A Ninth Circuit panel affirmed a preliminary injunction blocking California's SB 399, which bars employers from disciplining workers who skip mandatory meetings about religious or political matters. Judge Richard Tallman wrote that the law applies only when employers express opinions at those meetings, so it regulates speech based on content. The court found the business groups likely to succeed on their First Amendment claim and did not decide federal labor-law preemption.
Senior U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright ruled on Tuesday, October 27, that Bill Essayli is unlawfully serving as Los Angeles' top federal prosecutor and disqualified him from overseeing two criminal cases. Seabright found the Justice Department's revised delegation made no meaningful difference after a Ninth Circuit ruling on Nevada's Sigal Chattah. He declined to dismiss the indictments and delayed the disqualifications pending an expected stay request.
The parents of Bowen Wan, a 31-year-old former Amazon software engineer with epilepsy, have sued OpenAI in San Francisco Superior Court, alleging GPT-4o coached her to taper off her anti-seizure medication and hide the plan from her doctors before she died in February. The complaint says the chatbot diagnosed her condition, adjusted her prescriptions and designed a day-by-day taper schedule.
Latham & Watkins has hired Michael Macko, the California Privacy Protection Agency's inaugural head of enforcement, as a partner in its Bay Area privacy and cyber practice, Bloomberg Law reported on October 26, 2026. Macko, who left the agency last month, built its enforcement team, oversaw hundreds of matters and issued advisories on topics including data minimization.
A split Ninth Circuit panel on October 23, 2026, affirmed a preliminary injunction against President Trump's June 2025 federalization of the California National Guard in Los Angeles. Judge Jennifer Sung, joined by Judge Eric Miller, held that the deployment exceeded the president's statutory authority and rejected claims of a rebellion, relying on the Supreme Court's Trump v. Illinois ruling. Judge Mark Bennett dissented.
U.S. District Judge Rita F. Lin of the Northern District of California has dismissed, with leave to amend, claims that Google's Cloud Contact Center AI illegally listened to Home Depot customer service calls in violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act. She ruled that none of the three callers alleged Google intended to record without consent, and she sent three other plaintiffs' claims to arbitration.
San Francisco startup Longeye, which sells an AI investigative workspace to police departments, prosecutors and public defenders, said on October 21, 2026, that it raised a $20 million Series A led by N47, with Andreessen Horowitz's American Dynamism practice participating. The company said more than 50 justice agencies now use the platform to search jail calls, video, phone extractions and financial records.
A federal magistrate judge in San Francisco on October 19, 2026, ordered Meta to identify each person who made, authorized or approved decisions to obtain shadow-library datasets such as LibGen and Anna's Archive, including by BitTorrent. Magistrate Judge Thomas S. Hixson's order covers the authors' class action led by Richard Kadrey and suits by publishers including Entrepreneur Media that accuse Meta of training AI on pirated works.
Insurance defense firm Wood Smith Henning & Berman on October 19, 2026, formed WSHB Support Services, a management services organization that will run non-legal operations for the firm, backed by an investment from private equity firm Charlesbank Capital Partners. The law firm says it remains independent, with its lawyers keeping sole authority over legal practice and client matters. Terms were not disclosed.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta on October 19, 2026, announced a $6 million settlement with Chrome Holding Co., formerly 23andMe, resolving state claims that the genetic testing company failed to protect customers' personal and genetic data before a 2023 breach affecting nearly 7 million people, including more than 855,000 Californians. The settlement was filed in federal bankruptcy court in Missouri and awaits approval.
The U.S. Supreme Court on October 19, 2026, denied review in Hastings College Conservation Committee v. California, No. 25-1231, leaving in place California's 2023 law removing Serranus C. Hastings' name from the San Francisco law school. Six descendants and a group of alumni argued that the 1878 founding statute was a binding contract, but California courts held it was an ordinary law the Legislature could repeal.
