California's governor signed 13 more bills on technology and AI, including SB 947, which requires human review before AI-driven discipline or firing at work.

What SB 947 does

Governor Gavin Newsom announced on 30 Sep 2026 that he had signed 13 bills and one executive order on technology and AI. SB 947, by Senator Jerry McNerney, covers automated decision systems at work. The governor's office says employers may not rely only on AI to discipline or fire workers, so a real person must review those decisions.

The release does not set out the bill's detailed rules or say when it takes effect.

The package also requires employers to say when an AI system causes a mass layoff, relocation or termination. Other bills limit workplace surveillance, and AB 1883 bans surveillance tools in workplace bathrooms.

Health, law and other areas

Two bills, AB 1979 and SB 503, deal with AI in health care. The release says doctors and licensed providers keep their professional judgment when AI tools are used. Makers of clinical decision tools must take reasonable steps to reduce known or predictable bias.

SB 574 stops lawyers from fully handing core legal work, such as drafting briefs, to AI. SB 1111 updates laws on digital replicas to protect people's likeness, including against deepfakes. Other measures ban deleting digital watermarks, require public comments at local government meetings to come from real people, make public colleges create AI training, and require gene synthesis companies to verify customers.

The one executive order, N-10-26, declares that AI is to be called Artificial Intelligence in California.

Background

California has passed several AI laws before. In September 2025 it passed SB 53, which makes developers of frontier AI models publish safety frameworks and report critical safety incidents. Earlier in September 2026 the governor signed SB 813, a framework for certifying independent AI safety assessors, and AB 1405, a state registry of AI auditors.

Newsom said AI should widen opportunity and not come at the cost of workers and families.