AB 1700 California Assembly · 2025-2026 Regular Session

e-Safety Commission: youth online protection.

Summary

Existing law, the Digital Age Assurance Act, requires, beginning January 1, 2027, an operating system provider to provide an accessible interface at account setup that requires an accountholder to indicate the birth date, age, or both, of the user of that device for the purpose of providing a signal regarding the user's age bracket to applications available in a covered application store, among other things related to providing a uniform system for obtaining age information about a user of certain software applications. Existing law defines "user" for these purposes to mean a child that is the primary user of the device. This bill would establish the e-Safety Commission, as specified, and would require the commission to develop minimum age compliance guidelines for covered entities, as defined, review age assurance technologies used to implement the minimum age verification, and establish procedures for noncompliance investigations. The bill would require, on or before January 1 of each year, the commission to report to the Legislature and the Governor on its activities pursuant to the bill, as specified.

Issues: ✓ Technology

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 3, 2026 Last action Mar 23, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

03/19/26 - Amended Assembly → AB1700 · 1 edit

MINOR

No substantive policy changes occurred between these two versions. The bill text is identical in content; the differences are entirely in formatting and presentation, reflecting a transition from a traditional printed legislative document format (with line numbers and page headers) to a web-based display format on the California legislature website.

TECHNICAL

The bill was reformatted from a traditional legislative document layout with line numbers and page breaks into a web page layout including navigation menus, search tools, and website metadata. The actual statutory text (Sections 1, 2, 11530, 11530.1, 11530.2, and the final intent section) is unchanged.

02/03/26 - Introduced → 03/19/26 - Amended Assembly · 7 edits · Mar 19, 2026

MODERATE

AB 1700 was transformed from a one-section placeholder bill expressing legislative intent to establish an eSafety commission into a full operative bill that actually creates the e-Safety Commission within the Government Code. The amended version defines the commission's membership (8 members appointed by the Governor, Speaker of the Assembly, and Senate Committee on Rules), its duties (developing minimum age compliance guidelines, reviewing age assurance technologies, and establishing noncompliance investigation procedures), and requires annual reports to the Legislature and Governor. The bill sets the minimum age at 16 and defines 'covered entity' as any person or organization providing online services subject to a minimum age law.

Scope change

The bill shifted from a non-operative statement of legislative intent to an operative law that creates a new state regulatory body with defined powers over age verification for online services. The scope now covers all 'covered entities' (any person or organization providing online services subject to minimum age laws) and sets a specific minimum age threshold of 16 years.

SCOPE

The bill now actually establishes the e-Safety Commission in Government Code Chapter 5.4 (Sections 11530-11530.2) rather than merely expressing intent to do so in future legislation.

Legislative findings added stating that current laws do not uniformly prevent underage individuals from accessing certain online services and that a state entity is needed to oversee, coordinate, and enforce age verification practices while respecting privacy and security.

DEFINITION

New definitions added: 'Covered entity' means a person or organization providing online services subject to a law pertaining to minimum age; 'Minimum age' is defined as 16 years of age.

REQUIREMENT

The commission is required to develop minimum age compliance guidelines for covered entities, review age assurance technologies used for minimum age verification, and establish procedures for noncompliance investigations.

ENFORCEMENT

The commission must report annually (by January 1) to the Legislature and Governor on its activities, compliance rates among covered entities, enforcement actions taken, and proposed statutory changes.

FISCAL

Fiscal committee designation changed from 'no' to 'yes,' indicating the bill now has fiscal implications requiring review.

TECHNICAL

Commission membership structure added: 8 members total, including appointees from the Governor (5 members subject to Senate confirmation), the Speaker of the Assembly (2 academic members), and the Senate Committee on Rules (2 members). Members must be free of external influence, have no financial interest in regulated entities, and serve maximum 8-year terms.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Mar 23, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P.

lower

Mar 19, 2026

Introduced

From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on P. & C.P. Read second time and amended.

lower

Mar 19, 2026

Committee

Referred to Com. on P. & C.P.

lower

Feb 4, 2026

Lower · Passed

From printer. May be heard in committee March 6.

lower

1 primary · 11 co-sponsors