The following list summarizes the final status of top priority bills for the California Chamber of Commerce.
Within each subject area, the list presents bills in order of priority with the highest priorities at the top.
September 30 was the last day for the Governor to sign or veto bills passed by the Legislature before September 1 and in his possession on or after September 1.
Bills signed by the Governor will become law on January 1, 2025. Urgency, tax and budget-related measures go into effect immediately upon being signed. In those cases, the date the Governor signed the bill is noted.
The CalChamber will publish a record of legislators’ votes on key bills affecting the business climate on October 18. Generally, the bills selected for the vote record have appeared in a status report.
A print-friendly version of the Status Report is available here.
Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources
Product Ban. AB 2552 (Friedman; D-Glendale) Bans two rodenticide pesticides and originally created an expansive new private right of action that threatens businesses and created incentives for frivolous lawsuits. Opposition removed after April 24, 2024 amendments removed the private right of action. Neutral.
Signed—Chapter 571
Product Ban. AB 1963 (Friedman; D-Glendale) Bans the herbicide paraquat, which is important for controlling weeds in agricultural crop production. Oppose Unless Amended.
Signed—Chapter 688
Pest Control Program. AB 1861 (Addis; D-Morro Bay) Extends sunset date for existing program that combats invasive insects that carry Pierce’s Disease, a harmful winegrape disease. Support.
Signed—Chapter 197
Onerous Pesticide Regulation. AB 1864 (Connolly; D-San Rafael) Originally put heightened restrictions and reporting requirements for agricultural pesticide use within a quarter-mile of schools, as defined, including for products that are not restricted use. Opposition removed after June 26, 2024 amendments narrowed the scope of the bill to restricted use materials. Neutral.
Signed—Chapter 197
Invasive Species Management. AB 2877 (Reyes; D-San Bernardino) Creates a state goal to implement a policy to prevent the introduction and spread of invasive species, including detrimental agricultural pests. Support.
Held in Senate Appropriations Suspense File 8/15/24
Air Quality
California Pollution Control Financing Authority: Carbon Capture. AB 2731 (W. Carrillo; D-Los Angeles) Maximizes California’s opportunities to use federal tax-exemption allocation by adding the category of qualified carbon dioxide capture facilities to the categories of tax-exempt private activity bonds (PAB), which the California Pollution Control Financing Authority (CPCFA) can issue on behalf of private businesses. Support.
Signed—Chapter 114
Nonvehicular Air Pollution: Civil Penalties. AB 1894 (Ta; R-Westminster) Grants a small business a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of 60 days to rectify an air pollution violation before being subject to civil penalties as overseen by the State Air Resources Board. Support.
Assembly Natural Resources 2/12/24; Failed Deadline
Budget
Multifaceted Taxation Budget Trailer Bill. AB 167 (Committee on Budget) Contains a retroactive change to the Apportionment Factor for businesses that file on a water’s-edge basis. Also caps business incentive tax credits and suspends the Net Operating Loss deduction. Oppose.
Senate Budget and Fiscal Review 7/1/24; Failed Deadline
Multifaceted Taxation Budget Trailer Bill. SB 167 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review) Contains a retroactive change to the Apportionment Factor for businesses that file on a water’s-edge basis. Also caps business incentive tax credits and suspends the Net Operating Loss deduction. Oppose.
Signed—Chapter 34 6/27/24
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
Streamlines Wildfire Mitigation Projects. SB 1159 (Dodd; D-Napa) Creates a new categorical exemption under CEQA for roadside vegetation management projects that reduce wildfire risk. The new categorical exemption would substantially reduce frivolous litigation that aims to delay or halt these critically needed projects from moving forward in California. Support.
Held in Assembly Appropriations Suspense File 8/15/24
CEQA Transparency. SB 1259 (Niello; R-Sacramento) Increases transparency in all CEQA litigation by authorizing a defendant in a CEQA lawsuit to file a motion with the court requesting a CEQA plaintiff identify all funders of the lawsuit who contributed $10,000 or more to the case. Support.
Failed passage in Senate Environmental Quality 4/3/24; Failed Deadline
CEQA Streamlining Homeless Services. SB 1361 (Blakespear; D-Encinitas) Amends the existing Public Resources Code to exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act actions taken by local officials to provide services for people experiencing homelessness. Support.
Signed—Chapter 188
Climate Change
Polluters Pay Climate Cost Recovery Act of 2024. SB 1497 (Menjivar; D-Los Angeles) Imposes an ill-defined tax on a broad set of entities that will increase costs for goods and services in California. Oppose/Job Killer 2024.
Senate Inactive File 5/22/24
Voluntary Carbon Offset. SB 1036 (Limón; D-Goleta) Imposes unnecessary and redundant reporting requirements on the voluntary carbon offset market. The requirements will likely stymie growth in the carbon offset market and will lead to a reduction in offsets. Oppose.
Assembly Natural Resources 6/3/24; Failed Deadline
Increases State Emissions. AB 2870 (Muratsuchi; D-Torrance) Eviscerates the state’s dairy methane reduction program and will lead to increased emissions and make it hard to meet the state’s climate goals. Oppose.
Assembly Agriculture 4/22/24; Failed Deadline
Crime
Combatting Retail Theft. AB 2943 (Zbur; D-Hollywood) Creates new crimes for professional retail thieves and gives law enforcement more tools to combat career thieves. Support.
Signed—Chapter 168
Combatting Retail Theft. AB 1972 (Alanis; R-Modesto) Expands the scope of Highway Patrol’s Organized Retail Crime Task Force to support counties with resources to combat cargo theft. Support.
Signed—Chapter 167
Combatting Retail Theft. AB 1960 (R. Rivas; D-Salinas) Reinstates sentencing enhancements for taking, damaging, or destroying of property during the commission of a felony. Support.
Signed—Chapter 220
Combatting Retail Theft. AB 1779 (Irwin; D-Thousand Oaks) Clarifies that acts of retail theft occurring across multiple jurisdictions can be charged in a single jurisdiction. Support.
Signed—Chapter 165
Combatting Retail Theft. AB 1794 (McCarty; D-Sacramento) Allows counties to create a program for retailers to report details of shoplifting. Clarifies that distinct but related acts of theft motivated by the same intention, impulse, and plan can be aggregated to a single charge of grand theft if it exceeds $950. Support.
Held in Senate Appropriations Suspense File 8/15/24; Failed Deadline
Combatting Retail Theft. AB 1802 (Jones-Sawyer; D-South Los Angeles) Removes sunset date from organized retail crime statute, keeping it in place indefinitely. Support.
Signed—Chapter 166
Protects Against Theft. AB 2371 (J. Carrillo; D-Palmdale) Streamlines local permitting processes for electrified security fences, assisting businesses in being able to quickly install devices that protect against loss. Support.
Signed—Chapter 235
Combatting Retail Theft. AB 3209 (Berman; D-Palo Alto) Creates a new retail theft restraining order that allows a court to prohibit a convicted retail thief from entering a retail location or parking lot. Support.
Signed—Chapter 169
Combatting Retail and Auto Theft. SB 905 (Wiener; D-San Francisco) Closes “locked door” loophole for thefts from automobiles and allows prosecution of individuals who possess stolen property from vehicles with intent to resell. Support.
Signed—Chapter 170
Combatting Retail Theft. SB 982 (Wahab; D-Hayward) Removes the sunset date from the organized retail theft criminal statute, keeping it in place permanently. Support.
Signed—Chapter 171
Online Marketplace Regulation. SB 1144 (Skinner; D-Berkeley) Increases regulations on online marketplaces related to offline transactions. Opposition removed after June 2024 amendments removed duplicative vetting requirements for third party sellers. Neutral.
Signed—Chapter 172
Combatting Retail Theft. SB 1242 (Min; D-Irvine) Adds sentencing enhancement for arson charges when the arson is purposefully caused to facilitate organized retail theft. Support.
Signed—Chapter 173
Gift Card Cashout. SB 1272 (Laird; D-Santa Cruz) Disrupts business by requiring retailers to redeem gift certificates valued at less than or equal to $25 in cash, with a value increase over time keyed to consumer price indexing. Requiring businesses to have more cash on hand exposes them to additional theft risk. Oppose.
Assembly Floor 6/25/24; Failed Deadline
Combatting Retail Theft. SB 1416 (Newman; D-Fullerton) Creates sentencing enhancements for selling, exchanging, returning for value (or attempting any of the same) property acquired through shoplifting or theft from a retail business. Support.
Signed—Chapter 174
Education
Education Finance Bond. AB 247 (Muratsuchi; D-Torrance) Places a $14 million bond on the ballot for voters to approve, with funding for educational levels ranging from kindergarten through community college. Support.
Signed—Chapter 81 7/3/24
Cradle-to Career Data System Governance. AB 2723 (Irwin; D-Thousand Oaks) Improves guidance on existing Cradle-to-Career Data System by identifying governing board members, among other changes. Support.
