Existing law creates a civil cause of action against any person who knowingly uses the name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness of another person, without their consent, for specified purposes. When a photograph or likeness of an employee of the person using the photograph or likeness appearing in an advertisement or other publication is incidental and not essential to the purpose of the publication, existing law establishes a rebuttable presumption affecting the burden of producing evidence that failure to obtain the consent of an employee was not a knowing use of an employee's photograph or likeness. This bill would clarify that, for purposes of this cause of action, a voice or likeness includes a digital replica, defined to mean a computer-generated, highly realistic electronic representation that is readily identifiable as the voice or visual likeness of an individual in which the actual individual either did not actually perform or appear, or the actual individual did perform or appear, but the fundamental character of the performance or appearance has been materially altered. The bill would also remove the provisions establishing the rebuttable presumption when an employee's likeness or photograph appears in an advertisement or other publication. Existing law prohibits the false impersonation of another person in either their personal or official capacity with the intent to steal or defraud, as specified. This bill would clarify that false impersonation includes the use of a digital replica with the intent to impersonate another for purposes of these and other criminal provisions.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in the state. Existing law requires the board to appoint a chief executive officer, known as the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. Existing law establishes community college districts throughout the state, under the administration of community college district governing boards, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction at the community college campuses they operate. This bill, upon appropriation, would require the chancellor's office to implement the Future of Creative Industries Pilot Program, commencing on or before July 1, 2028, and to select up to 10 community colleges to participate in the pilot program, as specified. The bill would require the chancellor's office, on or before January 1, 2032, to submit a report to the Legislature evaluating the effectiveness of the pilot program, as provided. The bill would repeal this pilot program on January 1, 2033.
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 authorizes the governing board of a school district, when adopting instructional materials for use in school, to include relevant technology-based materials, defined for these purposes to mean basic or supplemental instructional materials that are designed for use by pupils and teachers as learning resources and that require the availability of electronic equipment in order to be used as a learning resource, and including the electronic equipment required to make use of those materials used by pupils and teachers as a learning resource, including, but not limited to, laptop computers and devices that provide internet access. Existing law prohibits a school official from requiring a pupil to purchase any instructional materials for the pupil's use in the school, except as provided. Commencing with the 2027–28 school year, this bill would prohibit, unless necessary under a specified circumstance, a school district, county office of education, or charter school from requiring a pupil in kindergarten, including a pupil in transitional kindergarten, to take home a school-issued electronic device, as defined, except that a local educational agency may authorize those pupils to take home a school-issued electronic device. The bill would encourage local educational agencies to regularly review and update their policies related to pupils' screen time and, in conducting that review, to solicit input from, among others, currently employed teachers and school administrators. This bill would require the State Department of Education, on or before July 1, 2027, to (1) curate and maintain on its internet website resources for age-appropriate screen time and electronic device use in schools and guidance on how to transition take-home school-issued electronic devices into dedicated classroom-based electronic devices and how to participate in e-waste recycling or buy-back programs, and (2) take into consideration when curating the resources and guidance, among other things, developmentally appropriate screen exposure time at each grade level.
The California Constitution provides that people have the right of access to information concerning the conduct of the people's business. Various provisions of existing law, including the California Public Records Act, the Legislative Open Records Act, the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, and the Ralph M. Brown Act, provide, with some exceptions, for public access to government records and meetings of government bodies. Among those acts, the California Public Records Act defines "person" to include any natural person, corporation, partnership, limited liability company, firm, or association. Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, governs, among other things, the procedures for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations by state agencies and for the review of those regulatory actions by the Office of Administrative Law. Existing law, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) , requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA defines "person" to include any person, firm, association, organization, partnership, business, trust, corporation, limited liability company, company, district, county, city and county, city, town, and, among other things, the state. Existing law, the California Coastal Act of 1976, establishes the California Coastal Commission and prescribes procedures for the preparation, approval, and certification of local coastal programs that regulate development in the coastal zone, as defined, in jurisdictions that have a certified local coastal program. This bill would specify that, for purposes of the California Public Records Act, the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, the Ralph M. Brown Act, the Legislative Open Records Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, the California Coastal Act of 1976, and CEQA, "person," "interested person," "participant," "member of the public," as applicable, and any other similar terms under each act referring to those who may engage with governmental agencies, do not include artificial intelligence, as defined, systems, autonomous agents, or robots, whether physical or digital. The bill would authorize governmental agencies to use a disclosure verification tool to determine if artificial intelligence is present. The bill would make findings and declarations related to these provisions. The bill would prohibit a person from knowingly using artificial intelligence to falsely represent that a natural person appeared before, submitted information to, or otherwise engaged with a governmental agency. The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
Existing law generally designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency with the primary responsibility for the control of vehicular air pollution, and designates air pollution control districts and air quality management districts with the primary responsibility for the control of air pollution from all sources other than vehicular sources. Existing law requires the state board to inventory sources of air pollution within the air basins of the state, determine the kinds and quantity of air pollutants, and monitor air pollutants in cooperation with districts and other agencies. Existing law requires the state board to adopt standards of ambient air quality for each air basin in consideration of the public health, safety, and welfare, including, but not limited to, health, illness, irritation to the senses, aesthetic value, interference with visibility, and effects on the economy. Existing law authorizes these standards to vary from one air basin to another. This bill would require the state board, in consultation with specified entities, to develop, as provided, a response framework that establishes best practices and guidance for addressing fugitive and natural sources of hydrogen sulfide gas and for community preparation and response to hydrogen sulfide exposure events originating from these sources. The bill would require the state board, in developing the response framework, to conduct at least 3 public workshops, including at least one located in the Tijuana River Valley region, at least one located in the Salton Sea region, and at least one selected in consultation with a community that has experienced significant hydrogen sulfide exposure. The bill would require the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to update the acute and chronic reference exposure levels for hydrogen sulfide and to develop additional health guidance values for hydrogen sulfide, if the need is identified by the state board, in consultation with the office, during development of the response framework.
