AB 578: Food delivery platforms: customer service. - California

07/16/25 - Amended Senate → 09/08/25 - Enrolled · 2 edits · Sep 8, 2025

MINOR

The transition from the Amended Senate version to the Enrolled version of AB 578 contains one substantive policy change and the rest are procedural formatting updates. The key change narrows the refund requirement for partially fulfilled orders: the old text required food delivery platforms to prorate all taxes, commissions, and fees proportionally to the amount delivered, while the new text simply requires charging the customer only for the portion received and adjusting charges directly associated with undelivered items. All other changes are standard enrolled-bill formatting (passage dates, removal of amendment history, reformatting).

REQUIREMENT

Section 22599.2(d)(1) was narrowed: the old version required platforms to 'prorate all taxes, commissions, and fees so they are commensurate with the amount the customer pays for the partial order.' The new version removes that proportional proration requirement and instead simply requires the platform to 'charge the customer only for the portion of the order the customer received,' with taxes, fees, or gratuities directly associated with undelivered items adjusted accordingly. This makes the refund obligation less prescriptive about how commissions and fees must be proportionally reduced.

TECHNICAL

Procedural formatting changes: amendment history dates removed, passage dates added (Assembly September 4, 2025; Senate September 3, 2025), enrolled bill header and signature blocks added, and the legislative counsel's digest reformatted. No policy impact.

09/08/25 - Enrolled → 10/06/25 - Chaptered · 2 edits · Oct 6, 2025

MINOR

AB 578 was signed by the Governor on October 6, 2025, and became Chapter 341 of the California statutes. The statutory text is identical between the two versions; all changes are administrative (chapter number assignment, approval date, page headers, and formatting). No policy content was altered.

TECHNICAL

The bill was assigned chapter number 341 and the Governor's approval date of October 6, 2025 was added, converting it from an enrolled bill into a signed law.

Page headers changed from 'AB 578' to 'Ch. 341', and the Assembly/Senate passage certificates were replaced with the standard 'STATE OF CALIFORNIA AUTHENTICATED ELECTRONIC LEGAL MATERIAL' header used in chaptered laws.

10/06/25 - Chaptered → AB578 · 1 edit

MINOR

No substantive policy changes occurred between these two versions. The diff reflects a transition from the official chaptered law document (with formal state authentication headers and page numbering) to a web-based rendering of the same bill text on the California legislature website, complete with navigation menus, search tools, and metadata. All legal provisions remain identical.

TECHNICAL

The document was reformatted from an official chaptered law (with STATE OF CALIFORNIA / AUTHENTICATED / ELECTRONIC LEGAL MATERIAL headers and page numbers) to a web-based bill text display with navigation elements, search functionality, version history, and publication metadata.

07/03/25 - Amended Senate → 07/16/25 - Amended Senate · 3 edits · Jul 16, 2025

MINOR

The July 16 amendment to AB 578 adds an exception to the full refund requirement, allowing food delivery platforms to deny refunds when the customer was responsible for nondelivery or when there is evidence of a fraudulent refund request. It also refines the partial order proration language to be more specific about how taxes, fees, and gratuities tied to undelivered items should be adjusted.

REQUIREMENT

Added an exception to the full refund requirement in Section 22599.2(a): a platform is no longer required to provide a full refund if it determines the customer was responsible for the nondelivery or finds evidence indicating the refund request may be fraudulent.

Refined the partial order proration provision in Section 22599.2(d)(1) to clarify that taxes, fees, and gratuities directly associated with undelivered items shall be adjusted to reflect the reduced order, rather than simply being prorated commensurate with the amount paid.

DEFINITION

Added the clarifying phrase 'an order that is only partially fulfilled' to define what constitutes a partial order in Section 22599.2(d).

03/20/25 - Amended Assembly → 05/12/25 - Amended Assembly · 4 edits · May 12, 2025

MODERATE

The May 12 amendment to AB 578 adds two new provisions to Section 22599.2 protecting delivery drivers from losing tips when a customer receives a refund due to non-delivery or a wrong order. Specifically, it requires that any refunded gratuity be returned to the customer without deducting that amount from the driver's pay, and mandates an alternate refund method if the original payment method is not feasible for the gratuity portion.