Signed—Chapter 736
Include Much-Needed Career Technical Education Teachers in the Golden State Teacher Program. AB 1927 (Alanis; R-Modesto) Alters the existing Golden State Teacher Grant program to also apply to teachers earning their career technical education teaching credential, and thereby encouraging new teachers to commit to the much-needed career technical education space. Support.
Assembly Appropriations Suspense File 5/8/24; Failed Deadline
Improving California’s Associate Degree for Transfer Program. AB 2057 (Berman; D-Palo Alto) Implements high-impact recommendations of a recent expert-led committee to improve California’s Associate Degree for Transfer program, with a particular focus on equity gaps in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Support.
Signed—Chapter 696
Vague Liability for Educational Institutions. AB 2193 (Holden; D-Pasadena) Creates liability for both secondary and postsecondary educational institutions related to allegations of hazing and creates a list of measures that institutions must undertake in order to avoid presumptive liability. Oppose.
Signed—Chapter 704
Personal Finance Education for High School Students. AB 2927 (McCarty; D-Sacramento) Implements a one-semester course in personal finance starting with pupils graduating in the 2030–2031 school year. Support.
Signed—Chapter 37 6/29/24
Improves Outcomes for Community College Transfer Students. SB 1200 (Glazer; D-Contra Costa) Requires report to the Legislature analyzing outcomes for students moving through California’s existing California Promise program, intended to improve graduation rates and timelines for students beginning at community colleges and transferring to four-year universities. Support.
Held in Assembly Appropriations Suspense File 8/15/24
Expands College Access Program. SB 1244 (Newman; D-Fullerton) Allows more school districts to operate dual enrollment programs with local community colleges, easing the pathway for more students to pursue career technical education or transfer to a four-year college via California’s existing community colleges. Support.
Signed—Chapter 789
Improves Understanding of California’s Educator Pipeline. SB 1391 (S. Rubio; D-Baldwin Park) Builds on California’s existing Cradle-to-Career system by incorporating information about California’s educator pipeline to help inform both policymakers and the public and address our troublesome teacher shortage. Support.
Vetoed
Elections and Fair Political Practices
Limits Direct Democracy. SB 1337 (Gonzalez; D-Long Beach) Dramatically alters the state’s direct democracy process and makes it very difficult, if not impossible for Californians to qualify a referendum for the ballot. Oppose.
Vetoed
Outlawing Necessary Non-Disclosure Agreements Between Lobbyists and Client Companies. AB 2654 (V. Fong; R-Bakersfield) Prohibits Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) including either lobbyists or government officials related to legislation, making it impossible for companies to retain lobbyists and share their trade secret or proprietary information with those lobbyists. Oppose.
Failed passage in Assembly Elections 4/25/24; Failed Deadline
Lobbyist Employer Audits. SB 1404 (Glazer; D-Contra Costa) Substantially raises fees on lobbyists and others to continue to comply with state law. Oppose.
Held in Assembly Appropriations Suspense File 8/15/24
Political Reform Act: Campaign Contributions. SB 1243 (Dodd; D-Napa) Updates Political Reform Act to better align political contributions to local political candidates to reflect other current limits. Support.
Signed—Chapter 1017
Energy
California Ports Development and Offshore Wind Infrastructure Bond Act of 2024. AB 2208 (Zbur; D-Hollywood) Presents to voters an act authorizing $1 billion in bond funds for seaport infrastructure improvements to facilitate offshore wind energy projects off the California coast. Support.
Assembly Natural Resources 3/21/24; Failed Deadline
Written Reports: Public Utilities Commission. AB 2462 (Calderon; D-Whittier) Directs the Public Utilities Commission to identify near-term opportunities for rate reductions as part of an existing annual reporting requirement. Support.
Signed—Chapter 569
Misleading Labeling. AB 2513 (Pellerin; D-Santa Cruz) Requires all new gas appliances to add a misleading and inaccurate label “warning” consumers that cooking with gas requires ventilation or filtration to improve indoor air quality. Oppose.
Vetoed
Expanding Offshore Wind/Funding and Oversight. AB 2537 (Addis; D-Morro Bay) Establishes a new funding account for offshore wind leaseholders and enhances reporting requirements to ensure transparency and accountability in fund allocation. Support.
Vetoed
Net Energy Metering. AB 2619 (Connolly; D-San Rafael) Unwinds a multi-year public stakeholder process, perpetuates a massive cost shift, and could lead to a less reliable grid. Oppose.
Assembly Utilities and Energy 3/4/24; Failed Deadline
Minimum Fuel Inventories. ABX2 1 (Hart; D-Santa Barbara) Authorizes the California Energy Commission (CEC) to require refineries to maintain minimum transportation fuel inventories, which could create fuel shortages and increase average fuel prices for Californians. Oppose.
Senate Floor 10/9/24
Rate Recovery. SB 938 (Min; D-Irvine) Imposes burdensome and redundant reporting requirements that could lead to privacy concerns for employees. Oppose.
Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications 2/14/24; Failed Deadline
Alternative Fuels Task Force. SB 983 (Wahab; D-Hayward) Helps the state research how best to incentivize and deploy alternative fuels. Support.
Vetoed
Methane Surcharge. SB 1237 (Stern; D- Canoga Park) Removes natural gas requirements from the state’s Gas Consumption Surcharge Fund to replace with methane. Oppose.
Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications 2/29/24; Failed Deadline
Hydrogen Fueling Stations: Expedited Review. SB 1418 (Archuleta; D-Pico Rivera) Requires cities and counties to adopt an ordinance that creates an expedited, streamlined permitting process for hydrogen-fueling stations. Support.
Signed—Chapter 607
Increases Hydrogen Deployment. SB 1420 (Caballero; D-Merced) Hastens the deployment of important hydrogen technology, which will allow California to meet its clean energy goals. Support.
Signed—Chapter 608
Net Energy Metering. SB 1374 (Becker; D-Menlo Park) Overturns California Public Utilities Commission decision revising net energy metering program to grant bill credits based on the value the customer’s exported energy provides to the grid. Oppose.
Vetoed
Bonding Authority. AB 3263 (Calderon; D-Whittier) Allows utilities to apply to issue bonds for operations and maintenance expenses related to their Wildfire Mitigation Plans, wildfire risk mitigation, and vegetation management. Support.
Vetoed
Expanded Local Government Authority. AB 3233 (Addis; D-Morro Bay) Dramatically expands local government authority over the permitting of oil and gas operations including drilling, operations, maintenance and abandonment of wells, tanks and facilities. Oppose.
Signed—Chapter 550
Low Production Wells. AB 2716 (Bryan; D-Los Angeles) Requires Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM) to plug and abandon specific oil wells in Los Angeles basin. Oppose.
Signed—Chapter 549
Idle Wells. AB 1866 (Hart; D-Santa Barbara) Increases burdensome reporting requirements and fees for operators of wells throughout California. Oppose.
Signed—Chapter 548
Environmental Regulation
Environmental Rights. ACA 16 (Bryan; D-Los Angeles) Has far-reaching negative consequences that would impair government operations, stunt development for new housing, infrastructure and clean energy project development and has strong potential to destabilize California’s economy. Oppose/Job Killer 2024.
Assembly Floor 5/20/24
Oil and Gas Wells: Civil Liability. AB 3155 (Friedman; D-Glendale) Sets disturbing precedent by creating liability without proof for oil well owners/operators if individuals who lived within 3,200 feet of a wellhead develop certain health conditions. Oppose.
Assembly Inactive File 5/30/24
Textile Extended Producer Responsibility. SB 707 (Newman; D-Fullerton) Following August 22, 2024, amendments, establishes California’s first extended producer responsibility program for end-of-life management of discard textiles under a workable framework that empowers the sector to work together to reduce waste and achieve circularity. Neutral.
Signed—Chapter 864
Upends Circular Economy. SB 1426 (Blakespear; D-Encinitas) Conflicts with existing legislative frameworks, particularly with SB 54 (Allen-2022), SB 343 (Allen-2021) and SB 1383 (Lara-2016), which taken together, set forth a comprehensive and rigorous set of standards for source reduction, recycling and waste reduction to achieve a circular economy in California by allowing entities to divert materials away from the state’s well-established waste management and recycling system. Oppose.
Senate Environmental Quality 4/3/24; Failed Deadline
Gaming/Alcohol
On Sale Alcohol Licenses. SB 1028 (Alvarado-Gil; R-Jackson) Allows Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to issue up to 10 additional Type 47 licenses for restaurants when counties reach their limit. Assists in ensuring there are sufficient licenses for less populous counties that have significant tourism. Support.
Senate Appropriations Suspense File 4/8/24; Failed Deadline
Health Care
Government-Run Health Care. AB 2200 (Kalra; D-San Jose) Forces all Californians into a new untested state government health plan, with no ability to opt out while eliminating Medicare for California seniors and increasing taxes at least $250 billion a year on workers, income, jobs, goods and services. Oppose/Job Killer 2024.
