Existing law, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) , grants to a consumer various rights with respect to personal information that is collected by a business. Among those rights, the CCPA includes the right to request that a business delete personal information that the business has collected from the consumer. This bill would expand that right to include requesting the deletion of any personal information that the business has collected about the consumer. If the business did not obtain the personal information from the consumer, the bill would allow the business to retain a record of the deletion request and the minimum data necessary to ensure the consumer's personal information remains deleted from its records and is not being used for any other purpose. The bill would make findings and declarations relating to these provisions. Existing law generally requires businesses to make certain methods of communication available for consumers to submit personal information requests, including requests for deletion and correction. If a business operates exclusively online and has a direct relationship with the consumer from whom it collects personal information, existing law requires the business to provide consumers an email address for submitting personal information requests. This bill would also require that business to make an online method, such as a web form or online portal, available to consumers for submitting personal information requests. Existing law, the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, an initiative measure approved by the voters as Proposition 24 at the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, amended, added to, and reenacted the CCPA. This bill would declare that its provisions further the purposes and intent of the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020.
Existing law generally regulates the business of renting passenger vehicles to the public. The law prohibits a rental company from taking various actions, including requiring the purchase of a damage waiver, optional insurance, or another optional good or service, and using electronic surveillance technology to track a renter in order to impose fines or surcharges relating to the renter's use of a rental vehicle. This bill would require any privately owned vehicle rented by, or furnished to, any federal, state, or local law enforcement agency for the use of detaining, arresting, or transporting persons who have violated, or are suspected of having violated, any law, to display a temporary decal displaying the agency name and logo, as specified. The bill would authorize certain attorneys, including the Attorney General, to pursue a civil action against the entity renting the vehicle from the private owner for failure to comply with these provisions. The bill would require the rental car contract to include a term that compliance with state law is mandatory. The bill would exempt privately owned vehicles rented or otherwise furnished or loaned to a law enforcement agency for specified purposes and rental car contracts entered into prior to January 1, 2027, from these provisions. The bill would make related findings and declarations.
Existing law establishes the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) to enforce various laws protecting the privacy of individuals. If a business knowingly collects and sells to third parties the personal information of a consumer with whom the business does not have a direct relationship, existing law requires the business to register with the CPPA as a data broker, except as specified. Existing law requires the CPPA to establish an accessible deletion mechanism that allows a consumer to request that every data broker delete any personal information related to that consumer held by the data broker or associated service provider or contractor, as prescribed. Existing law requires, beginning August 1, 2026, a data broker to access that deletion mechanism at least once every 45 days and, among other things, process all deletion requests and delete all personal information related to the consumers making the requests, as specified. This bill would change the above-described 45-day period to a 30-day period and make conforming changes. This bill would require the Secretary of State, certain local government officials, the Judicial Council, and the State Bar of California to notify any state elected official, local elected official, or judge, as applicable, that the person may submit a request to delete that person's personal information through the above-described accessible deletion mechanism, as prescribed. By imposing additional duties on local government officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would authorize the Attorney General, a county counsel, or a city attorney to bring a civil action, on behalf of an elected official or judge, against a data broker who violates certain personal information deletion requirements, as prescribed. This bill would make its provisions relating to the notice and enforcement of requests for deletion of personal information of elected officials and judges operative on July 1, 2027. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to appoint a chief internal auditor who holds office at the pleasure of the commission. Existing law makes the chief internal auditor responsible for the oversight of the internal audit unit. Existing law requires the chief internal auditor to plan, initiate, and perform audits of key financial, management, operational, and information technology functions within the commission to improve accountability and transparency to executive and state management, and to report their findings and recommendations directly to an audit subcommittee of the commission. This bill would instead require the Governor to appoint an Inspector General, subject to Senate confirmation, to be responsible for the oversight of the internal audit unit and would instead require the Inspector General to plan, initiate, and perform audits of key financial, management, operational, and information technology functions within the commission to improve accountability and transparency to executive and state management. The bill would also require the Inspector General to ensure, among other things, that the commission administers funds and programs in a prescribed manner, fulfills mandated requirements, develops an annual audit plan, administers an effective enterprise risk management program, and monitors reporting compliance. The bill would provide for the appointment and removal of the Inspector General, as specified. The bill would authorize the Inspector General to access and examine all records, files, documents, accounts, reports, correspondence, or other property of the commission and public utilities, and would require other entities that are regulated by the commission and participate in programs administered by the commission, upon request of the Inspector General, to provide or make available to the Inspector General for examination all relevant records, files, documents, accounts, reports, correspondence, or other property pertaining to participation in those programs, as specified. The bill would require the Inspector General to report specified information to the Governor and the Legislature, as provided.
