Workplace surveillance tools.

The bill was republished from a traditional legislative document format (with line numbers and formal headers) to a web-based publication format that includes website navigation elements such as skip-to-content links, search tools, and version history dropdowns. The underlying legal text of all sections remains identical.

Removed the prohibition on using workplace surveillance tools to prevent compliance with or violate labor, occupational health and safety, employment, or civil rights laws

Removed the prohibition on inferring information about workers engaging in activity protected by state or federal law

Removed the prohibition on making inferences about an individual based on their gait

Removed the prohibition on using facial recognition technology to make inferences about a worker for firing, deactivation, or disciplinary purposes

Removed the prohibition on inferring a worker's protected status under Government Code Section 12940 (which covered veteran status, ancestral history, religious beliefs, disability status, and other categories)

The safety exception in Section 1581(b) is broadened from a detailed carve-out that excluded specific AI inferences to a simple statement that the section does not prohibit tools used to ensure safety or that do not meet the two specifications in subdivision (a)

The federal exemption in Section 1583 no longer requires that tool use be 'required by' a federal statute, regulation, or contract - it now only requires that use be 'reasonably necessary to comply with' one

Section 1581(a) is now limited to prohibiting only two things: AI-based recognition or inference of emotional state, and collection of neural data. The tool must specifically use artificial intelligence for the prohibition to apply

Removed the definition of 'facial recognition technology' from Section 1580, consistent with removing the facial recognition prohibition

Venue for civil actions expanded to include counties where the employer 'transacts business' in addition to where the violation occurred or the employer resides

Added a new definition of 'artificial intelligence' in Section 1580(a) as an engineered or machine-based system that varies in autonomy and can infer from input how to generate outputs influencing physical or virtual environments.

Narrowed the prohibition in Section 1581(a)(1) so that the bans on emotional state recognition (C) and neural data collection (E) now apply only to workplace surveillance tools 'that uses artificial intelligence on workers that is capable of' those functions, rather than applying to all workplace surveillance tools as before.

Removed the facial recognition exception that allowed use 'strictly to open a locked device or grant access to locked or secure areas.' The Senate version retains only the prohibition on using facial recognition technology to make inferences about a worker for firing, deactivation, or disciplinary purposes.

Expanded the safety exception in Section 1581(b) by removing 'facial' from the list of prohibited AI inferences and adding a catch-all: 'or otherwise if it does not meet the specifications in subdivision (a),' making the safety carve-out broader.

Expanded the federal exemption in Section 1583(a) to cover tools used 'to ensure safety' in addition to those 'required by, or reasonably necessary to comply with' a federal statute, regulation, or binding federal contract related to aircraft development or national security/military/space/defense purposes.

New safety exception in Section 1581(b): employers may use workplace surveillance tools to ensure safety, provided the tool does not incorporate AI that makes inferences or predictions based on a worker's emotional state, facial features, gait, neural data, protected status, or activity protected by state or federal law.

Facial recognition prohibition was elevated from a sub-item under a general technology list to its own standalone subsection (1581(a)(2)), making it a separate and explicit prohibition: employers shall not use facial recognition technology unless strictly to open a locked device or grant access to locked or secure areas.

Gait-based inferences and neural data collection were split out from the general 'incorporates technologies' list into their own standalone prohibited uses (subsections D and E), making them independently enforceable prohibitions rather than just examples of prohibited technology types.

The worker civil action remedy in Section 1582(c) was broadened from covering 'damages caused by that adverse action, including punitive damages' to simply 'the violation,' meaning workers can sue for any violation of the part, not just those resulting in an adverse employment action.

Injunctive relief and attorney's fees under Section 1582(d) were expanded to apply to actions brought under subdivision (c) (the worker civil action), not just actions brought by the Labor Commissioner or a public prosecutor.

Venue for civil actions was narrowed: the option to file in a county where the employer 'transacts business' was removed, leaving only the county where the violation occurred or where the employer resides.

The definition of 'Employer' was cleaned up to remove redundant and overlapping language about political subdivisions, consolidating into a single list that includes all branches of state government, cities, counties, charter cities, charter counties, special districts (including transit), UC, CSU, community college districts, school districts, and any other state or local governmental entity.

The definition of 'Workplace surveillance tool' was amended to add 'behaviors' after 'passively surveilling workers,' clarifying that the definition covers tools capable of passively surveilling both workers and their behaviors.

New prohibition: employers may not use facial recognition technology to make inferences about a worker for firing, deactivation, or disciplinary purposes. This goes beyond the prior version which only restricted facial recognition to access control.

New Section 1583 exempts workplace AI and surveillance tools from the bill when their use is required by or reasonably necessary to comply with a federal statute, regulation, or binding federal contract relating to aircraft development for national airspace or products/services for national security, military, space, or defense purposes. The exemption is limited to only the operations covered by those federal requirements.

The definition of 'Workplace surveillance tool' was narrowed by removing the phrase about surveilling 'those of the public that are also capable of passively surveilling workers,' which had extended coverage to tools monitoring the public that could incidentally capture workers.

Civil penalty changed from up to $500 per employee for each violation to up to $500 for each violation, removing the per-employee multiplier that could have multiplied penalties significantly for larger workforces.

Removed definitions for 'Agency' (Labor and Workforce Development Agency), 'Emotion recognition technology,' 'Gait recognition technology,' and 'Employment-related decision.' The emotion and gait recognition concepts are still prohibited but no longer have standalone definitions.

Venue for civil actions narrowed: removed 'or transacts business' from the list of acceptable counties, so lawsuits can only be filed where the violation occurred or where the employer resides.

The definition of 'employer' in Section 1580(c)(1) was expanded to explicitly name charter cities, charter counties, special districts including transit districts, the University of California, the California State University, community college districts, school districts, and any other state or local governmental entity. Previously these were only covered by general language about political subdivisions and agencies.

A new Section 2 was added containing a legislative finding and declaration that the bill addresses a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair under Section 5 of Article XI of the California Constitution, and therefore applies to all cities including charter cities. This is a standard clause used to override local autonomy protections for charter cities.