Newsom's final 2026 AI bill decisions: signs 'No Robo Bosses' (SB 947), AI-layoff notice and AI Transparency Act updates; vetoes healthcare-AI and smart-glasses bills
On Sept 30, 2026, his deadline, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a final batch of 13 AI bills. They include SB 947, the "No Robo Bosses Act", which bars employers from relying solely on automated systems to discipline or fire workers. A 2025 version (SB 7) had been vetoed. The batch also includes SB 951 (notice of AI-driven layoffs), AB 1883 (no neural-data or emotion surveillance of workers), SB 1000 and AB 2713 (amendments to the AI Transparency Act on provenance and watermarks), AB 1864 (gene-synthesis customer screening) and SB 1111 (digital replicas). He vetoed three healthcare and public-sector AI bills (AB 2575, SB 903, AB 2656) and the smart-glasses recording bill SB 1130. No frontier-model safety bill was on his desk. Frontier oversight is following the Sept 18 executive-order track instead.
Key facts
- Signed Sept 30 (gov.ca.gov list): AB 1331, AB 1864, AB 1883, AB 1979, AB 2392, AB 2713, SB 503, SB 574, SB 947, SB 951, SB 1000, SB 1111, SB 1159
- SB 947 (McNerney, 'No Robo Bosses Act'): employers may not rely solely on an automated decision system to discipline or fire; a human reviewer must corroborate AI-based findings; affected workers get written notice of the AI data used and a human contact. Operative July 1, 2027; $500 civil penalties (Kelley Drye). The final text dropped pre-use notification and coverage of gig workers/contractors (CalMatters, CNBC). It reverses Newsom's Oct 2025 veto of SB 7
- SB 951 (Reyes): WARN-style notice when layoffs result substantially from AI or automation (90 days' notice in the May 2026 version, per Transparency Coalition and Fisher Phillips; final thresholds not verified here)
- AB 1883 (Bryan): bans employer AI tools that collect neural data or infer workers' emotional states; AB 1331 (Elhawary): limits workplace surveillance, including in bathrooms
- Healthcare: AB 1979 (Bonta) keeps final clinical decisions with licensed professionals; SB 503 (Weber Pierson) requires clinical-decision-support developers to identify and mitigate 'known or reasonably foreseeable' biased impacts
- Provenance: SB 1000 (Becker) amends the AI Transparency Act (SB 942). It removes the 1M-monthly-user threshold for covered providers, drops mandatory manifest (visible) disclosures, keeps latent provenance data and a free detection tool, and is an urgency statute effective immediately with $5,000/day penalties (GovBuddy bill text, Kelley Drye). AB 2713 (Wicks) requires large platforms to show provenance data and let users download it; Newsom's release says watermarks 'cannot be removed'
- Other signed bills: AB 1864 (Berman), gene-synthesis providers must screen customers and orders (endorsed by OpenAI on Sept 9); SB 1111 (Ashby), digital replicas covered by likeness/impersonation law; SB 574 (Umberg), attorneys may not fully delegate core legal work to AI; AB 2392 (Fong), AI procurement standards and training in public education; SB 1159 (Cabaldon), AI transparency and governance in public agencies
- Vetoed Sept 30: AB 2575 (Ortega), nurses' right to override clinical decision support. Veto message: anti-retaliation rule would put 'the Labor Commissioner in the position of adjudicating the standard of care for patients'
- Vetoed: SB 903 (Padilla), ban on companion chatbots in psychotherapy. Veto message: 'overly broad' and its definition of psychotherapy services 'would capture general-purpose AI systems not even structured or deployed to deliver that care'
- Vetoed: AB 2656 (Petrie-Norris), 45 days' notice to public-employee unions before using generative AI for their work. Veto message: 'redundant administrative layers' that would 'slow the deployment of even the most innocuous tools'; better left to collective bargaining
- Vetoed: SB 1130, misdemeanor for using wearable recording devices (e.g. AI smart glasses) in private areas of businesses. Veto message: definitions too broad (could include smartwatches); existing law already covers it
- Earlier in September: SB 813 and AB 1405 (AI auditors, Sept 9); SB 1119 and SB 867 (companion chatbots, Sept 10); SB 1050 (synthetic performers in ads, Sept 16); AB 2025 (disclosure of digitally altered rental-listing photos, ~Sept 27); AB 1609 (customer-service chatbot disclosure, Sept 28). Transparency Coalition counts nearly 30 AI-related laws enacted in the 2026 session
- Same day: Newsom signed Executive Order N-10-26, which keeps state agencies using the terms 'artificial intelligence' and 'AI', 'notwithstanding any rebranded or different terminology used by the federal government', countering Trump's Sept 29 'Super Intelligence' order. Newsom: 'Super intelligence is clearly not coming from the White House'
- Newsom: 'AI should expand opportunity – not come at the expense of workers and families.' California Labor Federation's Lorena Gonzalez praised 'four first-in-the-nation bills'. The California Nurses Association criticized the AB 2575 veto
What happened
California's governor had until Sept 30, 2026 to act on about thirty AI bills passed by the Legislature. Most of the child-safety and
auditor bills were signed earlier in September (see 2026-09-18-newsom-ai-kill-switch-executive-order). On the last day Newsom signed
13 more AI-related bills. He presented them as "first-in-the-nation protections for California workers" and paired them with an executive
order keeping the term "artificial intelligence" in state government.