Assembly Appropriations Suspense File 5/15/24; Failed Deadline
Stifles Free Market Transactions for Health Entities. AB 3129 (Wood; D-Santa Rosa) Requires private investors to obtain the consent of the California Attorney General before acquiring or effecting a change of control with respect to certain health care entities. Oppose.
Vetoed
Pharmacy Network Disruption. SB 966 (Wiener; D-San Francisco) Limits the use of preferred pharmacy networks and financial incentives which will lead to increased drug costs for patients. Oppose Unless Amended.
Vetoed
Dental Coverage Cost Driver. AB 2028 (Ortega; D-San Leandro) Increases dental care coverage premiums for employers by instituting a dental medical loss ratio. Oppose.
Assembly Health 2/12/24; Failed Deadline
Health Care Cost Driver. AB 2180 (Weber; D-San Diego) Increases premiums for California’s employers by requiring health plans, insurers, and pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) to take any amounts paid for an enrollee or insured out-of-pocket expenses using a manufacturer’s discount and count them toward their health plan or policy’s cost-sharing requirement if that enrollee or insured has a chronic disease or terminal illness. Oppose.
Assembly Appropriations Suspense File 5/15/24; Failed Deadline
Durable Medical Equipment Mandate. AB 2753 (Ortega; D-San Leandro) Increases premiums for California’s employers and employees by requiring health plans and insurers to cover rehabilitative and habilitative services including durable medical equipment (DME), services, and repairs. Oppose.
Assembly Appropriations Suspense File 4/17/24; Failed Deadline
Reduction of Evidentiary Standards for Elder Abuse. AB 2773 (Kalra; D-San Jose) Increases unnecessary litigation for alleged elder abuse by allowing the opportunity for a plaintiff to reduce the evidentiary standard from clear and convincing evidence to preponderance of evidence if evidence is lost or destroyed. Oppose.
Vetoed
Reduction of Evidentiary Standards for Elder Abuse. AB 2800 (Kalra; D-San Jose) Increases unnecessary litigation for alleged elder abuse by allowing for the reduction of the evidentiary standard from clear and convincing evidence to preponderance of evidence. Oppose.
Assembly Aging and Long-Term Care 3/21/24; Failed Deadline
Increases Health Care Premiums. SB 839 (Bradford; D-Gardena) Mandates health plans and insurers cover comprehensive coverage for obesity treatments, including intensive behavioral therapy, bariatric surgery, and the two groups of prescription drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists and non–GLP1s. Oppose.
Senate Health 1/9/24; Failed Deadline
Increases Health Care Premiums. SB 1008 (Bradford; D-Gardena) Mandates plans and insurers cover obesity treatments, bariatric surgery, intensive behavioral therapy (IBT), and at least one drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with an indication for chronic weight management in patients with obesity. Oppose.
Senate Appropriations Suspense File 5/6/24; Failed Deadline
Hospital Seismic Update Deadline Extension. SB 1432 (Caballero; D-Merced) Extends the January 1, 2030 deadline by which hospitals are required to be capable of continued operations following a major earthquake, until January 1, 2038. Gives rural hospitals and critical access hospitals an abeyance from this same seismic compliance deadline until such time that adequate funding is made available to these hospitals. Support.
Vetoed
Housing and Land Use
De Facto Ban of Warehouses. AB 1000 (Reyes; D-San Bernardino) Mandates a statewide setback of 1,000 feet from sensitive receptors for all new or expanded logistics use facilities, regardless of environmental impacts, establishing a de facto ban. Also creates a new private right of action in California. Oppose/Two Year Job Killer.
Assembly Local Government 1/3/24; Failed Deadline
Worsens Housing Crisis. AB 2230 (Bennett; D-Ventura) Substantially shuts down the production of housing in California by blocking the inflow of crucial capital that nearly all housing production relies on. The Cartwright Act already protects against price fixing so expanding it as contemplated by this bill is unnecessary and will have the unintended consequence of making any return on investment a crime. Oppose/Job Killer 2024.
Assembly Judiciary 3/4/24; Failed Deadline
Warehouse Compromise. AB 98 (J. Carrillo; D-Palmdale) Provides a reasonable compromise that avoids the negative economic and environmental impacts that would arise from much more stringent and unworkable legislation while still addressing community concerns by establishing 300-foot setbacks measured from loading bays of any new warehouses within 900 feet of sensitive receptors throughout most of the state, along with new building standards and requirements on local governments to map truck routes. Neutral.
Signed—Chapter 931
Exacerbates Housing Crisis. AB 2584 (Lee: D-San Jose) Treats homebuilders and institutional investors as one and the same in a new unworkable law that will stymie the development of much-needed housing in a state facing critical shortages. Oppose Unless Amended.
Senate Judiciary 5/29/24; Failed Deadline
Preserves the Builder’s Remedy. AB 1886 (Alvarez; D-San Diego) The Builder’s Remedy is a provision in the Housing Accountability Act, first enacted in 1990, that — when a local jurisdiction is out of compliance with state housing element law — allows housing development project applications to be submitted that bypass most local land use and zoning as long as the project includes 20% of the units affordable to lower-income households or 100% of the units affordable to moderate-income households. Support.
Signed—Chapter 267
Exacerbates Housing Crisis. AB 1889 (Friedman; D-Glendale) Worsens California’s existing housing crisis by imposing a new mandate on local governments to create a new wildlife corridor land use element in all general plans. In doing so, the bill would invite further exclusionary housing ordinances throughout California as well as additional new litigation to challenge the development of housing projects. Wildlife Corridors are already analyzed and protected under existing laws, including the California Environmental Quality Act, the Federal and State Endangered Species Act as well as other laws and regulations. Oppose.
Signed—Chapter 686
Updates FHSZ Mapping Process. AB 3150 (Quirk-Silva; D-Fullerton) Provides the State Fire Marshal, upon petition, the authority to update Fire Hazard Severity Zones (FHSZ) maps that also includes a public process. In doing so, the Fire Marshal will have the ability to keep these maps up to date which could help millions of homeowners otherwise impacted by wrong map designations, including insurance premiums and coverage. Support.
Held in Senate Appropriations Suspense File 8/15/24
Limits Housing Development. SB 571 (Allen; D-Santa Monica) Makes constructing housing in certain parts of the state more difficult. Oppose Unless Amended.
Vetoed
Lower Costs of Housing. SB 937 (Wiener; D-San Francisco) Defers housing development impact fees in order to provide housing developers more tools to pencil out much-needed housing projects. Construction-period financing is inherently higher risk and therefore more expensive. By deferring impact fee payments until the certificate of occupancy, SB 937 alleviates the immediate financial burden on developers, allowing them to cover these fees post-construction at a lower financing cost. Support.
Signed—Chapter 290
Tribal Housing. SB 1187 (McGuire; D-Healdsburg) Helps to fund additional housing construction on tribal lands. Support.
Signed—Chapter 295
International Relations/Trade
Facilitate International Trade Delegations and Arrangements. AB 2832 (Ward; D-San Diego) Improves ability of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) to promote international trade by allowing GO-Biz to enter into necessary goods and services contracts to facilitate and encourage trade. Support.
Signed—Chapter 577
Labor and Employment
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). SB 92 (Umberg; D-Santa Ana) Creates a long-overdue reform of PAGA. Support.
Signed—Chapter 45 7/1/24
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). AB 2288 (Kalra; D-San Jose) Creates a long-overdue reform of PAGA. Support.
Signed—Chapter 44 7/1/24
Bans Employer Speech. SB 399 (Wahab; D-Hayward) Chills employer speech regarding religious and political matters, including unionization. Is likely unconstitutional under the First Amendment and preempted by the National Labor Relations Act.. Oppose/Job Killer 2023.
Signed—Chapter 670
Use of Technology in Grocery and Retail Stores. SB 1446 (Smallwood-Cuevas; D-Los Angeles) Overly prescriptive mandate regarding the use of self-checkout stations that will frustrate customers and increase costs to retailers and requires stores to notify all workers and the public any time they choose to utilize new technology. Oppose.
Assembly Rules 8/15/24; Failed Deadline
Small Employer Mediation Program. AB 2011 (Bauer-Kahan; D-Orinda) Makes the Civil Rights Department small employer family leave mediation program permanent, benefitting both workers and small employers. Sponsor/Co-Sponsor.
Signed—Chapter 147
Leave Expansion. AB 2499 (Schiavo; D-Chatsworth) Significantly expands 12-week leave related to crimes and lowers threshold of applicability to employers with just five employees. Job killer tag removed due to May 20, 2024 amendments and June 6, 2024 amendments applying leave to employers with 25 or more employees, limiting qualifying reasons for taking leave, and limiting duration of time for specific qualifying reasons. Oppose/Former Job Killer 2024.
