Technology

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, including the right to delete personal information. 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 the CCPA. The CCPA excludes from the definition of "personal information" publicly available information. Existing law defines "publicly available" for these purposes to include 3 types of information. One type is information that a business has a reasonable basis to believe is lawfully made available to the general public by the consumer or from widely distributed media. This bill would revise that part of the definition of "publicly available" by removing the condition that the business have a reasonable basis to believe the information is lawfully made available. The CCPA also includes in that definition of "publicly available" information made available by a person to whom the consumer has disclosed the information if the consumer has not restricted the information to a specific audience. This bill would delete that part of the definition of "publicly available." This bill would declare that its provisions further the purposes and intent of the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020.

Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, establishes the California Cybersecurity Integration Center within the Office of Emergency Services to serve as the central organizing hub of state government's cybersecurity activities and to coordinate information sharing with various entities. Existing law also requires the Technology Recovery Plan element of the State Administrative Manual to ensure the inclusion of cybersecurity strategy incident response standards for each state agency to secure its critical infrastructure controls and information, as prescribed. This bill would require, on or before July 1, 2026, an operator, defined as a state agency responsible for operating, managing, overseeing, or controlling access to critical infrastructure, that deploys a covered artificial intelligence (AI) system, as defined, to establish a human oversight mechanism that ensures a human monitors the system's operations in real time and reviews and approves any plan or action proposed by the covered AI system before execution, except as provided. The bill would require the Department of Technology to develop specialized training in AI safety protocols and risk management techniques to oversight personnel. The bill would require oversight personnel for an operator to conduct an annual assessment of its covered AI systems, as specified, and to submit a summary of the findings to the department. The bill would make findings and declarations related to its provisions. The bill would preclude disclosure of specified information by the office. 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.

Existing law, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) , grants a consumer various rights with respect to personal information, as defined, that is collected or sold by a business, as defined, including the right to direct a business that collects sensitive personal information about the consumer to limit its use, as prescribed. Existing law defines "sensitive personal information" to mean, among other things, personal information that reveals a consumer's precise geolocation. 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. This bill would require a business that collects precise geolocation information to prominently display, when information is being collected, a notice to the consumer whose information is being collected that states certain information related to the collection of the information and its use by the business, including the goods or services requested by the consumer for which the business is collecting, processing, or disclosing the geolocation information and a description of how the business will process the geolocation information to carry out those purposes. This bill would prohibit a business that collects precise geolocation information from, among other things, retaining the information longer than necessary to provide the goods or services requested by the consumer or longer than one year after the consumer's last intentional interaction with the business, whichever is earlier. This bill would declare that its provisions further the purposes and intent of the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020.

Existing law requires the State Department of Education, on or before January 1, 2024, to develop a plan to expand mental health instruction in California public schools. This bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2028, to develop a plan to expand digital wellness instruction in California public schools, as provided.

This measure would urge President Donald J. Trump and Congress to protect and maintain the historic investments made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

Existing law establishes the Department of Industrial Relations in the Labor and Workforce Development Agency to administer and enforce various laws relating to employment and working conditions. This bill would require a business, as defined, to annually provide a notice to the department of all the workplace surveillance tools the employer is using in the workplace. The bill would require the notice to include, among other information, a list of the workplace surveillance tools being used that surveil employees and the categories of information being collected on employees by the workplace surveillance. The bill would also require a business to send the notice to employees and any union that represents employees of the business. The bill would make a business that violates these provisions subject to a civil penalty of $500 per violation. This bill would require the department to submit a report to the Legislature by January 1, 2029, compiling the above-described notices provided by businesses. The bill would require that the report include, among other requirements, a breakdown of notices by industry type.

Existing law requires, beginning on January 1, 2028, a vehicle with connected vehicle service to clearly indicate to a person who is inside the vehicle when a person who is outside the vehicle has accessed, among other things, connected vehicle location access. For these purposes, existing law defines "connected vehicle service" to mean any capability, including through a software application that is designed to be operated on a mobile device, to remotely obtain data from, or send commands to, a vehicle, and "connected vehicle location access" to mean a type of connected vehicle service that allows a person, who is outside of a vehicle, to view or track the location of the vehicle, as specified. If a vehicle includes connected vehicle location access, existing law requires a covered provider, as defined, to provide a mechanism that can be used by a driver who is inside a vehicle to immediately disable connected vehicle location access. Existing law delays the operation of this requirement depending on whether the vehicle was manufactured prior to, or on or after, January 1, 2028. Unless otherwise provided, a violation of the Vehicle Code constitutes an infraction. This bill would, instead, limit the provisions above to specified vehicles with connected vehicle access. The bill would apply the requirement for a vehicle with connected vehicle service to indicate to a person inside the vehicle if connected vehicle location access is enabled to all vehicles beginning with the 2031 model year. The bill would make this requirement operative beginning with the 2031 model year, for 2028, 2029, and 2030 model year vehicles, as soon as practicable after the vehicle is sold unless technologically infeasible, and on or before July 1, 2027, for 2027 model year or older vehicles unless technologically infeasible. By establishing a new duty on vehicle manufacturers, this bill would expand the general crime applicable to provisions under the Vehicle Code, thereby imposing 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law prohibits the false impersonation of another person in either that person's personal or official capacity with the intent to steal or defraud, as specified. Existing law protects all people from defamation, including libel and slander, as provided. Existing law makes any person who knowingly uses another's name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness for commercial purposes, as specified, without that person's prior consent liable for damages, as specified. Existing law provides that a party seeking relief pursuant to those provisions may also seek an injunction or temporary restraining order according to specified procedures. This bill would enact the Digital Dignity Act. The act would subject to specified liability a person who, by distributing content with actual knowledge that the content includes a digital replica, is found guilty of violating a criminal provision for which false impersonation of another is a required element, as prescribed, or is found liable in a civil action arising from the use or portrayal through a digital replica, as provided. The Digital Dignity Act would require a large online platform that includes a generative AI tool, as defined, that provides users with the functionality to create a digital replica of other individuals to provide a mechanism for individuals to report content that violates the platform's terms of service or a provision of law relating to the individual's digital replica and to submit to the large online platform any certified court order or judgment ordering the removal of any content involving the individual's digital replica on the platform or finding that content involving the individual's digital replica was defamatory, fraudulent, or any other form of image appropriation not permitted by law, as prescribed. Upon receipt of the court order or judgment, the act would require the large online platform to remove the digital replica and make reasonable efforts to identify and remove any known identical copies. The act would authorize a city attorney or the Attorney General to bring a civil action to enforce these provisions and to seek a specified civil penalty and injunctive relief. The act would require a generative AI tool provider to maintain, for no less than 90 days, records sufficient to allow compliance with a court order issued pursuant to a civil action by the city attorney or Attorney General, as prescribed.

This bill designates February 26, 2026, as "Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day" to highlight the importance of encouraging young women to pursue careers in engineering. The measure serves as a commemorative resolution rather than creating new laws or funding requirements. It does not alter existing policies or directly affect government operations, but instead establishes a specific date for awareness and celebration.

This bill designates March 21, 2026, as California Women in STEM Day to recognize the contributions of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. The measure requires state officials to issue a proclamation announcing this specific date and the purpose of the observance. As a commemorative resolution, it does not alter laws, allocate funding, or create new programs, but rather establishes an official day for public acknowledgment.