Pasadena, told The Center Square on Wednesday morning. “There’s real concern about copyright issues, privacy, facial recognition, and I think a lot of these questions haven’t really been explored. The technology itself is moving really rapidly.”
There are no estimates on the costs of establishing or operating an A.I. research institute under the University of California umbrella. Perez said it would be up to the lawmakers on appropriations committees in the Senate and Assembly to allocate funds.
The University of California has campuses throughout the state. There is not a single one so far that stands out as best able to house an A.I. research institute, Perez told The Center Square.
But UC Berkeley, being close to California’s big tech industry, would be a prime spot, a policy expert told The Center Square.
“It’s an area of development that is very important to American prosperity and future technology,” said Mark Dalton, senior policy director of technology and innovation at Washington, D.C.-based organization R Street.
“As many minds as we can focus on working in the area, the more the better. It’s great to have a focused research institution within such a large state university system, so we’re fully supportive,” Dalton told The Center Square.
State officials familiar with the bill told The Center Square on Wednesday that SB 607 is meant to be a “spot bill.” Spot bills aren’t meant to pass and be signed into law, but serve as a springboard for another piece of legislation for a later date.
None of the previous five analyses of SB 607 mention artificial intelligence, but instead address infill project regulations. The state’s bill tracker shows the legislation was introduced in April 2025 and has continued moving through the Senate. Rather than infill regulations, the bill now addresses allowing the University of California to add artificial intelligence to its list of science-related research areas.
SB 607 next moves to the Assembly, legislative staff told The Center Square.
Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, who authored the bill, wasn’t available for comment on Wednesday. Officials and artificial intelligence professors at the University of California system were not available to speak with The Center Square.