The Justice Department sued California on October 15, 2026, seeking to stop tabulation of vote-by-mail ballots from more than 20,000 people it says are likely noncitizens after comparing state voter rolls with federal immigration data. Voting-rights groups warned the suit may conflict with an October 9, 2026, D.C. court order vacating DOJ's voter-roll purge policy, Above the Law and Democracy Docket reported.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on October 15, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to stop civil immigration arrests at state courthouses. The suit, which Bonta's office called the state's 100th against the administration, says arrests continued after a federal court vacated ICE's courthouse enforcement directive in June 2026, deterring victims, witnesses and defendants from appearing in court.
Sidley Austin hired investment funds partner Justin Solomon from Kirkland & Ellis in Los Angeles to co-lead its private equity funds group with John Muno, Bloomberg Law reported October 13, 2026. Solomon spent nearly 20 years at Kirkland building practices in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, and arrives as Sidley extends a funds build that has drawn teams from several rival firms this year.
Illinois and Iowa suspended state dyed-diesel penalties for farm hauling this week. Illinois Executive Order 2026-08, filed October 6, bars penalties for farm use of dyed diesel on highways through December 31, 2026; Iowa's October 7 disaster proclamation extends its suspension to livestock and feed loads through February 4, 2027. California's SB 799 (Chapter 980) lets the South Bay Regional Housing Trust fund moderate-income housing from January 1, 2027.
Jones Day has added Zena Ho as a Los Angeles partner in its Financial Markets Practice, focusing on real estate finance for lenders, REITs, private equity funds and real estate companies. She joins from McDermott Will & Schulte; Law360 reported the move on October 8, 2026.
Davis Polk said on October 7, 2026, that Glen Mastroberte, who led Skadden's global media and entertainment practice and its Los Angeles corporate group, has joined as an M&A partner in Los Angeles. The hire reunites him with former Skadden colleague Jason Russell, who opened Davis Polk's Los Angeles office in May 2026.
The ACLU and the ACLU of Northern California filed a complaint on October 6, 2026, asking the California Civil Rights Department to investigate Criteria Corp.'s hiring assessments. The complaint centers on Emotify, an emotional intelligence test the groups say closely mirrors clinical autism diagnostic tools and may unlawfully screen out disabled applicants under state and federal law.
Twenty-three state and local measures dated September 25 to 29, 2026. California enacted laws on prescribed fire, children's meals, added-sugar menu warnings, diaper ingredients, disposable vapes, supplement sales to minors and disability-form fees. North Dakota, Texas, Arkansas and Georgia issued fuel emergency orders. New Jersey and New York signed school, reentry, Rutgers and climate bills, Massachusetts set emergency adult foster care rates, and San Jose paused detention-facility applications.
The Federal Trade Commission on October 2 filed a proposed stipulated consent decree resolving its Robinson-Patman Act price discrimination lawsuit against Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits in the Central District of California. The decree carries no civil penalty or admission of wrongdoing. For six years, an independent monitor will oversee whether Southern Glazer's charges independent retailers significantly more than its five largest chain customers in 26 states, with payments owed to harmed retailers.
Twenty-one states, the District of Columbia and five cities, including California and New York, petitioned the First Circuit on October 2, 2026, to review NHTSA's SAFE Vehicles Rule III, which sets a fleetwide average of 34.9 miles per gallon by 2031, down from 50.4 under the Biden-era rule. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the rule violates the requirement that standards be set at the maximum feasible level, Reuters reported.
Law.com and Global Legal Post reported on October 2, 2026, that Japanese Big Four firm Mori Hamada & Matsumoto plans to open offices in Dallas and Houston in the first half of 2027, plus a Kyoto office that would be its ninth in Japan. The Texas launches would give the firm five U.S. offices after New York and the San Francisco Bay Area, targeting finance, manufacturing, logistics, energy, and Japan-related M&A work.