California Assembly Resolution 140 designates August 2026 as Children's Get Offline and Get Outdoors Month to promote awareness of the benefits of screen-free play for child development. The resolution cites research linking excessive social media use and reduced free play time to increased rates of anxiety, depression, and other behavioral issues among teenagers. It encourages families and communities to support unstructured outdoor activities and highlights ongoing federal efforts to protect children's mental health through technology guardrails.
Existing law, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) , grants a consumer various rights with respect to personal information that is collected or sold by a business, as defined, including the right to direct a business that sells or shares personal information about the consumer to third parties not to sell or share the consumer's personal information, as specified. Existing law, the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, approved by the voters as Proposition 24 at the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, amended, added to, and reenacted the CCPA and establishes the California Privacy Protection Agency and vests the agency with full administrative power, authority, and jurisdiction to enforce those provisions. Existing law requires a retail grocery store or grocery department within a general retail merchandise store that uses a point-of-sale system to have a clearly readable price indicated on 85% of the total number of packaged consumer commodities offered for sale, subject to specified exemptions. This bill would, subject to certain exceptions, prohibit a retailer from engaging in surveillance pricing. The bill would define "surveillance pricing" to mean offering or setting a customized price for a good for a specific consumer or group of consumers, based, in whole or in part, on personally identifiable information, as specified, and determined in whole or in part through the use of any technology, software, program, machine-based system, or computational process that uses statistical modeling, data analytics, artificial intelligence, or other data processing techniques. The bill would also define "surveillance pricing" to mean random variations in prices to different consumers using a website, mobile application, or comparable online technology. The bill would provide that its provisions do not limit or impair any consumer right or remedy available under any other state or federal law. The bill would declare that any waiver of these provisions is against public policy and is void and unenforceable. This bill would declare that its provisions further the purposes and intent of the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020.
Existing law authorizes designated health care services providers, employees, volunteers, and patients, and individuals who face threats of violence or violence or harassment from the public because of their affiliation with a designated health care services facility, to complete an application to be approved by the Secretary of State for the purposes of enabling state and local agencies to respond to requests for public records without disclosing a program participant's residence address contained in any public record and otherwise provide for confidentiality of identity for that person, subject to specified conditions. Existing law defines "designated health care services" to mean gender-affirming health care services or reproductive health care services. Under existing law, any person who makes a false statement in an application is guilty of a misdemeanor. Existing law prohibits a person, business, or association from knowingly publicly posting or publicly displaying, disclosing, or distributing on internet websites or on social media, the personal information or image of any designated health care services patient, provider, or assistant, or other individuals residing at the same home address, with the intent to incite a third person to cause imminent great bodily harm to the person identified in the posting or display, or to a coresident of that person, as specified, or to threaten the person identified in the posting or display, or a coresident of that person, as specified. Existing law additionally prohibits a person, business, or association from soliciting, selling, or trading on the internet or social media the personal information or image of a designated health care services patient, provider, or assistant with the intent described above. Existing law establishes a cause of action for injunctive or declarative relief for a violation of these prohibitions. Existing law prohibits a person from posting on the internet or social media, with the intent that another person imminently use that information to commit a crime involving violence or a threat of violence against a designated health care services patient, provider, or assistant, or other individuals residing at the same home address, the personal information or image of a reproductive health care services patient, provider, or assistant, or other individuals residing at the same home address. This bill would, commencing October 1, 2027, similarly establish an address confidentiality program for a designated immigration support services provider, employee, or volunteer, as defined, who faces threats of violence or harassment from the public because of their affiliation with a designated immigration support services facility. This bill would additionally prohibit a person, business, or association from soliciting, selling, or trading on the internet the personal information or image of a designated immigration support services provider, employee, or volunteer with the intent described above. The bill would also, among other things, prohibit a person from posting on the internet the personal information or image of a designated immigration support services provider, employee, or volunteer, or other individuals residing at the same home address, with the specific intent that another person imminently use that information to commit a crime involving violence or a threat of violence that is likely to occur against such an individual. The bill would define various terms for these purposes. By imposing new duties on local agencies and creating new crimes, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for a person or a firm, corporation, or association, or any