Signed—Chapter 967
Prohibits Consideration of Conviction History in Employment. SB 1345 (Smallwood-Cuevas; D-Los Angeles) Effectively prohibits most employers from considering conviction history of an applicant, existing employee, or contractor in employment or contracting decisions. Oppose/Job Killer 2024.
Senate Judiciary 4/3/24; Failed Deadline
Public Works Assessments. AB 2135 (Schiavo; D-Chatsworth) Extends time for Labor Commissioner to investigate public workers assessments indefinitely, which jeopardizes timely resolution of claims. Opposition removed based on May 20, 2024 amendments. Neutral.
Held in Senate Appropriations Suspense File 8/15/24
Joint Liability for Businesses of All Sizes. AB 2374 (Haney; D-San Francisco) Originally imposed new statutory joint liability on business of any size that contracts for janitorial services if a contractor violates the Displaced Janitor Opportunity Act and placed new mandates on those businesses that should be assigned to the contractor. Job killer status removed due to May 16, 2024 amendments removing joint liability portion of the bill and making other changes. CalChamber remains opposed unless amended due to the requirement that an awarding authority must provide certain notifications to a union representing another entity’s employees. Oppose Unless Amended/Former Job Killer 2024.
Held in Senate Appropriations Suspense File 8/15/24
Employee-Union Agent Evidentiary Privilege. AB 2421 (Low; D-San Jose) Effectively creates a new, broad evidentiary privilege in the public sector that is one-sided and will preclude relevant evidence during litigation or workplace investigations. Oppose.
Held in Senate Appropriations Suspense File 8/15/24
Local Entity Contracts. AB 2489 (Ward; D-San Diego) Significantly limits the ability of public entities to contract with local small businesses or non-profits. Oppose.
Assembly Appropriations Suspense File 5/15/24; Failed Deadline
Local Entity Contracts. AB 2557 (Ortega; D-San Leandro) Significantly limits the ability of public entities to contract with local small businesses or non-profits. Oppose.
Held in Senate Appropriations Suspense File 8/15/24
Labor Code Enforcement. AB 2738 (L. Rivas; D-San Fernando Valley) Removes court discretion to award attorney’s fees and costs and instead mandates fee award, creating concern regarding financial motive in litigation. Oppose.
Signed—Chapter 969
Prohibition on Employee Communications During Certain Hours. AB 2751 (Haney; D-San Francisco) Prohibits any employee working for an employer of any size from contacting another employee outside of their normal work hours except in very narrow circumstances and would subject employer to costly litigation for any dispute as to whether the communication was permissible. Oppose/<Job Killer 2024.
Assembly Appropriations Suspense File 5/8/24; Failed Deadline
Joint Liability. AB 2754 (Rendon; D-Lakewood) Creates joint and several liability for any entity that uses a carrier found to have misclassified a worker, regardless of the volume of work that entity uses the carrier for. Oppose Unless Amended.
Signed—Chapter 739
Restricts University of California Competitiveness. ACA 14 (Ortega; D-San Leandro) Requires the University of California to comply with a host of labor law provisions and contracting restrictions, raising costs for students and harming competitiveness of the premier public university system in the world. Oppose.
Senate Rules 5/24/24; Failed Deadline
Project Labor Agreements. SB 984 (Wahab; D-Hayward) Requires project labor agreements for all projects as specified. Oppose.
Vetoed
Freelance Workers. SB 988 (Wiener; D-San Francisco) Creates liability regarding freelance contracts even where no harm occurred. Opposition removed due to April 18, 2024 amendments. Neutral.
Signed—Chapter 870
Pharmacy and Grocery Closures. SB 1089 (Smallwood-Cuevas; D-Los Angeles) Creates new requirements for store closures that overlap with existing WARN Act requirements and subjects stores to a private right of action for any failure to comply with the new requirements. Oppose.
Signed—Chapter 625
Mediation. SB 1141 (Niello; R-Sacramento) Permits courts to order mediation where the amount in controversy is less than $150,000, promoting more efficient resolution of cases. Support.
Assembly Judiciary 5/28/24; Failed Deadline
Employment Training Panel (ETP) Program. SB 1321 (Wahab; D-Hayward) Rewrites requirements and specifications for allocation of ETP funding such that it will be difficult for small businesses to obtain that funding. Moved to neutral based on August 19, 2024 amendments. Neutral.
Signed—Chapter 469
Data Requirements. SB 1340 (Smallwood-Cuevas; D-Los Angeles) Requires employers that obtain contracts for certain state projects to ask employees about private, personal information and report any information received, which is contrary to existing privacy principles and will not accurately reflect the workforce unless there is full participation. Amended to remove onerous reporting requirement. Neutral.
Signed—Chapter 626
Statutes of Limitations. SB 1022 (Skinner; D-Berkeley) Significantly expands existing statutes of limitations for complaints brought by the Civil Rights Department or its “authorized representative” to seven years. Oppose.
Vetoed
Legal Reform and Protection
Adding Wasteful and Vague Requirements to Continuing Contracts. AB 2863 (Schiavo; D-Chatsworth) Prior version added a variety of duplicative or vague obligations for auto-renewing subscription contracts. Position changed due to amendments limiting new requirements and eliminating duplicative provisions. Neutral.
Signed—Chapter 515
Improving Building Standards for Restaurants. AB 2550 (Gabriel; D-Woodland Hills) Modernizes and streamlines building standards to help small businesses turn outdated locations into working businesses. Support.
Held in Senate Appropriations Suspense File 8/15/24
Prohibiting Venues from Using a Single Ticket Vendor. AB 2808 (Wicks; D-Oakland) Prohibits entertainment venues from using a single ticket vendor, effectively ensuring secondary ticket re-sellers can act as direct sellers and rendering security measures more difficult to implement. Also removes control of ticket sales from venues by requiring artists to be able to determine terms and conditions of ticket sales. Oppose.
Assembly Appropriations Suspense File 5/15/24; Failed Deadline
Unlimited Reviver of Expired Claims of Sexual Assault. AB 2587 (Aguiar-Curry; D-Winters) Revives any and all sexual assault claims that have passed their statute of limitations, regardless of age, effectively encouraging shakedown lawsuits and settlements where all evidence has long since been lost. Oppose.
Held in Senate Appropriations Suspense File 8/15/24
Prohibits Any Discipline for Employees’ Violating Policy. AB 82 (Weber; D-San Diego) Though the bill’s goal of protecting minors from diet pills is not a concern, AB 82l prevented retailers from disciplining employees who refuse to comply with this policy and verify customer identification for certain products, creating an impossible situation for California’s employers. The June 17, 2024 amendments removed prohibition on discipline for employees who violate the required policy. Neutral.
Held on Senate Appropriations Suspense File 8/15/24
Adjustments to Foreclosure Process. AB 2424 (Schiavo; D-Chatsworth) Increases notice to consumers around foreclosure process. Opposition removed due to April 17, 2024, amendments wherein sale process was made feasible. Neutral.
Signed—Chapter 311
Extreme Increase to Anti-Trust Penalties. SB 697 (Hurtado; D-Sanger) Increases certain anti-trust penalties for corporations by 100 times, despite working group on this issue being in progress and complete recommendations for legal updates not yet being released. Oppose.
Held on Assembly Appropriations Suspense File 8/15/24
Various Reforms in Ticket-Seller’s Market. SB 785 (Caballero; D-Merced) Fights abuses in the ticket-seller’s/re-seller’s market in a variety of ways, including ensuring that a seller has possession of a ticket before selling it, and that an illegitimate scammer is not imitating the legitimate vendor of tickets for an event. Support.
Assembly Inactive File 8/26/24
Limitations on Arbitration Scheduling and Changes to Discovery in Arbitration. SB 940 (Umberg; D-Santa Ana) Originally sought to limit ability of arbitrators to schedule future arbitrations with parties to a present arbitration and expand discovery in arbitration as a matter of right, leading to more expensive arbitration for smaller claims. Opposition removed based on amendments to address concerns around conflict with federal law on arbitration. Neutral.
Signed—Chapter 986
Prohibit Listing of Medical Debt on Credit Reports. SB 1061 (Limón; D-Goleta) Lessens the accuracy of credit reports by excluding medical debt, and also prohibits listing of debt of certain types of credit cards — creating a contrast with federal law related to those credit cards. Oppose Unless Amended.
Signed—Chapter 520
New, Unnecessary Disclosure of Corporate Ownership. SB 1201 (Durazo; D-Los Angeles) Creates new disclosure obligations for corporation’s owners, even beyond recent federal legislation, and adds potentially significant costs for the secretary of state to collect and publish this information. Moreover, requires the disclosure of the home address of owners in some cases, creating potential safety risks for some business owners. Oppose.
Assembly Banking and Finance 6/3/24; Failed Deadline
New Limitations on Debt Collection. SB 1286 (Min; D-Irvine) Places new limitations on collection of certain commercial debts by treating commercial debts more like personal debts. Oppose.