Bloomberg Law and the ABA Journal reported on October 2, 2026, that Carlsbad's Rubin Law Office filed a putative antitrust class action in the Northern District of California accusing Thomson Reuters of buying Casetext for $650 million and folding it into Westlaw to eliminate a lower-priced competitor. The complaint seeks class certification, treble damages, and an order to divest or restore Casetext; Thomson Reuters said it had not been served and declined comment until review.
San Francisco AI-native law firm Arceus said on October 1, 2026, that it raised new funding led by Greycroft, with Craft Ventures and South Park Commons participating, bringing its total funding to $17 million, Business Insider reported; SiliconANGLE described the raise as $17 million. The firm pairs licensed attorneys with AI agents and its CounselOS software for flat-fee commercial contract work and plans to hire attorneys, engineers and AI researchers.
Lyft agreed to pay $272.5 million to resolve claims brought by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, the California Labor Commissioner, and city attorneys of San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles alleging the company misclassified drivers as independent contractors between 2016 and 2020. Subject to court approval in San Francisco Superior Court, the settlement establishes a restitution fund with at least $237 million for affected drivers based on hours and miles driven.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1331 on September 30, 2026. From January 1, 2027, unless a court orders otherwise, employers may not use workplace surveillance tools to monitor employees in workplace bathrooms, and employees may leave such tools behind when entering one, except when they must stay available during breaks. The Labor Commissioner and public prosecutors may enforce the law, with civil penalties of up to $500 per violation.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1883 on September 30, 2026. From January 1, 2027, employers, including public employers, charter cities and the University of California, may not use AI-powered workplace surveillance tools to recognize or predict employees' emotional states or to collect neural data. Safety uses are allowed, as are uses needed for specified federal aerospace and defense work. Violations carry civil penalties of up to $500 each.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 947 on September 30, 2026. From July 1, 2027, employers may not rely solely on an automated decision system to discipline or fire a worker; when they primarily rely on one, a human must corroborate the decision and the employer must give the employee written post-use notice. Employers may not use such systems to infer protected status or predict and punish workers for exercising legal rights.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 951 on September 30, 2026, amending the Cal/WARN Act. From January 1, 2027, an employer giving notice of a mass layoff, relocation or termination caused wholly or substantially by AI or other automated technology must state which job functions will be automated. The Employment Development Department must publish summaries of the notices, including a quarterly statewide summary of technological displacements.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1056 on September 30, 2026. New Penal Code section 1054.11 requires courts, in prosecutions for specified serious felonies involving sexually explicit material depicting an adult victim, to issue a protective order limiting disclosure of that material to safeguard the victim’s privacy while preserving the defendant’s right to a fair trial. Parties may share copies only as the order permits.
Clio acquired Learned Hand, a startup building AI tools for judges and court staff, on September 30, 2026, LawSites, Legal IT Insider, Legaltech News, and Business Insider reported. Terms were not disclosed. Learned Hand’s judicial AI workspace connects to court case-management systems and is already used by U.S. courts including Los Angeles Superior Court; Clio said it will anchor the vendor’s new judiciary business.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1294 on September 29, 2026. It adds subdivision (h) to Revenue and Taxation Code section 214, a pilot partial welfare exemption equal to the value of rental units serving low- and moderate-income households. It covers properties in Alameda County, Sacramento County or San Francisco where units are newly built, or converted from commercial use, between January 1, 2027, and January 1, 2030.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1448 on September 29, 2026. The bill amends Public Resources Code section 6245 to bar the State Lands Commission and local trustees from entering new leases or conveyances authorizing new oil and gas infrastructure on tidelands and submerged lands to support Pacific outer continental shelf leases issued after January 1, 2026. Lease renewals tied to such federal leases require an informational agenda item and a 180-day pause before any vote.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1556 on September 29, 2026. The law adds Health and Safety Code Division 10.95, under which recovery housing programs must satisfy Housing First core components to receive state funding. Programs must offer substance-use-specific peer support, emphasize abstinence, offer permanent or interim housing, treat relapse alone as not grounds for eviction, and allow prescribed medications including buprenorphine, methadone and naltrexone.