REQUIREMENT

New subsection (b) of Section 22599.2 requires that when a full refund is issued for a non-delivered or wrong order, the platform must refund the original paid gratuity to the customer but shall not take or deduct that gratuity amount from the delivery driver, citing Labor Code Section 351 (which prohibits wage deductions).

New subsection (c) of Section 22599.2 requires that if it is not feasible to refund the paid gratuity in the customer's original method of payment, the platform must provide an alternate refund method specifically for the gratuity amount.

TECHNICAL

Subsections of Section 22599.2 were renumbered: the old (b) partial order provision became (d), and the old (c) original-payment-method refund mechanism became (e).

Removed the word 'either' from Section 22599.1(a) ('do either any of the following' changed to 'do any of the following') and removed a stray '(c)' line that was a numbering error between subsections (c) and (d).

05/12/25 - Amended Assembly → 06/12/25 - Amended Senate · 3 edits · Jun 12, 2025

MINOR

The Senate amendment to AB 578 makes only technical and clerical changes: it updates the legislative header to reflect the June 12, 2025 Senate amendment date, renumbers pages, removes two empty duplicate subsection letters that were numbering errors in the Assembly version, and fixes a duplicated word in the summary. No substantive policy changes were made.

TECHNICAL

Removed two empty subsections labeled (b) and (c) that were erroneous duplicates in the statutory text, cleaning up the subsection numbering so (d) and (e) follow directly after (c).

Updated the legislative header to add 'AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 12, 2025' above the existing Assembly amendment date, reflecting normal legislative process tracking.

Fixed a duplicated word in the bill summary ('The The bill' corrected to 'The bill'), though an accidental duplication of the word 'driver' was introduced in both the summary and statutory text at line 32.

06/12/25 - Amended Senate → 07/03/25 - Amended Senate · 3 edits · Jul 3, 2025

MINOR

AB 578 received a new amendment adding a fraud exception that allows food delivery platforms to remove customers they reasonably suspect of committing fraud, and removed a cross-reference to Section 351 of the Labor Code from the gratuity refund provision. The fraud exception is the most significant policy change, as it creates a carve-out from the bill's customer protection requirements.

SCOPE

Added new subsection (f) to Section 22599.2 stating that the section does not prohibit a food delivery platform from removing a customer if the platform has a reasonable suspicion that the customer has committed or is committing fraud. This creates an exception to the bill's refund and other customer protection requirements.

TECHNICAL

Removed the phrase 'in accordance with Section 351 of the Labor Code' from the provision requiring platforms to refund gratuities without deducting them from delivery drivers, simplifying the language without changing the substantive requirement.

Fixed a duplicated word typo where 'driver.' appeared twice in the gratuity refund provision.

02/12/25 - Introduced → 03/20/25 - Amended Assembly · 3 edits · Mar 20, 2025

MINOR

The amended version adds two significant new provisions: a prohibition on food delivery platforms using tips or gratuities to offset the base pay of delivery drivers, and a requirement that platforms provide delivery drivers with an itemized breakdown of their pay including base pay, tips, and promotional bonuses. These changes expand the bill's focus from primarily protecting customers and restaurants to also directly protecting delivery workers' compensation transparency.

REQUIREMENT

New prohibition making it unlawful for a food delivery platform to maintain a payment model that uses any amount designated as tips or gratuity to offset the base pay of the person delivering the food or beverage. This closes a loophole where platforms could effectively reduce driver wages by counting tips toward minimum pay requirements.

New requirement that a food delivery platform prominently disclose to the delivery driver an accurate, clearly identified, and itemized breakdown of pay received for each delivery, including base pay, gratuity or tips, and any promotional bonuses. This gives drivers visibility into how their compensation is structured.

TECHNICAL

Subsections were renumbered to accommodate the new provisions: the former subsection (c) on listing websites became (d), the former (d) on order status disclosure became (e), and the former (e) on customer service access became (f). The legislative counsel's digest was also reorganized to present existing law first, then new bill requirements.

Food delivery platforms: customer service.

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