(1) Existing law, the Digital Financial Assets Law, prohibits a person, on or after July 1, 2026, from engaging in digital financial asset business activity, or holding itself out as being able to engage in digital financial asset business activity, with, or on behalf of, a resident, unless any of certain criteria are met, including that the person is licensed with the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, as prescribed, or the person submits an application on or before July 1, 2026, and is awaiting approval or denial of that application. This bill would revise the above-described latter criterion to specify that the person submits a completed application, as provided. The Digital Financial Assets Law authorizes the Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation to issue a conditional license to an applicant who holds or maintains a license to conduct virtual currency business activity in the State of New York, as specified, provided the license was issued or approved no later than January 1, 2023. This bill would revise the above-described authorization to require that the license be issued or approved no later than January 1, 2025. (2) The Digital Financial Assets Law defines "digital financial asset business activity" to mean any of specified activities, including, among others, exchanging, transferring, or storing a digital financial asset, as specified, or exchanging one or more digital representations of value used within one or more online games, game platforms, or family of games, as provided. This bill would remove exchanging one or more digital representations of value used within one or more online games, game platforms, or family of games from the definition of "digital financial business activity." The bill would specify that a "digital financial asset" does not include, among other things, a transaction in which a merchant grants digital representations of value that primarily relate to an affinity or rewards program, as provided, or a digital representation of value issued by or on behalf of a publisher and used primarily within online games or game platforms and that is not otherwise a digital financial asset. The Digital Financial Assets Law declares that its provisions do not apply to specified activity, including by a person who does not receive compensation for providing digital financial asset products or services or for conducting financial asset business activity or that is engaged in testing products or services with the person's own funds. This bill would specify that the above-described exclusion includes a person who merely retains the ability to terminate, suspend, or interrupt a digital financial transaction solely to prevent unauthorized or fraudulent activity and who is not compensated for that service. The Digital Financial Assets Law prohibits a covered person from exchanging, transferring, or storing a digital financial asset that is a stablecoin or engaging in digital financial asset administration of a stablecoin, as specified, unless certain conditions are met. However, existing law authorizes a covered person to exchange, transfer, or store a stablecoin or engage in digital financial asset administration of that stablecoin, as specified, if the stablecoin is approved by the commissioner and complies with certain requirements, restrictions, or prohibitions established by the commissioner. This bill would repeal the above-described provisions related to stablecoins. (3) The Digital Financial Assets Law requires a licensee to submit an annual report, as provided, containing specified information, including a description of any data security breach or cybersecurity event of the licensee. Existing law requires a licensee to file with the department, as applicable, a report of, among other things, a change in the licensee's business for the conduct of its digital financial asset business activity with, or on behalf of, a resident that meets one of specified criteria, including that the proposed change might raise safety and soundness or operational concerns. This bill would revise the above-described annual report to instead include a description of any material data security breach or cybersecurity event of the licensee. The bill would revise the specified criteria in the requirement to file the above-described report of a change in the licensee's business to instead include that the proposed change might raise material safety and soundness or operational concerns. Before engaging in digital financial asset business activity with a resident, the Digital Financial Assets Law requires a covered person, defined as a person required to obtain a license pursuant to that law, to disclose, as provided, certain information, including the resident's right to at least 14 days' prior notice of specified changes that have a material impact on digital financial asset business activity with the resident, or the policies applicable to the resident's account. Existing law requires a covered exchange, as provided, to certify on a form provided by the department that the covered exchange has taken specified actions, except for any digital financial asset approved for listing on or before January 1, 2023. In a transaction for or with a resident, existing law prohibits the covered exchange from interjecting a third party between the covered exchange and the best market for the digital financial asset in a manner inconsistent with specified requirements. This bill would prohibit the 14-day notice requirement from applying to changes in terms, conditions, or policies that are reasonably necessary to address a risk of loss to the resident or covered person, to the extent that the change does not relate to the fee schedule. The bill would instead exclude from the above-described certification requirement a digital financial asset approved for listing on or before January 1, 2025. The bill would require a covered person to provide and make available an up-to-date description of the order execution practices of the covered person, as specified. The bill would exempt a transaction in which a resident receives stablecoin, as defined, in exchange for legal tender or bank or credit union credit from the above-described prohibition against interjecting a third party. The Digital Financial Assets Law requires an applicant, as provided, to create, and during licensure, maintain in a record specified policies and procedures. Existing law requires these policies and procedures be disclosed separately from other disclosures made available to a resident, as specified, except for, among other things, an adopted information security program or an operational security program. This bill would instead exclude from the above-described requirement to disclose separately from other disclosures programs with information that is sensitive to potential security risks, as specified. