North Carolina SB 1046: A.I. in Environmental Permitting.

Bill Text

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
S 1
SENATE BILL 1046

Short Title: A.I. in Environmental Permitting. (Public)
Sponsors: Senator Jarvis (Primary Sponsor).
Referred to: Rules and Operations of the Senate
May 4, 2026
*S1046-v-1*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT TO PROMOTE THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AS A 2
DECISION-SUPPORT TOOL IN THE REVIEW AND DRAFTING OF 3
ENVIRONMENTAL PERMITS. 4
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 5
SECTION 1. Legislative Findings. – The General Assembly makes the following 6
findings: 7
(1) Environmental permitting by the Department of Environmental Quality is a 8
critical function of State government that protects public health, the 9
environment, and the economy of North Carolina. 10
(2) Advances in artificial intelligence, including large language model systems 11
and retrieval-augmented generation tools, offer significant potential to assist 12
agency staff in the drafting and review of environmental permits by 13
accelerating routine tasks, improving consistency, and reducing processing 14
times. 15
(3) The use of artificial intelligence as a permit drafting and permit review tool, 16
subject to independent human review and decision-making by agency staff 17
exercising professional judgement, is consistent with the principles of 18
government efficiency. 19
(4) A joint initiative between the Environmental Management Commission and 20
the Department of Environmental Quality to use artificial intelligence tools 21
for environmental permitting will benefit permit applicants, regulated entities, 22
State employees, and the general public. 23
SECTION 2. Joint Program. – Article 7 of Chapter 143B of the General Statutes is 24
amended by adding a new section to read: 25
"§ 143B-279.22. Artificial Intelligence in Environmental Permitting. 26
(a) Definitions. – The following definitions apply in this section: 27
(1) Artificial intelligence or A.I. – A machine-based system that processes inputs 28
and generates outputs, such as texts, recommendations, comparisons, 29
summaries, and predictions. Artificial intelligence includes large language 30
models, natural language processing tools, and retrieval-augmented 31
generation systems. 32
(2) Commission. – The Environmental Management Commission. 33
(3) Department. – The Department of Environmental Quality. 34
(4) Environmental permit. – Any permit, certificate, approval, or authorization 35
issued by the Commission or the Department under this Article, Article 4 of 36

General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 Senate Bill 1046-First Edition
Chapter 113A, Articles 9 or 10 of Chapter 130A, or Articles 21, 21A, or 21B 1
of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes, or the rules adopted thereunder. 2
(b) Joint A.I. Environmental Permitting Program; Established. – The Commission and 3
the Department shall jointly establish a program to implement the use of artificial intelligence to 4
assist agency staff in the drafting and review of applications for environmental permits. 5
(c) Rulemaking. – The Commission may adopt rules to establish standards and 6
procedures for the use of artificial intelligence systems by agency staff of the Department of 7
Environmental Quality to review and analyze permit applications and to draft environmental 8
permits. Rules adopted by the Commission pursuant to this section are not subject to 9
G.S. 150B-19.4 or G.S. 150B-21.3(b3), and may do the following: 10
(1) Define the permissible uses of artificial intelligence in the permitting process. 11
(2) Establish quality assurance and control requirements for permits drafted with 12
the assistance of artificial intelligence. 13
(3) Adopt training requirements for agency staff who use artificial intelligence to 14
review applications for environmental permits. 15
(4) Establish confidentiality, cybersecurity, and data protection requirements for 16
information processed, transmitted, stored, or generated through artificial 17
intelligence systems, including requirements to protect confidential business 18
information, trade secrets, security-sensitive infrastructure information, and 19
other information protected from disclosure under State or federal law. 20
(5) Prohibit the use of artificial intelligence systems that use applicant 21
information, permit application materials, or agency records to train a 22
vendor-owned or third-party artificial intelligence model unless expressly 23
authorized by the Department under standards approved by the State Chief 24
Information Officer. 25
(6) Establish protocols for monitoring and discontinuing the use of artificial 26
intelligence based on the performance and accuracy of artificial intelligence 27
systems. 28
(d) Agency Staff Review; Decision-making. – No environmental permit application shall 29
be approved, denied, delayed, conditioned, or otherwise acted upon solely on the basis of 30
artificial intelligence output. Relevant agency staff shall independently review, evaluate, and, as 31
a