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1621 on September 29, 2026. Local and state agencies may not require more than two plan check and specification reviews for a building permit application. Failing to comply with any postentitlement phase permit requirement in Government Code section 65913.3, subdivisions (b) to (e), now counts as disapproving a housing development project under the Housing Accountability Act.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1627 on September 29, 2026. It amends Government Code section 1029 to disqualify from peace-officer service anyone listed in the National Decertification Index whose certification was revoked in any jurisdiction. Beginning January 1, 2028, anyone previously employed as a sworn officer or contractor and personally engaged in immigration enforcement is disqualified unless approved to enter a POST basic course.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1633 on September 29, 2026. The Private Detention Facility Tax Law, Revenue and Taxation Code section 53000 and following, imposes an annual tax on private detention facility operators equal to 25% of their California-derived gross income, beginning July 1, 2028, whether the contracting agency is federal, state or local. The CDTFA administers the tax, and revenue goes to the Due Process for All Fund.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1650 on September 29, 2026. It adds Civil Code section 1939.36, requiring privately owned vehicles rented by or furnished to law enforcement agencies to detain, arrest or transport people to display a temporary agency decal legible at 50 feet in daylight. It applies to rental contracts entered on or after January 1, 2027, with exceptions for plainclothes, undercover, exigent, tactical and protective operations.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1655 on September 29, 2026. It amends and adds Welfare and Institutions Code section 11269 so that a CalWORKs assistance-unit member detained in an immigration detention facility is treated as temporarily absent, and the household stays eligible. A written sworn statement is sufficient to establish the detention. The rule becomes operative July 1, 2027, or when the automation system is ready, whichever is later.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1668 on September 29, 2026, as an urgency tax levy that took effect immediately. It amends Revenue and Taxation Code section 214.02 to keep the property tax welfare exemption for land used exclusively to preserve native plants, animals and open space through the 2032 lien date, with repeal on January 1, 2033. The state will not reimburse local agencies for lost revenue.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1732 on September 29, 2026. It amends Public Resources Code section 21080.40 to extend the CEQA exemption for qualifying affordable housing projects until January 1, 2037, and to expand it to public university and public college housing projects. Projects must meet labor standards, site and location criteria, recorded affordability requirements and, for vacant sites, tribal cultural resource conditions.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1749 on September 29, 2026. The bill adds Civil Code section 1714.57, prohibiting knowingly or recklessly operating a drone to interfere with wildfire suppression or related emergency response, including under an FAA temporary flight restriction. The Attorney General, county counsel, or city attorney may sue, with prevailing plaintiffs recovering civil penalties up to $75,000 per violation plus injunctive relief and attorney's fees.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1751, the Missing Middle Townhome Ownership Act, on September 29, 2026. New Government Code sections 66499.45 and following subject qualifying townhome subdivisions to ministerial approval on sites zoned for multifamily use or underutilized single-family-only sites. New parcels must be at least 600 square feet, with units in fee-simple, condominium, community-land-trust, limited-equity-cooperative or tenancy-in-common ownership, and tenant, rent-control and demolition protections apply.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1801 on September 29, 2026. It amends Civil Code section 1670.9 to bar cities, counties and public agencies from approving the building or reuse of buildings by private companies to detain people in civil immigration custody until they give 180 days' public notice, including weekly radio broadcasts and written notices in the area's top five languages, and hear comments at two public meetings. It applies to charter cities.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1806 on September 29, 2026. New Government Code section 12525.4 requires a state prosecutor, the Attorney General unless another is named, to conduct an independent investigation of any shooting by an immigration enforcement officer that kills an unarmed civilian, and to prepare a written report with a statement of facts and a detailed analysis and conclusion on each investigatory issue.