Signed—Chapter 522
Food Delivery Platform Disclosure Requirements. SB 1490 (Durazo; D-Los Angeles) Originally required new disclosures and publication of information by food delivery platforms, unlike those in other industries. Opposition removed due to amendments addressing concerns. Neutral.
Signed—Chapter 898
Website Accessibility. AB 1757 (Kalra; D-San Jose) Creates further litigation abuses in California related to online website accessibility while providing illusory protection against such abuses. Oppose.
Held on Senate Appropriations Suspense File 8/15/24
Privacy and Cybersecurity
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Models. SB 1047 (Wiener; D-San Francisco) Requires frontier AI developers to comply with certain requirements before beginning to initially train specified “covered models” to promote the safe and secure innovation of AI. Among other things, they must implement a specified written and separate safety and security protocol subject to significant liability, guarantee that no critical harm will ever arise, including from model derivatives, and implement the capability to promptly enact a full shutdown. Creates significant uncertainty for businesses due to vague, overbroad, and impractical (if not infeasible) standards, requirements, and definitions. Focuses almost exclusively on developer liability, creating untenable levels of liability for failing to foresee and block all conceivable uses of a model that might do “critical harm” even if a third party jailbreaks the model, with devastating downstream impacts on the AI ecosystem and deterring open-source development. Further imposes unreasonable and invasive “know your customer” requirements on operators of computing clusters and requires them to implement a “kill switch” to enact a full shutdown in the event of an emergency. Ultimately will undermine economic technological innovation without improving safety standards in any way. Oppose.
Vetoed
Automated Decision Tools (ADT) Impact Assessments. AB 2930 (Bauer-Kahan; D-Orinda) Requires developers and deployers of automated decision tools (ADTs) to perform specified impact assessments prior to first using an ADT and annually thereafter, impacting every industry and businesses of all sizes, in addition to public entities. For any ADT first used prior to January 1, 2025, the impact assessment must be conducted prior to January 1, 2026, and annually thereafter. Impact assessments must include, among other things, a statement of the ADT’s purpose, intended benefits, uses, and deployment contexts, as well as an analysis of any potential adverse impacts based on protected classifications such as sex, race, ethnicity, or religion, from the deployer’s use of the ADT, and must be provided to the Civil Rights Department (CRD) within 7 days of a request by CRD, which is allowed to share the impact assessment with public prosecutors. Enforceable by the CRD, Attorney General, and other public attorneys for significant statutory damages ranging between $10,000 (for administrative enforcement) and $25,000 (for civil enforcement), per violation, with each day constituting a separate violation. Oppose.
Senate Inactive File 8/31//24
Data Digesters Registry. AB 3204 (Bauer-Kahan; D-Orinda) Creates a central repository for “data digesters” [businesses that use personal information, as defined under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), to train artificial intelligence (AI)]. It is overbroad, burdensome, and unnecessary given the protections that already exist under the CCPA that require entities training AI to respect privacy rights of the consumers to whom that information belongs. Mandated disclosures are not only impractical if not infeasible, but they also can be rather privacy invasive. Despite being modeled off the Data Broker Registry law, fails to incorporate significant and necessary exemptions from that law and from the CCPA. Raises significant concerns that future legislation would result in a “delete” or “opt-out” button similar to the Data Broker Registry law. Empowers the California Privacy Protection Agency to issue regulations, determine the registration fee for data digesters, and fine those not in compliance. Oppose.
Assembly Appropriations Suspense File 5/8/24; Failed Deadline
AI Watermarks. AB 3211 (Wicks; D-Oakland) Places very prescriptive and technologically infeasible requirements on AI developers, large online platforms and camera/recording device manufacturers to incorporate a brand-new technology that is still developing. What this technology is currently capable of changes basically every month. For example, just a couple months ago, there wasn’t a program that can watermark text, making the bill’s requirements to do so impossible to comply with. Currently, one company is seemingly closer to having that technology, but the technology is not yet fully reliable, raising serious competition concerns around entrenching market leaders. When violations invariably occur, companies face significant penalties under this bill. Oppose
Senate Inactive File 8/31/24
California Preventing Algorithmic Collusion Act of 2024. SB 1154 (Hurtado; D-Sanger) Prohibits a person from using or distributing pricing algorithms that use, incorporate, or were trained on “nonpublic competitor data” which is wholly unnecessary given that collusion is already illegal under existing law. Worse yet, the bill actually creates substantial confusion and uncertainty for businesses as to what is a lawful pricing algorithm as opposed to price fixing due to vague and overbroad standards, imposes onerous reporting requirements, and grants the Attorney General (AG) authority to request these reports detailing a business’s use of pricing algorithms for any reason and without any regard to whether the business is alleged to have behaved anticompetitively or harmed consumers. The bill also allows the AG to share the report with a third party to decipher the information reported. When combined with the aggressive liability provisions and the inevitable costs imposed on all but the smallest of businesses, the bill invariably will have a sweeping, chilling effect on price competition among businesses across all industries. Oppose/Job Killer 2024.
Senate Judiciary 2/21/24; Failed Deadline
AI Training Data Disclosures. AB 2013 (Irwin; D-Thousand Oaks) Originally required developers of any artificial intelligence system or service made available to Californians for use, to post on their internet websites a description of each dataset used to train the AI system or service. Would have applied retroactively and was not limited to high-risk AI systems or services. Opposition removed after amendment narrowed the bill to require only high-level summaries of all datasets used in the development of GenAI systems or services developed on or after January 1, 2022, ensured that the bill applied only to those external-facing systems or services used by the public, and made other changes that were clarifying or narrowing in nature. Neutral.
Signed—Chapter 817
Vastly Expands Existing Opt-in Rights for Children’s Data. AB 1949 (Wicks; D-Oakland) Prohibits businesses covered under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) from selling or sharing the personal information (PI) of anyone under the age of 18 unless the minor or the minor’s parent/guardian provides affirmative authorization (opting in), whereas the CCPA currently applies the opt-in right to minors under the age of 16, conditioned upon the business having actual knowledge that the minor is under 16. Further expands the right to opt-in to also now restrict the ability of businesses to collect, use or disclose minor’s PI or sensitive personal information, unless the minor or the minor’s parent or guardian, opts in. In neither scenario is actual knowledge required, effectively forcing businesses to engage in age verification for every consumer and obtain opt-in consent from those shown to be under 18. Oppose.
Vetoed
Liability for Illegal Substances on Social Media. AB 1800 (Jones-Sawyer; D-South Los Angeles) Imposes extreme standard of both civil and criminal liability on any social media company that fails to prevent a user of their platform from breaking the law by selling controlled substances on the platform, despite the fact that companies already expend millions of dollars to try and prevent such abuse of their platforms. Effectively makes platforms guilty of a misdemeanor for failing to be perfect in their efforts. Amendments on April 1, 2024 remove criminal liability, replacing the contents of the bill to instead authorize any person who suffers an injury that is “proximately caused” by the illegal purchase of a controlled substance through a social media platform, to bring a claim, pursuant to the existing law allowing a private right of action for negligence, to recover specified statutory and actual damages if it is shown that the injury was occasioned, in whole or in part, by the negligent management of the platform. Entitles a prevailing plaintiff to reasonable attorney’s fees and costs and grants significant damages, including $100,000 per violation in statutory damages, $500,000 per violation in statutory damages or double the actual damages (whichever is greater) if the violation results in death, $1 million per violation or treble the amount in actual damages if involving the death of a minor. If the minor was too young to be a user of a social medial platform without their parent’s or guardian’s permission and the platform has not used the best available technology or reasonable measures to obtain permission directly from the parent or guardian, this increases to $2 million or treble the actual damages, whichever is greater. Oppose.
Assembly Judiciary 4/4/24; Failed Deadline
AI Child Pornography. AB 1831 (Berman; D-Palo Alto) Creates a new crime for using AI to create child pornography. Support.
Signed—Chapter 926
Liability for Digital Replicas of Deceased Personalities. AB 1836 (Bauer-Kahan; D-Orinda) Specifies that any person who produces, distributes, or makes available the digital replica of a deceased personality’s voice or likeness in an expressive audiovisual work or sound recording without prior consent is liable to any injured party in an amount equal to the greater of $10,000 or the actual damages suffered by a person controlling the rights to the deceased personality’s likeness. Recent amendments include various exceptions to the extent that the use is protected by the First Amendment, if the use of the digital replica meets certain criteria. For example, if the use is in connection with any news, public affairs, or sports broadcast or account, or for purpose of comment, criticism, scholarship, satire or parody. Oppose.
Signed—Chapter 258
AI in Elections. AB 2355 (W. Carrillo; D-Los Angeles) Allows any Californian to bring a lawsuit in Superior Court alleging that generative AI was used to alter an image as part of a political campaign. Support If Amended.