Existing law, the State Aeronautics Act, governs various matters relative to aviation in the state, and authorizes the Department of Transportation to adopt, administer, and enforce rules and regulations for the administration of the act. This bill, the Advanced Air Mobility Infrastructure Act, would require the department, in coordination with specified agencies, to include advanced air mobility, as defined, in the next update to the California Transportation Plan prepared after January 1, 2027, and to establish a statewide working group to facilitate ongoing collaboration to explore California's role as a leader in the development and implementation of advanced air mobility, as specified. The bill would prohibit its provisions from being construed to (1) interfere with or suspend the authority of the Federal Aviation Administration or any other federal department or agency, or state zoning laws or regulations, as specified, or (2) limit or interfere with the jurisdiction, authority, rights, or responsibilities of any airport sponsor or operator, as specified.
Existing law requires the governing board of a school district that maintains one or more schools containing any of grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to establish a policy regarding participation in extracurricular and cocurricular activities by pupils in those grades as a condition for the receipt of specified school funding allocations. This bill, commencing with the 2027–28 school year, would prohibit a school district, county office of education, or charter school from excluding a pupil from participating in any extracurricular activity, including sports and clubs, due to the pupil not having or using addictive feeds, as defined. Existing law provides that parents and guardians of children enrolled in public schools have the right and should have the opportunity, as mutually supportive and respectful partners in the education of their children within the public schools, to be informed by the school, and to participate in the education of their children, as specified, including by, among other things, to be notified on a timely basis if their child is absent from school without permission. This bill, commencing with the 2027–28 school year, would prohibit a school district, county office of education, or charter school from using addictive feeds, as defined, as the only means of contacting pupils or pupils' parents or guardians.
Existing law establishes the Instructional Quality Commission and requires the commission to, among other things, develop, and the State Board of Education to adopt, modify, or revise, model curriculum frameworks, as specified. Existing law requires the commission, when the health curriculum framework is next revised on or after January 1, 2025, to consider providing for inclusion, in that curriculum framework, content on sextortion, as defined. Existing law, the California Healthy Youth Act, requires school districts, defined to include county boards of education, county superintendents of schools, the California School for the Deaf, the California School for the Blind, and charter schools, to ensure that all pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, receive comprehensive sexual health education and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention education from instructors trained in the appropriate courses, at least once in junior high or middle school and at least once in high school. Under the act, this instruction includes, among other things, information about human trafficking. Existing law requires school districts, as part of the requirement of the California Healthy Youth Act that pupils receive comprehensive sexual health education and HIV prevention education from instructors trained in the appropriate courses, to ensure the periodic conduction of continuation training to enable school district personnel to learn about new developments in the understanding of, among other things, human trafficking, and to receive instruction on current prevention resources, as provided. This bill would require the commission, when the health curriculum framework is next revised on or after January 1, 2027, to consider providing for inclusion in that framework content related to human trafficking and online safety, including how to prevent human trafficking, how to prevent exploitation for labor and services, how to stay safe from sexually exploitative materials and deepfakes online, foundational digital citizenship skills, and skills-based content that builds protective factors, as provided. The bill would require the topics considered to follow a cumulative, age-appropriate progression from kindergarten to grades 1 to 12, inclusive, as provided. The bill would require the State Department of Education to curate and maintain information on its internet website related to the above-described topics, and related recommended training for educators, as provided.
Existing law establishes the Instructional Quality Commission and requires the commission to, among other things, advise and recommend to the State Board of Education the policies and activities that are needed to implement the state's academic content standards. Existing law requires the commission, on or before July 31, 2019, to consider developing and recommending to the state board computer science content standards for kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, pursuant to recommendations developed by a group of computer science experts, as specified. This bill would require the commission, when the computer science content standards are next revised after January 1, 2027, to consider incorporating cybersecurity skills, as defined, into those standards.