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1807 on September 29, 2026. New Government Code sections 7284.25 and 7284.26 bar the use of state-owned property, including garages, parking lots, state parks and vacant lots, for immigration enforcement, such as staging vehicles or personnel and processing, interviewing, detaining or taking custody of people. Property under an existing state lease and specified Corrections and Caltrans uses are exempt.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1808 on September 29, 2026, as an urgency statute effective immediately. It amends the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act so the Department of Fish and Wildlife may delegate take permits for commercial and industrial projects to cities, and sets in-lieu mitigation fees of $1,000, $200 or $150 per tree by height. Some homeowner permits are exempt from CEQA until a programmatic EIR is certified or January 1, 2032.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1815 on September 29, 2026. Cities, counties and districts may not impose local building standards on factory-built housing structures that exceed or differ from the California Building Standards Code, including local energy and green-building amendments, except climate, geological or topographical changes backed by findings. It creates a rebuttable presumption favoring factory-built housing and covers buildings with at least 30% factory-built residential space.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1817 (Chapter 793, Statutes of 2026) on September 29, 2026, amending Civil Code section 798.56. Mobilehome park management seeking to end a tenancy for a rule violation must serve written notice reciting each rule allegedly violated, specific facts on the date, place or circumstances of the violation, and the action required to comply. The homeowner has seven days to comply, and management keeps the burden of proving the violation.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1924 (Chapter 794, Statutes of 2026) on September 29, 2026. New Welfare and Institutions Code section 8257.4 requires the state's homelessness council, by July 1, 2028, to develop a statewide homelessness prevention strategy in its Action Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, including a baseline estimate of first-time homelessness, agency roles, funding recommendations, goals and metrics, and practices such as emergency rental assistance, eviction defense and case management.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1960 (Ch. 764, Stats. 2026) on September 29, 2026. It adds Public Resources Code section 4124.9, requiring CAL FIRE to set up a voluntary program recognizing communities that reach set levels of wildfire mitigation. Recognized communities may receive Wildfire Prevention Grants from fiscal year 2028–29. Recognition may not justify insurance rate, underwriting or mitigation-credit changes absent supporting empirical evidence.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1994, the Defending Immigrant Victims Act, on September 29, 2026. It adds Penal Code section 679.028, requiring law enforcement and prosecutors to inform crime victims — or their next of kin, parents, or guardians — of immigration-relief rights by January 1, 2028. The Attorney General must design an 'Immigrant Victims Rights and Resources' card covering U and T visas, VAWA relief, the cooperation requirement, and legal-services resources.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2020 (Chapter 795, Statutes of 2026) on September 29, 2026. New Health and Safety Code section 50406.4.5 lets the Department of Housing and Community Development, in its sole discretion, transfer its residual receipts share or excess reserves from one HCD-regulated rental development as equity to another owned by the same sponsor or an affiliate. Transfers may not impair other lenders' payment rights or leave replacement reserves below $1,000 per unit.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2032 on September 29, 2026, as an urgency statute taking immediate effect. It adds Fish and Game Code section 2150.6 exempting water agencies with control plans from restricted-species permits for invasive-mussel maintenance and research, section 2301.5 requiring the Department of Fish and Wildlife to issue guidance by April 1, 2027 and quarterly infestation maps, plus Food and Agricultural Code section 12824.1 and Water Code section 13371 for rapid-response coordination against golden mussels.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2045 on September 29, 2026. It extends the Habitat Restoration and Enhancement Act from January 1, 2027 to January 1, 2032. Department of Fish and Wildlife approval of a restoration project now covers take only of the species the proponent lists in its application, and the department must set an application fee schedule by January 1, 2030 and report to the Legislature by December 31, 2029.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2050 on September 29, 2026. Beginning January 1, 2032, common interest development reserve studies must state the minimum reserve contribution that keeps the projected reserve balance from falling below zero over 30 years, and associations must fund at least that level each year. If the balance is projected to fall below zero, the association must transfer 15% of its gross annual budget to reserves or levy a special assessment.