Signed—Chapter 260
Youth Social Media Protection Act. AB 2481 (Lowenthal; D-Long Beach) Requires “large social media platforms” to create a process to verify an expansive list of individuals as “verified reporters,” including school principals and counselors, among others, which will result in over 146,000 verified reporters, each of which can make a report of a “social media-related threat” or a violation of the platform’s terms of service that in their opinion poses a “severe risk” to the health and safety of a minor. A “social media-related threat” is content that promotes, incites, facilitates, or perpetuates any one of 15 problems, many of which are entirely subjective (e.g. suicide, cyberbullying, harassment, academic dishonesty). Depending on the size of a platform, a platform must then respond to any report by a non-verified reporter within 10–21 days or, if the report is submitted by a verified reporter, within 24–72 hours. Violations are subject to a private right of action by any person making a report, or unable to make a report, in violation of the bill for relief, including statutory damages of up to $10,000 per violation. Oppose.
Signed—Chapter 832
Electronic Monitoring Notices. AB 2568 (Pacheco; D-Downey) Subject to exclusive enforcement by the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, requires employers with 250 or more employees in California to notify an employee if their personal information will be collected through “electronic monitoring.” The notice must include, among other information, a description of the types of activities, locations, communications, and job roles that will be electronically monitored, and must be provided within specific timeframes. An employer does not need to provide notice if certain conditions are met, including if the employer reasonably believes that notice would compromise the integrity of an investigation. “Electronic monitoring” for these purposes does not include certain processes, such as those performed for the purpose of system or records maintenance, security, integrity, or protection. Sponsor/Co-Sponsor.
Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection 4/11/24; Failed Deadline
Digital Replicas. AB 2602 (Kalra; D-San Jose) Limits the use of digital replicas in performances of personal or professional services. Oppose.
Signed—Chapter 259
Defending Democracy from Deepfake Deception Act. AB 2655 (Berman; D-Palo Alto) Based on a false assumption that online platforms definitively know whether content has been manipulated, requires large platforms to 1) block the posting or sending of materially deceptive and digitally modified or created content related to elections, during specified periods before and after an election; 2) label certain additional content inauthentic, fake, or false during specified periods before and after an election; and 3) develop procedures for Californians to report content that has not been blocked or labeled in compliance with the act. Authorizes candidates for elected office and the Attorney General, among others, to seek injunctive relief against a large online platform for noncompliance. Unlikely to have the desired outcomes as it is underinclusive (excluding platforms such as Truth Social or Parler) and incorrectly presumes platforms are the appropriate arbiter in deciding what constitutes election information. Instead, will result in significant suppression of political speech out of fear of liability, in violation of the First Amendment, which affords the broadest protection to political speech — even protecting allegedly false statements about public officials and figures. Oppose.
Signed—Chapter 261
AI in Elections. AB 2839 (Pellerin; D-Santa Cruz) Expands private right of action to most Californians who either participate in campaigns or are a registered voter who receives certain campaign materials that AI has helped to create. Support If Amended.
Signed—Chapter 262
Teaching AI Literacy in Schools. AB 2876 (Berman; D-Palo Alto) Allows California to take a step forward in fostering an artificial intelligence-literate population and future workforce by teaching artificial intelligence (AI) literacy in schools. Requires the Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) to consider adding media literacy and AI literacy the next time the State Board of Education adopts the instructional materials for the English language arts/English language development curriculum framework. Sponsor/Co-Sponsor.
Signed—Chapter 927
Restricting Information Available to Train AI. AB 2877 (Bauer-Kahan; D-Orinda) Amends the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) to prohibit a developer, as defined, from using the personal information (PI) of a consumer less than 16 years of age, as specified, to train or “fine-tune” an AI system or service unless affirmative authorization is provided pursuant to the CCPA’s provisions providing opt-out/opt-in rights. Because another pending bill, AB 1949, would also amend the existing opt-out/opt-in rights for minors under that same provision, potentially could apply to any consumer under the age of 18. Even if authorization is received, businesses would be prohibited from using the PI of minors unless they both deidentify and aggregate the data. By limiting inputs, this bill regulates the technology itself, hamstringing developers from appropriately training the technology. Realistically, forces companies to engage in either age verification or not use any PI to train any AI. Even if they are able to age-verify consumers, unintended consequences are likely significant because access to data specific to children and teens is essential to develop tools to provide them unique support for risks and challenges specific to their age groups. Oppose.
Held in Senate Appropriations Suspense File 8/15/24
Opt-Out Preference Signals. AB 3048 (Lowenthal; D-Long Beach) Prematurely mandates browsers to include a universal opt-out preference signal, an issue specifically addressed by voters in Proposition 24 in 2020 and has been clearly drafted to provide businesses greater flexibility. Effective January 1, 2026, prohibits businesses from developing or maintaining a browser that does not include a setting that enables consumers to send an “opt-out preference signal” (opting out from the selling or sharing of the consumer’s PI or limiting the use of their sensitive PI) to other businesses that the consumer interacts with through the browser, “unless prohibited by federal law.” Also applies the prohibition to businesses developing or maintaining a mobile operating system that does not include such a setting if it becomes operative within 6 months after California Privacy Protection Agency regulations are issued. Invariably will lead to significant confusion and compliance problems as downstream businesses receive conflicting signals, and even more complicated as states adopt different standards for these signals. Oppose.
Vetoed
Social Media Liability for Injuries to Children. AB 3172 (Lowenthal; D-Long Beach) Makes a social media platform that has at least $100 million in gross revenues annually, liable for specified damages in addition to any other remedy provided by law, if the platform fails to exercise ordinary care or skill toward a child. Imposes significant statutory damages, the larger of 1) $5,000 per violation, up to a maximum per child of $1 million; or 2) three times the amount of the child’s actual damages. Oppose.
Senate Inactive File 8/31/24
Online Platform Compensation. SB 764 (Padilla; D-Chula Vista) Requires parents to establish a trust to ensure minors who are entertainers receive percentage of their income. Support.
Signed—Chapter 611
California Artificial Intelligence Research Hub. SB 893 (Padilla; D-Chula Vista) Requires the Government Operations Agency (GovOps), and other state entities, to collaborate to create a centralized entity (the AI Research Hub) within GovOps. The hub is to facilitate collaboration between government agencies, academic institutions, and private sector partners to advance artificial intelligence research and development that seeks to harness the technology’s full potential for public benefit while safeguarding privacy, advancing security, and addressing risks and potential harms to society, as prescribed. Support.
Held in Assembly Appropriations Suspense File 8/15/24
Clarifying Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) Generated by AI Is Unlawful. SB 933 (Wahab; D-Hayward) Amends existing laws against child pornography including material created by artificial intelligence (AI) by expressly adding “image generated through the use of AI” to existing statutes that criminalize the creation, possession, and distribution of CSAM. Appropriately ensures that existing law protection for children applies regardless of the technology used and punishes bad actors without holding social media platforms, internet service providers, or others liable for “distribution.” Support.
Held in Assembly Appropriations Suspense File 8/15/24
California AI Transparency Act. SB 942 (Becker; D-Menlo Park) Originally would have required artificial intelligence (AI) developers to create and make available a publicly accessible AI Detection Tool through their website and mobile application, allowing users to incorporate visible, as well as imperceptible, watermarks into all content created by their system, by setting technically infeasible and impossible standards. Amendments require that the covered provider make the tool available and publicly accessible but also provides the provider the ability to impose responsible limitations on access to the tool to prevent or respond to demonstrable risks to the security or integrity of the GenAI system. Amendments also now require compliance with latent disclosure requirements only where both technically feasible and reasonable, grant additional time prior to revoking a third-party license if the provider knows that the licensee improperly modified a licensed GenAI system in violation of the bill (96 hours instead of 72 hours), and delay implementation to further mitigate concerns regarding the technical feasibility of the requirements and their potential unintended impact on the integrity of the covered AI systems. Neutral.
Signed—Chapter 291
Social Media User Authentication. SB 1228 (Padilla; D-Chula Vista) Mandates user authentication mechanisms on “large online platforms,” requiring such platforms to “seek to verify an influential user’s name, telephone number, and email address” by a means of the large online platform’s choosing. Requires a large online platform to verify a “highly influential user” by reviewing a government-issued identification. Negatively impacts users’ ability to freely communicate online, particularly when engaged in anonymous speech (e.g. by devaluing the speech of certain individuals by implying that any individual who exercises their right to not be authenticated or to be anonymous is not legitimate or a bot). Also raises security and privacy concerns. Oppose.
Senate Appropriations Suspense File 5/13/24; Failed Deadline
Let Parents Choose Protection Act of 2024. SB 1444 (Stern; D-Canoga Park) Requires large social media platform providers, as defined, to create, maintain, and make available to specified third-party safety software providers a set of third-party-accessible application programming interfaces to allow a third-party safety software provider, upon authorization by a child or a parent or legal guardian of a child, to monitor a child’s online interactions, content, and account settings and initiate secure transfers of the child’s user data for these purposes, as provided. Prohibits the third-party safety software provider from disclosing user data unless specified exceptions apply and would authorize the child or the parent/legal guardian to revoke the authorization or disable the account with the large social media provider. While it intends to provide parents greater control over their teens’ use of social media, the bill likely only impedes current efforts to do so and raises numerous privacy concerns. Oppose.
