Sam Liccardo is a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives for California's 16th congressional district, which runs from Half Moon Bay and Pacifica to San José, Palo Alto and Mountain View. In September 2026 he drafted and led a letter from 107 House Democrats asking Speaker Mike Johnson to keep the House in session until Congress advances AI safeguards (Letter from 107 House Democrats to Speaker Mike Johnson on AI safeguards (September 2026)).
Background
Before Congress, Liccardo served two terms as mayor of San José. He was earlier a criminal prosecutor and a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of California, and holds degrees from Georgetown University, Harvard Law School and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. In the House he sits on the Financial Services Committee and chairs the New Democratic Coalition's Innovation & Technology Working Group, and in July 2025 led that coalition's Innovation Agenda (Source: liccardo.house.gov).
AI legislation and the House schedule
On July 2, 2026 Liccardo introduced the bipartisan Spot the Fakes Act with Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Tom Kean, which would direct the FTC and NIST to set rules for labelling AI-generated content in metadata (Source: nextgov.com). See AI Content Provenance.
With Reps. George Whitesides, Lori Trahan and Ted Lieu, he signed a letter he drafted, dated September 11, 2026, asking Johnson to "immediately reconvene" the House (Source: liccardo.house.gov). A version dated September 15 and released by his office on September 16, signed by 107 House Democrats, asked Johnson to keep the House in session "to enable Congress to take urgent action to address the catastrophic risks posed by advanced artificial intelligence," naming agentic misalignment, mass cybersecurity breaches and biological or chemical weapons. It lists "bills mandating transparency and evaluation of frontier models, 'kill switch' requirements, and a waiver of antitrust laws" as proposals deserving action without naming a bill, and states that "Congress fiddles" (Letter from 107 House Democrats to Speaker Mike Johnson on AI safeguards (September 2026)). Liccardo's statement on release: "While we're seeing this firestorm of concern throughout the country around AI safety, we've got Speaker Johnson fiddling, and at least Nero had the decency to stay in town while Rome burned. … Speaker Mike Johnson is shutting down Congress for seven weeks. The American people need action, not vacation" (Source: liccardo.house.gov). See Coordinated slowdown proposals compared.
Positions and statements
Speaking in Milpitas, California on September 17, 2026, Liccardo named disclosure, transparency and third-party auditing as the areas already drawing support from both the large AI developers and safety advocates, and the part of the debate that could move quickly. "I haven't seen a serious AI bill come to the floor yet," he said. "We need to get Jay's legislation done," referring to Rep. Jay Obernolte's FRONTIER Act (Frontier Act / Great American AI Act (Obernolte–Trahan)). He described his own priority as catastrophic risk, including cyberattacks and AI systems that pursue objectives their operators did not intend, and argued that Congress was repeating its approach to social media by waiting for documented harm before acting (Source: broadbandbreakfast.com).
He said the argument he hears against safety rules is competition with China, which in his view makes international engagement part of the safety question. He said he plans to introduce legislation allowing AI laboratories, universities and think tanks to work with Chinese counterparts on shared safety metrics, testing protocols and verification methods, and a bill in November giving communities leverage in negotiating with data-center developers (Source: broadbandbreakfast.com). Neither bill had been introduced as of that account.
U.S.–China AI safety legislation
On September 22, 2026 his office announced that he and Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-California) would introduce that day a bipartisan bill "to establish U.S.-China coordination on frontier artificial intelligence safety" (Source: liccardo.house.gov). Its two-page outline, "Negotiating AI Safety Globally," would direct the Secretary of State to seek negotiations with China toward "a treaty or other binding agreement" regulating frontier AI developers in both countries, focused on alignment and loss of control, CBRN weapons and cybersecurity, with verification; establish a U.S.–China hotline "modeled on the 'red phone' between Washington and Moscow"; authorize $100 million for a CAISI initiative on international testing, evaluation and verification standards; exempt registered, observed talks between U.S. and Chinese experts on testing and evaluation standards from antitrust, espionage, FARA, IEEPA and export-control laws until an agreement is concluded; require monthly reports to Congress from State and Commerce; and direct Commerce to negotiate separately on intellectual property compromised by model distillation (Negotiating AI Safety Globally — Liccardo–Kiley outline of U.S.–China frontier AI safety legislation (September 2026)). The outline cites the frontier-lab employees' open letter on pacing and states that it "carries no delusions about this Administration's current willingness" to negotiate with Beijing. Liccardo said: "By establishing red lines now, we can avoid the need for red phones later" (Source: liccardo.house.gov). No bill number or text had been located as of September 25, 2026. See Liccardo–Kiley bill. On September 22, 2026 his office announced that Liccardo and Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-California) would introduce that day bipartisan legislation on U.S.–China coordination on frontier AI safety (Source: liccardo.house.gov). According to the office's two-page outline, the bill would direct the Secretary of State to seek negotiations with China toward a treaty or other binding agreement on frontier AI risks, focused on loss of control, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons, and cybersecurity; establish a U.S.–China AI hotline; authorize $100 million for a Center for AI Standards and Innovation initiative drawing on outside experts; and give U.S. experts a safe harbor from antitrust, espionage, FARA and export-control laws for talks with Chinese counterparts, provided they register with the State Department at least 14 days in advance and limit the talks to testing, evaluation and verification standards (Source: liccardo.house.gov). The press release adds a Commerce Department mandate to negotiate protections against the compromise of U.S. intellectual property through model distillation, and monthly progress reports to Congress. Liccardo said that "by establishing red lines now, we can avoid the need for red phones later" (Source: liccardo.house.gov).
Relationships
- related: Letter from 107 House Democrats to Speaker Mike Johnson on AI safeguards (September 2026) — drafter and lead signatory
- related: Mike Johnson — addressee of the September 2026 letters
- related: Lori Trahan, Ted Lieu — co-leads of the letter
- related: Jay Obernolte, Frontier Act / Great American AI Act (Obernolte–Trahan) — the House frontier bill he urged to the floor
- related: Coordinated slowdown proposals compared, AI Pre-Release Vetting — the September 2026 federal debate
- related: AI Content Provenance — Spot the Fakes Act co-sponsor
- related: Liccardo–Kiley U.S.–China frontier AI safety negotiations bill (2026), Negotiating AI Safety Globally — Liccardo–Kiley outline of U.S.–China frontier AI safety legislation (September 2026), Kevin Kiley — the U.S.–China AI safety negotiations bill