Technology

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.

The Unruh Civil Rights Act requires persons within the jurisdiction of the state to be free and equal and, regardless of the person's sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, or immigration status, to be entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishments, as prescribed, and makes a violation of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) a violation of the act. Existing law imposes liability upon a person who denies, aids, or incites a denial of, or makes any discrimination or distinction contrary to, rights afforded by law for actual damages suffered, exemplary damages, a civil penalty, and attorney's fees, as specified, to any person who was denied the specified rights. Existing law also imposes liability upon a person, firm, or corporation that denies or interferes with admittance to, or enjoyment of, public facilities or otherwise interferes with the rights of an individual with a disability, as specified, for damages and attorney's fees to a person who was denied those rights. This bill would grant to an entity an affirmative defense to a claim seeking statutory damages under the provisions described above on the basis of a specific accessibility barrier on the entity's internet website, as defined, if the entity provided evidence to the plaintiff demonstrating within 30 days of receiving a written prelawsuit demand from the plaintiff that either (1) the entity published a digital accessibility report on the accessibility page of its internet website disclosing the specific access barrier and updated that report to reflect remediation of the access barrier or (2) that various things were true regarding the entity's efforts to identify and remediate access barriers on its internet website, including the entity had a reasonable and good faith basis to believe that the internet website was accessible and conformed with the internet website accessibility standard, as specified. This bill would also prohibit a resource service provider from, in exchange for money or any other form of remuneration, negligently, recklessly, or knowingly constructing, licensing, distributing, or maintaining for online use a resource or part of an internet website that causes an entity's internet website to be inaccessible or not conformant with the internet website accessibility standard if the resource or part of the internet website is within the control of the resource service provider to remediate or from making a false representation that a resource or part of an internet website is accessible or conforms to the internet website accessibility standard. The bill would authorize a small business entity, as defined, and certain public attorneys, including the Attorney General, to bring a civil action to enforce that provision, as specified.

The Insurance Rate Reduction and Reform Act of 1988, an initiative measure enacted by Proposition 103, as approved by the voters at the November 8, 1988, statewide general election, prohibits specified insurance rates from being approved or remaining in effect that are excessive, inadequate, unfairly discriminatory, or otherwise in violation of the act. Under the act, rates and premiums for automobile insurance are determined based on specified factors, including the insured's driving safety record. Existing law authorizes the provisions of Proposition 103 to be amended by a statute that furthers the purposes of the act and is enacted by the Legislature with a 23 vote. This bill, the Consumer Driving Data Protection Act of 2026, would authorize a consumer to opt to use telematics to establish their driving record, thus amending Proposition 103. The bill would prohibit the use of telematics data for a purpose other than rating private passenger automobile insurance. The bill would require a rate application under which telematics would be used to establish an insured's driving record to include specified materials related to the insurer's telematics program. This bill would prohibit an insurer that uses telematics from taking specified actions, including conditioning eligibility for a discount upon participation in a telematics program, unless the discount is approved by the commissioner. The bill would also set forth consent and privacy requirements for the collection and use of telematics data. The bill would authorize the commissioner to impose specified penalties for violations of the bill's provisions, including civil penalties and suspension of an insurer's telematics program. The bill would declare that its provisions further the purposes of Proposition 103.

Existing law generally regulates obscene content on internet websites, including requiring a social media platform to provide a means for a user who is a California resident to report material to the social media platform that the user reasonably believes is child sexual abuse material and prohibiting an operator of an internet website directed to minors from advertising obscene matter to minors. Under existing law, a person who distributes an image of an intimate body part or act of sexual intercourse of an identifiable person, under specified circumstances that include an agreement or understanding that the image would remain private, is guilty of a crime. This bill would require an operator of a pornographic internet website, among other things, to exercise ordinary care and reasonable diligence to ensure that each instance of sexually explicit content displayed on the operator's pornographic internet website does not include a depicted individual. The bill would define terms, including "depicted individual" for its purposes. This bill would also require an operator to exercise ordinary care and take reasonable steps to ensure that each instance of sexually explicit content uploaded to the operator's pornographic internet website does not include a depicted individual. The bill would require a user of a pornographic internet website, before uploading sexually explicit content, to submit specific information to the operator, including a statement certifying, under penalty of perjury, that each individual depicted in the sexually explicit content meets certain criteria. Under the bill, knowingly providing false information in the user statement would be punishable as an infraction with a specified fine. By expanding the crime of perjury and creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would authorize a depicted individual and a public prosecutor to bring a civil action to enforce these provisions, as prescribed. This bill would exclude sexually explicit content transmitted on an online dating service through a private messaging or direct-communication feature from its provisions, as specified. 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 vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory jurisdiction over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law requires every public utility to furnish and maintain adequate, efficient, just, and reasonable service, instrumentalities, equipment, and facilities, as are necessary to promote the safety, health, comfort, and convenience of its customers, its employees, and the public. This bill would require the commission, on or before January 1, 2028, to adopt standards for an electrical or gas corporation's use of artificial intelligence models, as provided. The bill would require the commission to direct an electrical or gas corporation to file a plan that demonstrates the corporation's compliance with those standards. The bill would authorize the commission to prohibit an electrical or gas corporation's use of an artificial intelligence model if the commission finds that deployment of the artificial intelligence model would negatively impact the provision of safe, affordable, and reliable electrical or gas service. The bill would require each community choice aggregator and local publicly owned electric utility to adopt a policy regarding its use of an artificial intelligence model that is consistent with the standards. Under existing law, a violation of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because a violation of a commission action implementing those requirements would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Additionally, by imposing new duties on local publicly owned electric utilities, 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 specified reasons.

