Montgomery County has adopted a state-required artificial intelligence ethics framework, taking an early step toward managing how county departments and vendors use AI-enabled systems.
The Commissioners Court approved the resolution April 23 after IT Director Bobby Powell told commissioners the county was required to enact minimum standards developed by the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR). The action also designates Powell, or his designee, as the county’s artificial intelligence risk management official.
Powell said the county is not yet adopting a full AI policy. Instead, the resolution puts the state’s minimum requirements in place while county officials continue developing more detailed documents for local implementation.
“There will be living documents tied to the back end of this that we will bring back to the court here in a few weeks when we've got them prepared that have some specifics in them about what we as a county are doing instead of just the DIR framework that they're requiring us to enact,” Powell said.
DIR is responsible for establishing an AI system code of ethics for state agencies and local governments under Senate Bill 1964, which took effect Sept. 1, 2025.
Powell said the county’s implementation will extend beyond internal government use. Companies doing AI-related work with the county, or providing data built with AI, will need to comply with the state standards. He said those requirements will have to be incorporated into county contracts, creating a compliance issue for firms that provide AI-enabled products, services or data.
The mandate also raises staffing and budget questions for the county. Powell told commissioners that he is the only person in the IT department currently positioned to take on the risk management role and said the work is expected to become a full-time responsibility. Commissioners asked what else the mandate could cost, but Powell said the county does not yet know the full financial impact.
The county’s highest-risk concerns involve sensitive public data. Powell distinguished general AI-generated search results from uses involving county-controlled information, saying the latter would require more scrutiny. Examples discussed during the meeting included personal identifiers such as driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers and credit card numbers, as well as county justice data moving between agencies.
Powell told commissioners the county has denied almost every AI-related request so far and expects to continue limiting adoption while local rules are developed. He said AI is already appearing in common software products, including Adobe, Microsoft tools, Grammarly and Tyler Technologies products, which means the county will have to evaluate both new systems and features added to existing platforms.
Commissioners approved the resolution after Powell said the county would continue to restrict and manage AI use while the policy work continues.
Montgomery County Approves State-Mandated AI Ethics Framework
What to Know:
- Montgomery County adopted the state-required artificial intelligence ethics framework and named IT Director Bobby Powell as its AI risk management official for now.
- Vendors doing AI-related business with the county, or providing data built with AI, will need to comply with state standards that Powell said must be built into contracts.
- County officials said the mandate is unfunded, likely to require a full-time role and still needs local policy details that will come back to commissioners later.