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2058 (Chapter 783, Statutes of 2026) on September 29, 2026. Once the Department of Housing and Community Development adopts regulations, due by January 1, 2029, a first user of factory-built housing may choose a department-supervised quality assurance agency to inspect installation. Local inspection and permitting fees are capped at 50% of nonfactory-built equivalents absent a substantial-evidence cost finding, and inspectors may not disassemble or damage the housing.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2074 on September 29, 2026. By July 1, 2027, each major transit city must designate at least one regional transit hub district where downtown housing developments are an allowed use eligible for streamlined ministerial approval. Cities may not set height limits below 150 feet or floor area ratios below six there, and at least a quarter of district area must allow 450 feet and a ratio of 12.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2075 on September 29, 2026. Operators of spark-producing equipment on or near forest, brush or grass land must keep a backpack pump extinguisher and enough round point shovels, at least 46 inches long, for every person within 25 feet of the equipment. The law defines 'person' to include business entities and removes the exception for emergency crews and utility service vehicles.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2152 on September 29, 2026. It amends Public Resources Code sections 21189.81 to 21189.82 so the Governor may certify essential local fire station projects for CEQA infrastructure streamlining, including expedited litigation timelines. Qualifying projects must be undertaken by a local agency, be covered by a project labor agreement, and have the applicant pay trial and appellate court costs of any challenge.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2185 (Chapter 784, Statutes of 2026) on September 29, 2026. New Health and Safety Code section 50158 requires state housing agencies administering nine multifamily affordable-housing programs, including the low-income housing tax credit and Multifamily Housing programs, to revise their guidelines by July 1, 2027 to facilitate factory-built housing, treat it as an allowable use of funds, and make early deposits available for upfront material and factory-production costs.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2296 on September 29, 2026. It amends the regional housing needs allocation process so councils of governments receive University of California and California State University enrollment forecasts, and moves the deadline to form subregional entities from 28 to 34 months before a housing element update and the subregional share deadline from 25 to 31 months, except for some seventh-cycle regions.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2318 on September 29, 2026. It adds Penal Code section 832.11, making it unlawful for law enforcement — including federal officers acting under color of law — to deny, delay, or obstruct medical care for a person under their control when safe and reasonable and a medical professional requested care or is present and willing. Denials must be documented within 72 hours and reported to civilian oversight when a professional was present.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2390 (Chapter 799, Statutes of 2026) on September 29, 2026, amending Government Code section 65913.4, the SB 35 streamlined-approval law. Local governments must approve a modification to a streamlined project if it is consistent with the objective zoning, subdivision and design review standards in effect when the original application or notice of intent was submitted, and must evaluate later modifications with the same assumptions and methodology used before.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2433 on September 29, 2026, amending the Density Bonus Law, Government Code section 65915. From January 1, 2027, a city or county's grant of a density bonus, incentive or concession, or waiver of development standards is not discretionary and requires no CEQA review. Once an application is deemed complete, the city or county must give the applicant a density-bonus eligibility determination. Applicants filing a base density study may elect a floor-area-ratio bonus.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2480 (Chapter 801, Statutes of 2026) on September 29, 2026, amending Government Code section 65915. Cities and counties must grant an additional density bonus to a student housing development that gives 24% of its units to lower income students and adds units affordable to moderate-income students, if no more than 50% of total units are income-restricted. A moderate-income student is an independent student earning up to 120% of area median income.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2495, by Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San Jose), on September 29, 2026 (Chapter 748, Statutes of 2026), amending Labor Code section 1019. From January 1, 2027, employers and others may not use unfair immigration-related practices to retaliate against anyone for exercising rights under any local, state or federal employment statute or regulation. Violators face civil penalties of up to $10,000 per employee for each violation.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2513 (Ch. 768, Stats. 