Senate Appropriations Suspense File 5/13/24; Failed Deadline
Cyberbullying Protection Act. SB 1504 (Stern: D-Canoga Park) Effectively applies the Cyberbullying Protection Act to pupils, with significant differences and much more extensive and unduly burdensome liability. As drafted, central requirements within the bill conflict with one another and therefore require additional clarification. Additionally, the bill leaves various key terms undefined and subjective, at times even raising First Amendment issues. For example, it is also very difficult to reliably describe what may cause a “detrimental effect on the minor’s physical or mental health.” Humans in general, especially children, have very nuanced opinions surrounding what may be detrimental to them. The lived experiences of children, teens, and adults differ immensely, and businesses do not have a roadmap to users’ lived experiences, and what could potentially cause them harm. As a result of such deficiencies, platforms may consider taking an overly broad takedown approach to avoid penalties, raising significant First Amendment concerns, as it has the potential to incentivize the removal of lawful speech. Oppose.
Signed—Chapter 900
Use of Social Media in School. SB 1283 (Stern; D-Canoga Park) Authorizes the limitation or prohibition of social media usage by pupils at school sites, or usage while pupils are under the supervision and control of an employee or employees of a school district, county office of education, or charter school, as provided. Support.
Signed—Chapter 891
Personal Information Formats. AB 1008 (Bauer-Kahan; D-Orinda) Seeks to amend the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) to clarify the formats in which personal information (PI) can exist, but instead increases confusion by inaccurately describing those formats and misleading consumers and businesses as to how existing law operates and how AI systems and large language models store personal data. Not only do clarifications mandate accuracy, which is lacking from AB 1008, but the CCPA is already widely acknowledged to be a technology-neutral, industry-neutral and comprehensive data privacy law where protections do not hinge on how the data is collected, the format in which it exists, is transmitted, or stored unless it is exempted, deidentified, or aggregate consumer information. Oppose.
Signed—Chapter 802
State Procurement of Automated Decision System. SB 892 (Padilla; D-Chula Vista) Requires the California Department of Technology (CDT) to develop and adopt regulations to create an automated decision system (ADS) procurement standard based on various principles and industry standards in specified publications regarding AI risk management, including the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy white paper, the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, in consultation with the California Privacy and Protection Agency (CPPA). Bans state entities from procuring ADS until regulations are completed by CDT, requires any contract for ADS to comply with the regulations, and prohibits any regulations adopted by CDT from conflicting with any of the CPPA’s automated decisionmaking technology (ADMT) regulations under Proposition 24. Oppose.
Vetoed
Product Regulation
Bans All Uses of PFAS. SB 903 (Skinner; D-Berkeley) Prohibits the use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in all commercial and consumer products by 2032 unless Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) is petitioned and makes an affirmative determination that the PFAS in a particular product is an unavoidable use. However, regardless of DTSC’s determinations, the bill outsources California’s legislative authority to ban any product containing PFAS if any state or country in the world also bans that product. Because of the breadth and scope of PFAS use, including in aerospace, lithium ion batteries, medical devices, automotive and semiconductors, to name a few, the regulatory program established is entirely unworkable and will lead to bans on critically important products. Oppose/Job Killer 2024.
Senate Appropriations Suspense File 4/29/24; Failed Deadline
Packaging Ban. AB 2761 (Hart; D-Santa Barbara) Bans certain types of packaging and imposes civil penalties. Oppose.
Senate Environmental Quality 6/5/24; Failed Deadline
Bans Color Additives in Public Schools. AB 2316 (Gabriel; D-Woodland Hills) Circumvents the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and bans color additives including titanium dioxide in public schools irrespective of the science that demonstrates the use of these ingredients is safe and helps extend food shelf life. In doing so, the bill sets a poor precedent of the Legislature acting as the scientific authority on the safety of food ingredients based on limited science and in contradiction to the staff scientists inside entire agencies dedicated to establishing the safety of food products in the marketplace. Oppose Unless Amended.
Signed—Chapter 914
Decaffeinated Coffee. AB 2066 (Reyes; D-San Bernardino) Requires the European Method to make decaffeinated coffee to provide a misleading warning label that contradicts the safety determinations of the European Union, the United States and other food safety authorities around the world. Oppose.
Assembly Appropriations Suspense File 5/15/24; Failed Deadline
PFAS Regulation: Menstrual Products. AB 2515 (Papan; D-San Mateo) Holds manufacturers liable for intentionally adding, or even the mere presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to menstrual products, thereby holding liable manufacturers that are adding it the same as those manufacturers that do not. Oppose.
Signed—Chapter 1008
Recycling
Labeling Products Recyclable. SB 1231 (Allen; D-Santa Monica) Resolves an unintentional conflict of law by expressly authorizing CalRecycle to process petitions that allow single-use plastic packaging trending toward recyclability pursuant to SB 54 (Allen) to continue using chasing arrows or other recyclability claims so that consumers know appropriately where and how to recycle discarded materials. Support.
Held in Assembly Appropriations Suspense File 8/15/24
Bans 100% Recyclable Bottles. AB 2648 (Bennett; D-Ventura) Prohibits the state from purchasing and all food services inside state facilities from offering any single-use plastic bottled beverages despite this packaging having one of the highest recycling rates in the country and despite the negative impacts to both the environment and state budget from using less efficient and more expensive packaging. Oppose.
Assembly Inactive File 5/24/24; Failed Deadline
Reusable Beverage Policy. AB 2762 (Friedman; D-Glendale) Compels beverage manufacturers to report on significant changes aimed at phasing out non-reusable beverage containers. Oppose.
Assembly Appropriations Suspense File 5/15/24; Failed Deadline
Additional Requirements on Restaurants. SB 1167 (Blakespear; D-Encinitas) Requires certain restaurants to ask customers where they intend to drink a beverage. Oppose.
Senate Environmental Quality 2/21/24; Failed Deadline
Taxation
Wealth Tax. AB 259 (Lee; D-San Jose) Seeks to impose a massive tax increase upon all forms of personal property or wealth, whether tangible or intangible, despite California already having the highest income tax in the country. This tax increase will drive high-income earners out of the State as well as the revenue they contribute to the General Fund. Oppose/Two Year Job Killer.
Held in Assembly Revenue and Taxation 1/10/24; Dead
Wealth Tax. ACA 3 (Lee; D-San Jose) Seeks to impose a massive tax increase upon all forms of personal property or wealth, whether tangible or intangible, despite California already having the highest income tax in the country. This tax increase will drive high-income earners out of the State as well as the revenue they contribute to the General Fund. Oppose/Two Year Job Killer.
Assembly Revenue and Taxation 3/30/23
Tax on Digital Advertising Revenue. SB 1327 (Glazer; D-Contra Costa) Implements a discriminatory 7.25% tax on the revenue generated from the sale of digital advertising. The bill is likely unconstitutional and will lead to costly litigation for the state. Oppose/Job Killer 2024.
Assembly Revenue and Taxation 8/8/24
Tax on Digital Advertising Revenue. AB 2829 (Papan; D-San Mateo) Implements a new tax on digital ads of 5%. In addition to increasing taxes on businesses, it is likely unconstitutional. Oppose/Job Killer 2024.
Held in Assembly Revenue and Taxation 4/29/24
New Employment Tax Credit. AB 2294 (Schiavo; D-Chatsworth) Makes necessary changes to the New Employment Credit by eliminating the requirement for geographic restrictions, eliminating excluded businesses except those of a sexual nature, mirroring NEC hiring categories to that of federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit, and reducing from 150% to 100% of minimum wage that mirrors changes made in state budget by Governor Newsom for the semiconductor industry and others. Support.
Assembly Revenue and Taxation 2/26/24; Failed Deadline
Bay Area Tax Increases. SB 1031 (Wiener; D-San Francisco) Authorizes the Metropolitan Transportation District in the San Francisco Bay Area to impose a transactions and use tax, payroll tax, parcel tax, vehicle registration surcharge, or issue bonds in all or some of the nine counties the district operates in and requires that revenue generated from the tax increases be used for transportation improvements.Oppose.
Assembly Desk 5/24/24
Eliminates Sales Tax Sharing Agreements between Local Governments and Employers. SB 1494 (Glazer; D-Contra Costa) Eliminates an important economic development tool by prohibiting local governments from entering into sales tax sharing agreements with businesses. Oppose.
Failed passage in Senate 5/23/24
Telecommunications
Slows Broadband Deployment. AB 2239 (Bonta; D-Alameda) Slows down the deployment of broadband in California and will likely lead to litigation. Oppose.