Per-bill outcome of the bills still pending on Sept 30:
| Bill | Author | Subject | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| SB 947 | McNerney | No Robo Bosses Act: no AI-only discipline or firing | Signed (operative July 1, 2027) |
| SB 951 | Reyes | Notice of AI-driven layoffs (technological displacement) | Signed |
| AB 1883 | Bryan | Neural data and emotion recognition at work | Signed |
| AB 1331 | Elhawary | Workplace surveillance (incl. bathrooms) | Signed |
| AB 1979 | Bonta | Healthcare AI cannot replace licensed clinical judgment | Signed |
| SB 503 | Weber Pierson | Bias mitigation in clinical-decision-support AI | Signed |
| SB 1000 | Becker | AI Transparency Act: covered providers, latent provenance | Signed (urgency: immediate effect) |
| AB 2713 | Wicks / Aguiar-Curry | AI Transparency Act: platform provenance data | Signed |
| SB 1111 | Ashby | Digital replicas under likeness/impersonation law | Signed |
| AB 1864 | Berman | Gene-synthesis customer and order screening | Signed |
| SB 574 | Umberg | Attorneys and arbitrators using AI | Signed |
| AB 2392 | Fong | Generative AI procurement and training in education | Signed |
| SB 1159 | Cabaldon | AI transparency and governance (public agencies) | Signed |
| AB 2575 | Ortega | Health workers may override clinical AI; anti-retaliation | Vetoed |
| SB 903 | Padilla | No companion chatbots in psychotherapy | Vetoed |
| AB 2656 | Petrie-Norris | 45-day union notice before public-sector gen-AI use | Vetoed |
| SB 1130 | — | Wearable recording devices (smart glasses) in private areas | Vetoed |
Bills such as AB 1609 (customer-service chatbots, signed Sept 28) and AB 2025 (AI-altered rental-listing photos) were resolved before the final day. Earlier signings and the one earlier veto (AB 1542, sensitive-data sales, Sept 27) are listed in the Kelley Drye tracker.
Why it matters
SB 947 is the first US state law requiring human review of AI-driven firing and discipline. Newsom vetoed its 2025 predecessor (SB 7) as "overly broad", and his reversal shows how far the politics of AI moved during 2026. SB 951 creates the first state notice requirement for layoffs caused by AI. SB 1000 and AB 2713 rewrite the provenance and watermarking rules of the 2024 AI Transparency Act (SB 942), which took effect Aug 2, 2026. They drop visible labels in favour of machine-readable provenance that platforms must surface. The healthcare and psychotherapy vetoes show Newsom's limits: he rejected broad bans that would also catch general-purpose AI tools. No frontier-model safety bill (kill switch, mandatory audits) reached him in 2026. That work runs through the Sept 18 executive order, with expert recommendations due by mid-November.
Unverified: final enacted thresholds of SB 951 and exact provisions of SB 1159 were taken from secondary summaries (Transparency Coalition, Wiley) and not checked against chaptered text. The terminology order is EO N-10-26 (signed PDF on gov.ca.gov). Its preamble says renaming something "cannot distract a person of normal intelligence from recognizing the impotent and craven failure to take action" on AI safety risks.
Changelog
- 2026-10-01: created (outcome of upcoming item 2026-09-30-california-newsom-ai-bill-deadline)
- 2026-10-01: added the signed EO N-10-26 PDF and its text (leads run, 07:40 completion)
Related events
- California Gov. Newsom orders work on a frontier-AI 'kill switch', embedded auditors and loss-of-control incident reporting ★★★
- California enacts SB 53, the first US frontier AI transparency law ★★★
- OpenAI calls for mandatory national AI safety rules and backs four more California bills ('The AI policy window is open') ★★★
- Trump signs executive order 'Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence', ordering federal agencies to replace 'AI' with 'Super Intelligence (SI)' ★★★
- Amazon plans 20,000+ AI smart glasses for delivery drivers by 2027, feeding its generative-AI mapping; privacy questions follow ★★
Sources (17)
- officialGovernor of California: California's nation-leading AI framework just got stronger (Sept 30 signings)
- officialGovernor of California: legislative update 9.30.2026 (32 vetoes incl. AB 2575, AB 2656, SB 903, SB 1130)
- officialExecutive Order N-10-26 (Sept 30, 2026): state agencies to keep saying 'Artificial Intelligence' and 'AI'
- officialVeto message AB 2575
- officialVeto message SB 903
- officialVeto message AB 2656
- officialVeto message SB 1130
- pressCNBC: Newsom bans AI 'robo bosses' in landmark state law, reversing his earlier veto
- pressCalMatters: On AI, Newsom gives labor only some of what it demanded
- pressAP (via News4Jax): Newsom signs laws to protect workers from AI risks
- pressPolitico (via Yahoo): Newsom orders California to say AI after Trump's 'superintelligence' decree
- pressTransparency Coalition: Newsom wraps term by enacting 11 more laws on AI safety
- pressKelley Drye: California's 2026 session tracker (updated Sept 29)
- pressWiley: California closes legislative session with significant AI and privacy developments
- docsGovBuddy: SB 1000 California AI Transparency Act (text summary)
- pressAshurst Perkins Coie: 2025 signings and vetoes (SB 7 veto background)
- pressCalifornia Apartment Association: new law requires disclosures for digitally altered rental ads (AB 2025)
id: 2026-09-30-newsom-final-ai-bill-decisions · updated 2026-10-01 · open in the interactive timeline