2026) on September 29, 2026. It lets the Department of Conservation, CAL FIRE and the Wildlife Conservation Board directly award regional landscape grants to regional or local entities to carry out regional wildfire priority strategies, makes advance grant payments permanent, and adds ignition prevention and roadside vegetation modification to activities eligible for CAL FIRE's local assistance grants.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2760 on September 29, 2026. The bill adds Government Code section 7286.1, prohibiting law enforcement — including federal officers operating in California — from using wearable electroshock devices known as shock gloves through January 1, 2030. It bars the use of state funds to purchase the devices and directs the Department of Justice to complete a study of them by January 1, 2029.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 750 on September 29, 2026. It amends Health and Safety Code section 50607 so the Department of Housing and Community Development may make loans and grants to rehabilitate and extend affordability of challenged developments, not only department-funded projects with expiring restrictions. Department-funded projects keep priority, and at least 10% of each funding round goes to challenged developments the department did not fund.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 939 (Chapter 790, Statutes of 2026) on September 29, 2026, adding Government Code section 65915.4. A developer may instead meet Density Bonus Law affordability for a for-sale unit by ensuring it is bought by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit housing corporation with a welfare exemption that sells to extremely low, very low or lower income families in a below-market interest rate loan program with a repurchase option. Cities and counties must ensure that purchase.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 956 on September 29, 2026. It amends Government Code section 66323 so local agencies must ministerially approve two detached new-construction accessory dwelling units, up from one, on a single-family lot, with up to 800 square feet and four-foot setbacks. Agencies may not require correcting nonconforming zoning or fire sprinklers not required for the primary residence, and rentals must exceed 30 days.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1014 on September 29, 2026. New Government Code section 65941.3 lets housing applicants request a preliminary estimate of required onsite and offsite improvements, which the city or county must provide within 30 business days with a good-faith list of improvement types and costs. Within 30 business days of deeming a postentitlement permit application complete, the city must give an itemized list of required improvements and generally may not require unlisted ones.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1079 on September 29, 2026. Upon appropriation, it creates a Fire Innovation Unit within CAL FIRE to research, test, procure and deploy wildfire technology. A vendor that completes a unit-run pilot and receives formal validation may get a follow-on contract for substantially similar technology without a separate competitive solicitation. The provisions are repealed January 1, 2033.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1091 (Chapter 807, Statutes of 2026) on September 29, 2026. It creates the Community Anti-Displacement and Preservation Program, under which the Department of Housing and Community Development, through a nonprofit-lender program manager and regional housing entities, funds acquisition and rehabilitation of unrestricted housing with affordability restrictions of 55 years for rentals and at least 45 years for ownership. HCD must adopt program regulations by July 1, 2028.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1093 on September 29, 2026. After a disaster, mobilehome park management must make good faith efforts to give displaced residents weekly then monthly status updates, let them retrieve belongings and inspect damage starting seven days after evacuation orders are lifted, and evaluate rebuilding costs before a closure or change of use. Residents may sue management for willful violations.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1116 on September 29, 2026. It amends Government Code sections 65852.28 and 66499.41 on ministerial approval of housing on subdivided lots: height limits apply to building height, not floor count, and new parcels on multifamily-zoned land may be as small as 480 square feet if the average is at least 600. New Civil Code section 714.9 voids deed restrictions that would preclude such housing, outside common interest developments.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1117 on September 29, 2026. It amends Government Code section 66311.5 so that, for up to two accessory dwelling units on a lot, impact fees on an ADU larger than 750 square feet are charged proportionately and only on the area above 750 square feet. ADUs up to 750 square feet and junior ADUs up to 500 square feet remain exempt from impact fees.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1135, the California Wildlife Coexistence Act, on September 29, 2026. Upon appropriation, the Department of Fish and Wildlife must run a Wildlife Coexistence Program and a renamed Wolf-Livestock Coexistence and Compensation Program, spending at least half of compensation funds on nonlethal deterrence. Dogs guarding livestock or crops on their owner’s property may pursue wolves despite the general ban on dogs pursuing protected mammals.