Held in Senate Appropriations Suspense File 8/15/24
Affordable Internet and Net Equality Act. AB 1588 (Wilson; D-Suisun City) Inappropriately complicates state procurement contracts rather than focus on the goal of securing more eligible Californians enroll in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) to get broadband services. Oppose.
Held in Senate Appropriations Suspense File 8/15/24
Slows Broadband Deployment. SB 1179 (Durazo; D-Los Angeles) Establishes price controls for broadband and slows broadband deployment statewide. Oppose.
Senate Governmental Organization 2/21/24; Failed Deadline
Undoes Statewide Video Agreements. AB 1826 (Holden; D-Pasadena) Undoes statewide video franchise agreements and creates complex and duplicative local government oversight. Oppose.
Vetoed
Telecom Service During Emergencies. AB 2765 (Pellerin; D-Santa Cruz) Leads to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) opening an unnecessary and costly proceeding. Oppose.
Signed—Chapter 740
Telephone Corporation Broadband Obligations. AB 2797 (McKinnor; D-Inglewood) Helps to hasten the deployment of new broadband technology. Support.
Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications 6/12/24; Failed Deadline
Benefits Emergency Response. SB 1152 (Limón; D-Goleta) Helps to deploy newest technology of backup generators so Californians can remain connected during emergencies. Support.
Signed—Chapter 781
Tourism
Hotel Cancellation and Refund Requirements for Out-of-State Hotels. SB 1424 (Glazer; D-Contra Costa) Forces out-of-state hotels to comply with in-state requirements regarding cancellation and refund policies. Oppose.
Senate Appropriations Suspense File 5/13/24; Failed Deadline
Transportation and Infrastructure
Airports: Third-Party Vendors. SB 1372 (Newman; D-Fullerton) Prohibits airports in California from entering into agreements with third-party vendors that offer expedited security screening services. Oppose.
Assembly Transportation 6/3/24; Failed Deadline
Clean Truck Incentive Program. AB 627 (Jackson; D-Moreno Valley) Before amendments, eliminated the ban on trucks in previous version. The bill currently ensures that a state zero-emission truck voucher program is managed more efficiently and effectively. Neutral.
Senate Environmental Quality 5/1/24; Failed Deadline
Autonomous Vehicles. AB 2286 (Aguiar-Curry; D-Winters) Effectively bans autonomous truck deployments by requiring a “human safety operator” to be physically present in all heavy-duty autonomous vehicles. Oppose.
Vetoed
Trade Corridor Enhancement Program. AB 2535 (Bonta; D-Alameda) Prohibits the California Transportation Commission from authorizing funding in certain areas of the state. This would severely hamper efficient goods movement and also lead to significant safety concerns. Oppose.
Assembly Appropriations Suspense File 5/8/24; Failed Deadline
Local Government: Autonomous Vehicles. SB 915 (Cortese; D-San Jose) Prohibits operation of any commercial activity of autonomous vehicles that have been approved by the California Public Utilities Commission and the Department of Motor Vehicles from commencing operation in a local jurisdiction until that local jurisdiction has passed an ordinance approving their operations. Oppose.
Assembly Transportation 6/3/24; Failed Deadline
Vehicles: Special Equipment. SB 961 (Wiener; D-San Francisco) Imposes broad mandates on all vehicles rather than seeking to remedy the underlying issue of problematic behavior of drivers. Further, this measure is technologically infeasible and likely preempts federal mandates. Oppose.
Vetoed
Unemployment Insurance
Increased Unemployment Insurance Taxes to Subsidize Striking Workers. SB 1116 (Portantino; D-Burbank) SB 1116 allows striking workers to claim UI benefits when they choose to strike. Because the UI Fund is paid for entirely by employers, SB 1116 will effectively add more debt onto California employers. Moreover, SB 1116 will effectively force employers to subsidize strikes at completely unrelated businesses because the UI Fund’s debt adds taxes for all employers, regardless of whether they’ve had a strike. Oppose/Job Killer 2024.
Assembly Insurance 6/3/24; Failed Deadline
Huge Increases to Unemployment Insurance Taxes. SB 1434 (Durazo; D-Los Angeles) Increases UI taxes to fund UI benefit hikes of up to 55%, as well as providing for subsequent increases based on inflation. Also creates entirely new UI program to provide benefits to workers who do not qualify for traditional UI, to be funded by a new tax on California employers. Oppose/Job Killer 2024.
Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement 2/29/24; Failed Deadline
Extending Statute of Limitations to Catch UI Fraudsters and Recover Funds. AB 2878 (Gabriel; D-Woodland Hills) Allows critical time for prosecutors to investigate and bring criminal actions for the tide of unemployment insurance fraud during the pandemic and recover fraudulently taken funds by extending the statute of limitations for such actions. Support.
Assembly Appropriations Suspense File 5/8/24; Failed Deadline
Water Supply and Quality
Groundwater Restriction. AB 2079 (Bennett; D-Ventura) Prevents installation of new or replacement groundwater wells throughout much of the state. Circumvents the local control component of Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) by creating statewide stringent requirements on wells rather than empowering locally informed solutions to groundwater sustainability. Oppose Unless Amended.
Senate Natural Resources and Water 5/29/24; Failed Deadline
Unfair Exemption. AB 828 (Connolly; D-San Rafael) Exempts certain water users from fees and regulations under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), increasing the burdens borne by agricultural and business water users. Oppose.
Vetoed
Permit Streamlining for Groundwater Recharge. AB 2060 (Soria; D-Fresno) Exempts groundwater recharge projects using flood flows from needing to obtain duplicative and burdensome California Department of Fish and Wildlife authorizations. Support.
Senate Inactive File 8/30/24
Permit Streamlining. AB 2501 (Alvarez; D-San Diego) Allows state and regional water boards to accept public project proponent funding for dedicated permitting staff, assisting in workflow and mirroring this authority in other state agencies. Support.
Signed—Chapter 833
California Water Plan Update. SB 366 (Caballero; D-Merced) Requires California Water Plan to be updated to include water supply targets and outlines meaningful steps toward achieving supply goals. Support.
Vetoed
Regulatory Flexibility. SB 1065 (Padilla; D-Chula Vista) Provides additional time and flexibility for water providers to come into compliance with expensive new water quality standards for hexavalent chromium. Support If Amended.
Senate Environmental Quality 4/3/24; Failed Deadline
Unfair and Unenforceable Regulation. SB 1178 (Padilla; D-Chula Vista) Attempts to impose California law on facilities outside of the state and nation. Makes industry wholly financially responsible for water quality impairments caused by other sources. Oppose Unless Amended.
Held on Assembly Appropriations Suspense File 8/15/24
Water Rights. AB 460 (Bauer-Kahan; D-Orinda) Originally gave State Water Board broad authority to issue interim relief orders for a wide variety of alleged water use violations, with little or no opportunity to be heard. Prevents judicial review of an interim relief order. Opposition removed following June amendments narrowing scope of bill. Neutral.
Signed—Chapter 342
Water Rights. AB 1337 (Wicks; D-Oakland) Gives broad authority to State Water Board to curtail water rights of any seniority or claim of right. Allows curtailments to issue without a hearing, depriving water rights holders of due process. Oppose.
Senate Natural Resources and Water 6/7/23; Failed Deadline
Workers’ Compensation
Workers’ Compensation Appointments. SB 1205 (Laird; D-Santa Cruz) Requires employers of all sizes to provide time off to attend workers’ compensation appointments regardless of whether it creates an undue hardship and subjects employers to penalties for failure to do so. Oppose.
Assembly Inactive File 8/26/24
Agricultural Workers’ Compensation Presumption. SB 1299 (Cortese; D-San Jose) Creates workers’ compensation presumption that would require Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) to adjudicate agriculture Cal/OSHA claims and impose a presumption regardless of any causal link between the alleged occupational injury and a violation of any provision of heat-related standards. Oppose.
Vetoed
Electronic Signatures. AB 2337 (Dixon; R-Newport Beach) Permits signatures used in a Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) proceeding to be obtained electronically. Support.
Signed—Chapter 392
Tolling Temporary Disability Payments. SB 1346 (Durazo; D-Los Angeles) Requires tolling of temporary disability payments if Utilization Review decision is overturned during Independent Medical Review, which will drastically increase the number of unnecessary Independent Medical Review requests and is unnecessary in light of data supporting accuracy of Utilization Review decisions. Oppose.
Senate Appropriations Suspense File 4/22/24; Failed Deadline
Physician Licensing. SB 636 (Cortese; D-San Jose) Unnecessarily requires physicians in utilization review process to be licensed in California, which will reduce number of physicians available to review claims. Oppose.
Vetoed
Workplace Safety
New Obligations and Liability for Properties with Gates. AB 2149 (Connolly; D-San Rafael) Creates new obligations around gates accessible to the public, including repeated inspection, and potential attorney’s fees for related lawsuits. Oppose.
Held in Senate Appropriations Suspense File 8/15/24
