Termed-out District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen, who recently saw her AI transparency bill sail through the Board of Supervisors, feels compelled to continue working in policy, with a specific focus on AI, she told Gazetteer SF in a chat last week.
Ronen, who is approaching the end of her two consecutive terms as supervisor for neighborhoods including the Mission, Portola, and Bernal Heights, isn’t ready to leave policymaking behind. Beginning in mid-January, Ronen said she plans to start working with an organization called Local Progress, which describes itself as a network of local leaders throughout the country — including sitting mayors, school board members, and city councilmembers — who want to advance a progressive agenda rooted in racial and economic justice.
As a legislator, Ronen often worked to hold tech companies and government agencies accountable for their use of technology. She was against the San Francisco Police Department’s successful petition to access live video feeds from private security cameras, as well as SFPD’s unsuccessful efforts to obtain killer robots and use facial recognition technology to analyze surveillance footage. Earlier this year, she supported legislation banning landlords from using AI-driven rent-fixing software RealPage.
In her next act, Ronen plans to create a program with Local Progress that’s centered around helping local legislators better understand and regulate AI, she told Gazetteer. In Ronen’s eyes, AI products “are going to revolutionize society as we know it in the coming decade.” Her aim is to educate policymakers on how it’s “being used both for positive and in dangerous ways.”
Ronen wouldn’t disclose additional details about her exact role, but Local Progress has trained 653 local and state elected officials through its Progressive Governance Academy over the past two years, according to its website. The organization has also hosted policy webinars, launched campaigns to pass housing legislation in New York, and published toolkits on various topics, like how to advance inclusive and multicultural education in schools.
Local Progress, which currently has official chapters in Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas, is actively building a state chapter in California. There are currently more than 210 members nationwide, representing 137 local jurisdictions.
While Ronen and other San Francisco city officials have had some success regulating AI at the local level, the incoming Trump presidency threatens to undo progress achieved at the federal level. Already, Trump has said he plans to repeal President Joe Biden’s 2023 executive order regulating AI development.
That makes it a good time to support elected officials in deciding how to regulate AI at a local level. “The fox is certainly guarding the hen house,” Ronen told Gazetteer.
