Although enacting legislation for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s redistricting initiative has dominated headlines, the California Legislature also is barreling toward its Sept. 12 adjournment.
First, three good bills we support.
Assembly Bill 688 is by Assemblyman Mark González, D-Los Angeles. The Telehealth Care for All Act of 2025 would require the State Department of Health Care Services to expand “telehealth access and utilization data,” especially for those on Medi-Cal. The COVID-19 pandemic five years ago led to the expansion of telemedicine, which allows patients to get treatment without visiting an office. AB 688 should be a first step in identifying further telehealth expansion. It passed the Assembly unanimously and now is in the Senate.
Senate Bill 524 is by Sen. Jesse Arreguín, D-Richmond. It would require any report prepared by a law enforcement officer using AI “to include specified information” on the production, including a copy of the first draft. With AI rapidly advancing, it’s important to guard against “hallucinations,” or errors. That’s especially true in police documents that could lead to false accusations and incarceration. The first step is to know if AI was used. A recently amended version of SB 524 is in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Senate Bill 691 is by Sen. Aisha Wahab, D-Fremont. The use of bodycams has helped reduce abuses by law enforcement. This bill would provide guidance “to reasonably and temporarily limit the recording of medical or psychological evaluations, procedures, or treatment performed by emergency service personnel that may cause embarrassment or humiliation to the patient.” It passed the Senate’s Committee on Public Safety and currently is in that body’s Appropriations Committee.
Here are three bills we oppose that take a Luddite approach to new technology helping make businesses more efficient. The state that’s creating the AI revolution especially ought to refrain from such meddling.
Senate Bill 259 is also by Wahab. Misnamed the Fair Online Pricing Act, it would “prohibit a price offered to a consumer through the consumer’s online device,” from being generated by “certain input data,” including the consumer’s software. This is interference in market pricing, which in the end raises costs that are passed on to consumers. It passed the Senate and currently is in the Assembly Judiciary Committee.
Senate Bill 7 is by Sen. Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton. It would require an employer to notify an employee if an “automated decision system,” or ADS, is used for “employment-related decisions, not including hiring.” CalChamber warned the bill would “subject employers to costly litigation and onerous new compliance procedures.” The bill passed the Senate and the Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee and now is in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Senate Bill 295 is by Sen. Melissa Hurtado, D-Bakersfield. In the Assembly summary, it would prohibit “the distribution and use of pricing algorithms that process competitor data and are used to set a price or commercial term of a product, rental property, or service.” Silly meddling. The key to housing affordability is to let the market work and to enable more housing to be built, simple as that. This will do nothing but interfere in the market. It passed the Senate and is in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.