employee thereof, to engage in false or misleading advertising practices. Existing law makes various unfair competition practices unlawful, including any unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business act or practice and unfair, deceptive, untrue, or misleading advertising. This bill would make it an unlawful advertising practice for a person to create and cause to be published in an advertising medium an advertisement that prominently includes a synthetic performer without a clear and conspicuous disclosure that the advertisement includes a synthetic performer. The bill would prohibit an advertising medium from transmitting, distributing, displaying, airing, or otherwise making available an advertisement containing a synthetic performer if a court of competent jurisdiction has issued an order finding that the advertisement violates the bill's provisions or enjoining the creator from publishing the advertisement, and the advertising medium is served with the order, as specified. The bill would define various terms for these purposes. By expanding the scope of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing unfair competition laws make various unfair competition practices unlawful, including any unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business act or practice and unfair, deceptive, untrue, or misleading advertising. Existing law makes it unlawful for any person doing business in California and advertising to consumers in California to make any false or misleading advertising claim. Existing law makes a person who violates specified false advertising provisions liable for a civil penalty, as specified, and provides that a person who violates those false advertising provisions is guilty of a misdemeanor. Existing law makes it unlawful for healing arts licensees, as specified, to disseminate or cause to be disseminated any form of public communication containing a false, fraudulent, misleading, or deceptive statement, claim, or image in order to induce the provision of services or products in connection with their licensed professional practice or business. Existing law makes a violation of these provisions punishable as a misdemeanor and, in the case of a licensed person, provides that a violation constitutes unprofessional conduct and grounds for suspension or revocation of a license by the relevant board. This bill would require a person who creates or causes to be created an advertisement that includes a digital replica or synthetic performer depicted as a health care provider to promote the sale of a health-related consumer product or service to include a clear and conspicuous disclosure that the health care provider depicted in the advertisement was generated or substantially altered by artificial intelligence or that no human health care provider is depicted. The bill would also define terms for its purposes. This bill would provide that a violation of its provisions constitutes a violation of specified unfair competition and false advertising laws. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also authorize a natural person whose digital replica is used in an advertisement to bring a civil action to enforce these provisions. The bill would specify that a violation of the bill does not constitute a misdemeanor under provisions regulating healing arts licensees. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law requires the governing board of a school district, a county board of education, and the governing body of a charter school to, no later than July 1, 2026, develop and adopt, and update every 5 years, a policy to limit or prohibit the use by its pupils of smartphones while the pupils are at a schoolsite or while the pupils are under the supervision and control of an employee or employees of that local educational agency. Under existing law, a pupil shall not be prohibited from possessing or using a smartphone under specified circumstances, including, among others, when the possession or use of a smartphone is required in a pupil's individualized education program. This bill, commencing July 1, 2028, would require the above-described policy to continue to apply only to pupils in any of grades 9 to 12, inclusive. The bill would require the governing board of a school district, a county board of education, and the governing body of a charter school that serves pupils in transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, or grades 1 to 8, inclusive, to, no later than July 1, 2028, develop and adopt a policy that prohibits the use of smartphones by those pupils while the pupils are at a schoolsite or while the pupils are under the supervision and control of an employee or employees of that local educational agency, as provided. The bill, commencing July 1, 2028, would prohibit instruction provided to pupils in transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, and any of grades 1 to 8, inclusive, from requiring the use of a smartphone by a pupil. The bill, commencing January 1, 2027, would require (1) a pupil in any grade to also be allowed to possess or use a smartphone when the possession or use of a smartphone is required in a pupil's plan developed pursuant to the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and (2) a policy adopted or updated pursuant to these provisions be included in a pupil handbook, if one is provided. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would constitute a state-mandated local program. This bill would require the State Department of Education, on or before January 1, 2029, to submit to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature, and post on their internet website, a report that contains (1) a description of the pupil smartphone policies of at least 30 selected local educational agencies that have provided consent to participate and that are representative of the demographic and geographic diversity of the state, including a copy of each policy, as provided, (2) the results of a survey of those local educational agencies, which the bill would require the department to conduct, and (3) recommended best practices for future local educational agency pupil smartphone use policies. The bill would authorize the department to collaborate with specified organizations with relevant expertise in preparing the report. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2033. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