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law requires every videogame retailer to post a sign, within the retail establishment in a prominent area, providing information to consumers about a videogame rating system or notifying consumers that a rating system is available to aid in the selection of a game and to make available to consumers, upon request, information that explains the videogame rating system. Existing law, subject to certain exceptions, prohibits a seller of a digital good, including a digital application or game, from advertising or offering for sale a digital good to a purchaser with the terms "buy," "purchase," or any other term that a reasonable person would understand to confer an unrestricted ownership interest in the digital good, or alongside an option for a time-limited rental, unless the seller receives at the time of each transaction an affirmative acknowledgment from the purchaser, or the seller provides to the consumer before executing each transaction a clear and conspicuous statement, as specified. Existing law defines "digital application or game" to mean any application or game that a person accesses and manipulates using a specialized electronic gaming device, computer, mobile device, tablet, or other device with a display screen, including any add-ons or additional content for that application or game. This bill, with regard to digital games first available for purchase or rereleased for purchase on or after January 1, 2028, and subject to certain exceptions, would require a digital game operator to communicate specified information to purchasers and prospective purchasers of a digital game 60 days before the operator ceases to provide services necessary for the ordinary use of the game. The bill would, beginning on the date an operator ceases to provide services necessary for the ordinary use of the game, require the operator to provide the purchaser with, among other things, an alternate version of, a patch or update to, or a refund for, the game, as provided, and prohibit the operator from selling, leasing, or otherwise distributing a version of the game that cannot be used by a purchaser independent of services controlled by the operator. The bill would authorize the Attorney General or a district attorney to bring a civil action for a violation of these provisions.
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 the Attorney General to establish and maintain various databases and information centers relating to the identification, apprehension, and prevention of crimes, including the Violent Crime Information Center and the Automated Firearms System, among others. Existing law requires a business that controls the collection of a consumer's personal information to delete that information upon the request of the consumer and provides for administrative penalties if the business fails to act on the consumer's request. This bill would, beginning January 1, 2029, require the Department of Justice to establish the Nonconsensual Intimate Image Clearinghouse to allow individuals who were exploited in California to submit a request for the removal of nonconsensual intimate images from covered platforms. The bill would define nonconsensual intimate images to include an authentic image depicting a person nude or engaging in sexual conduct distributed without consent or an image digitally altered or generated by artificial intelligence realistically depicting a person nude or engaged in sexual conduct without consent. The bill would require the department to transmit verified identifiers of images to covered platforms and require those platforms to remove verified matches within 48 hours of receipt and to prevent the images from being uploaded again. The bill would require the department to enforce these provisions and would impose civil penalties for violations. The bill would require a peace officer in the investigation of a specified offense to advise a victim that they may make a request to the clearinghouse pursuant to these provisions and would require a peace officer to provide certain information to the clearinghouse, as specified. By increasing duties for peace officers, this 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
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.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the PUC to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. This bill would require the PUC to establish a special rate structure for data centers, as defined, taking transmission level electrical service with an estimated peak demand of at least 75 megawatts of electricity to, among other things, protect other customers of electrical corporations, prohibit cost shifts to those other customers, and require data centers to pay for the electrical corporations' upfront costs of transmission or distribution infrastructure upgrades necessary for the provision of electrical service to the data centers. The bill would require the construction of data centers subject to the special rate structure to comply with certain labor requirements. Existing law establishes the policy of the state that eligible renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources supply 90% of all retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers by December 31, 2035, 95% by December 31, 2040, and 100% by December 31, 2045. Existing law requires the PUC, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, and the State Air Resources Board, in consultation with all California balancing authorities, to annually issue a joint report related to meeting that state policy. This bill would require that the joint report also includes the impacts of data centers subject to the special rate structure on the state's ability to achieve the above-described state policy. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because the provisions of the bill would be part of the act and a violation of a PUC action implementing the bill's requirements would be a crime, this 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.
Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , in consultation with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) , to develop uptime recordkeeping and reporting standards for electric vehicle chargers and charging stations. This bill would require the Energy Commission, on or before December 31, 2028, to conduct and publish on its internet website an assessment of, among other things, the electrical grid energy supply, reliability, and cost implications associated with the state's transition to 100% renewable and zero-carbon energy sources and the target level of grid-integrated vehicle technology vehicle use and grid-integrated charging technology-enabled vehicle use necessary to address those needs, as provided. The bill would require the Energy Commission, on or before December 31, 2029, to adopt and implement standards, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, the PUC, and other relevant local and state agencies, for grid-integrated vehicle technology and associated grid-integrated charging technology of new vehicles, as provided. The bill would require that these standards establish requirements for on-road vehicles of any weight class sold within the state to incorporate grid-integrated vehicle technology and grid-integrated charging technology to achieve those targets, except as specified, and include specified provisions relating to, among other things, classes and types of grid-integrated vehicle technologies that can satisfy those requirements and alternative compliance mechanisms, as provided. The bill would exempt specified types of vehicles from these requirements adopted by the Energy Commission, including, among others, authorized emergency vehicles, as provided. The bill would require the Energy Commission, if it adopts requirements that would require the inclusion of grid-integrated charging technology or grid-integrated vehicle technology on a specific vehicle model or type within a weight class, to adopt a process for a manufacturer to apply for a waiver from that requirement if implementation is not feasible for the vehicle model.
Existing law establishes the Government Operations Agency (GovOps) , and establishes within the agency the Department of Technology. Existing law requires the Department of Technology to conduct, in coordination with other interagency bodies as it deems appropriate, a comprehensive inventory of all high-risk automated decision systems that have been proposed for use, development, or procurement by, or are being used, developed, or procured by, any state agency. Existing law defines, for these purposes, an "automated decision system" as, among other things, a computational process that is used to assist or replace human discretionary decisionmaking and materially impacts natural persons. Existing law establishes various public assistance and social programs administered by state agencies, including the Department of Social Services and the Employment Development Department. Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of specified professions and vocations by boards and bureaus within the Department of Consumer Affairs. This bill would impose certain restrictions on the use of an automated decision system by a state agency to confer services, defined as, among other things, the issuance of professional licenses and provision of public benefits. Among the restrictions, the bill would include a prohibition on using an output from the system as the sole basis for an adverse service determination affecting a natural person, except as specified. The bill would require the state agency to verify the accuracy of the system's outputs and to promote nondiscrimination in its use, as specified. The bill would require the director or designee of a state agency to provide for quality control review of the outputs, as specified, to assure acceptable accuracy. This bill would authorize GovOps to develop, adopt, and make publicly available guidance for a state agency's use of automated decision systems. The bill would require GovOps to notify the Joint Legislative Budget Committee before issuing the guidance. The bill would require GovOps to provide technical assistance to state agencies upon request. The bill would define terms for purposes of its provisions and would make related findings and declarations.
Existing law, 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. Existing law, the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (CPRA) , an initiative measure 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 (agency) and vests the agency with full administrative power, authority, and jurisdiction to enforce the CCPA. Existing law requires a data broker to register with the agency, and defines "data broker" to mean a business that knowingly collects and sells to third parties the personal information of a consumer with whom the business does not have a direct relationship, subject to specified exceptions. This bill would define a "direct relationship" as, among other things, when a consumer has intentionally interacted with a business for the purpose of obtaining information about, accessing, purchasing, using, or requesting the business's products or services. The bill would specify circumstances when a data broker does not have a "direct relationship," including if it sells personal information outside of a "first-party" interaction with the consumer. The bill would define a "first party" as a consumer-facing business with which the consumer intends and expects to interact. Existing law requires a data broker, in registering with the agency, to provide specified information, including, among other things, whether the data broker collects the personal information of minors or a consumer's reproductive health care data. Existing law requires the agency to establish an accessible deletion mechanism that, among other things, allows a consumer to request that a specified data broker delete any personal information related to that consumer held by the data broker or associated service provider or contractor. This bill would require a data broker to provide additional information to the agency regarding whether the data broker sells inferences about the attributes of the consumer based on their analysis of specified data, including the personal information of minors and a consumer's reproductive health care data. Existing law establishes the Office of Data and Innovation (office) within the Government Operations Agency with a mission to deliver better government services to the people of California through technology and service innovation, data, and design. This bill would require the office to establish a privacy preference tool to enable a consumer to define and store a privacy preference profile regarding data broker data collection and use practices, among other things. The bill would require the tool to, among other things, evaluate relevant privacy, data management, and practice and policies against the consumer's preference profile. The bill would require the office to make the online tool available to other state agencies, including the agency. This bill would declare that its provisions further the purposes and intent of the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020.
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.