Existing law requires school districts, county superintendents of schools, and charter schools to adopt and update a local control and accountability plan (LCAP) using a template adopted by the State Board of Education that requires an LCAP to include certain information, including, among other information, (1) a description of the annual goals to be achieved for specified state priorities, including, among others, pupil achievement and pupil outcomes, (2) a description of the specific actions that the local educational agency will take during each year of the LCAP to achieve these goals, and (3) an assessment of the effectiveness of the specific actions described in the existing LCAP toward achieving the goals, as provided. This bill would, among other things, require the State Department of Education, in consultation with the state board and the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, to (1) on or before December 31, 2027, prepare a compilation of best practices to harness the power of technology to support pupil academic success and accelerate pupil academic achievement for school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools that receive specified federal funding, including a model policy for incorporation of those best practices into their LCAPs, (2) conduct at least 3 informational webinars in 2028 for those local educational agencies to understand how to incorporate the best practices and model policy into their LCAPs, and (3) on or before December 31, 2028, identify ways to (A) encourage local educational agencies to incorporate the compilation of best practices and the model policy into their LCAPs, and (B) showcase local educational agencies that have demonstrated success integrating technology in a manner than has positively impacted pupil achievement.

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.

(1) The Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) prohibits a provider of health care, a health care service plan, a contractor, or a corporation and its subsidiaries and affiliates from intentionally sharing, selling, using for marketing, or otherwise using any medical information, as defined, for any purpose not necessary to provide health care services to a patient, except as provided. Existing law makes a violation of these provisions that results in economic loss or personal injury punishable as a misdemeanor. Existing law deems a business that offers a mental health digital service or reproductive or sexual health digital service to a consumer for the purpose of allowing the individual to manage the individual's information, or for the diagnosis, treatment, or management of a medical condition of the individual, to be a provider of health care subject to the requirements of the CMIA. The bill would additionally deem a business that offers a health care chatbot, as defined, to a consumer for the above-described purposes to be a provider of health care subject to the requirements of the CMIA. Because the bill would expand the scope of a crime, it would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires a health facility, clinic, physician's office, or office of a group practice that uses generative artificial intelligence to generate written or verbal patient communications pertaining to patient clinical information, as defined, to ensure that those communications include both a disclaimer that indicates to the patient that a communication was generated by generative artificial intelligence, as specified, and clear instructions describing how a patient may contact a human health care provider, employee, or other appropriate person, except as specified. This bill would require a health facility, clinic, physician's office, or office of a group practice to take reasonable steps to ensure that a licensed health care professional, acting within their scope of practice, retains the ability to exercise independent professional judgment in their care of a patient whenever that care is informed by the output of a clinical decision support system, as defined. The bill would prohibit a health facility, clinic, physician's office, or office of a group practice from using or deploying a tool, system, or device that includes artificial intelligence to independently perform any clinical function that is required by law to be performed by a person with a professional license. The bill would make a violation of these provisions by a physician subject to the jurisdiction of the Medical Board of California or the Osteopathic Medical Board of California. The bill would also authorize the appropriate professional licensing board to pursue an injunction or restraining order to enforce these provisions to the extent that a violation constitutes the practice of a health care profession without a license. The bill would specify that these provisions do not apply to the use of automated decision systems for documentation and communication that does not involve the application of professional judgment, including automated messages to inform patients of updates to their health records. (3) 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, 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 establishes the Department of Consumer Affairs to, among other things, protect consumer interests and regulate specified businesses. Existing law requires a business that provides an online service, product, or feature likely to be accessed by children to comply with specified requirements, including configuring all default privacy settings provided to children to settings that offer a high level of privacy. Existing law prohibits an operator of an internet website, online service, online application, or mobile application directed to minors from marketing or advertising specified products or services to a minor. This bill would enact the California Children's Digital Educational Content Act of 2026, which would require a covered platform, as defined, to establish and maintain a walled garden. The bill would define a walled garden as a clearly designated and easily accessible section of a platform that is dedicated exclusively to educational children's content, as defined. The bill would require a walled garden to meet certain requirements, including that it be free from targeted advertising and be accessible to minors without an account. The bill would authorize the department to adopt regulations to implement these provisions. The bill would require a covered platform to annually submit a compliance report to the department and would authorize the department to conduct audits. The bill would impose specified administrative penalties for violation of its provisions.