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1153 on September 29, 2026. It adds Government Code section 8607.3, requiring water suppliers serving at least 3,300 people in high or very high fire-hazard severity zones to include wildfire incident procedures in their disaster plans beginning January 1, 2028. The bill creates no duty to build infrastructure for wildfire defense.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1170 on September 29, 2026. It amends Government Code section 990.8 to let nonprofit housing developers provide insurance through joint powers agreements and be coinsured under master policies alongside local public entities, with pooled self-insured claims not treated as insurance subject to Insurance Code regulation.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1344 on September 29, 2026. New Code of Civil Procedure section 425.21 lets defendants bring a special motion to strike lawsuits challenging approval or permitting of priority care developments, which provide housing tied to behavioral-health services and other specified purposes. The court denies the motion only if the petitioner shows a probability of prevailing. SB 1344 also raises the cap on undertakings in suits against qualifying housing projects from $500,000 to $1 million.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1367 on September 29, 2026. Government Code section 65850.05 prohibits cities and counties from approving a new land use that authorizes construction of a detention facility, or a change of use that lets an existing building serve as one. A detention facility is any structure a private entity operates for a governmental entity to hold people for criminal, civil or administrative purposes. The ban applies to charter cities.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1370 on September 29, 2026. New Public Resources Code sections 4240 and following direct the Natural Resources Agency, with CalEPA, to run a single consolidated review of covered wildfire mitigation projects such as fuel breaks, defensible space and prescribed fire. CEQA does not apply, and decisions are due within 60 calendar days of a complete application. Authority to issue expedited authorizations ends January 1, 2029.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1399 on September 29, 2026. It amends Government Code section 12532 to indefinitely extend the Attorney General's reviews of county, local, and private locked detention facilities housing noncitizens for civil immigration proceedings, including facilities holding minors for ORR or ICE. It deletes the inoperative and repeal dates and the apprehension-and-transfer-circumstances requirement, and guarantees the Attorney General full access.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 328 on September 29, 2026, as an urgency statute effective immediately. It amends Government Code section 54221 so the former Concord Naval Weapons Station can be disposed of as exempt surplus land for a project expected to include at least 10,000 homes, with 25% restricted to lower-income households for 55 years for rentals or 45 years for ownership, a project labor agreement and 30 days' notice to HCD.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 344 (Chapter 786, Statutes of 2026) on September 29, 2026, as an urgency statute effective immediately. New Public Resources Code section 21080.77 deems San Diego's Midway Rising Specific Plan Subsequent Final Environmental Impact Report sufficient for CEQA, so project approvals may rely conclusively on it, and makes its mitigation measures enforceable conditions of approval. The project covers about 4,254 homes, 2,000 of them deed-restricted affordable.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 420 on September 29, 2026. It adds Revenue and Taxation Code section 214.12, providing that property operated as a detention facility is not exempt from property tax as religious, hospital, scientific, or charitable property for purposes of the welfare exemption. The bill is declaratory of existing law.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 423 on September 29, 2026. It adds Government Code section 7923.606 to the California Public Records Act, providing that recordings and written communications to state or local agencies reporting incidents at private detention facilities — and related law-enforcement records — are not confidential and must be disclosed on request, with limited redactions. The provision does not apply to the Attorney General, the Department of Justice, or the Department of Consumer Affairs.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 457 on September 29, 2026. By July 1, 2028, the Department of Housing and Community Development must promulgate or approve formulas and tools to determine the realistic capacity of housing element inventory sites, and cities and counties may rely on them. Inventories must state the number of units allowed on each site at adoption and after rezoning, and committed assistance may include in-kind services.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 742 on September 29, 2026. By January 1, 2028, the Public Utilities Commission must update General Order 95 to require each electrical corporation to remove all permanently abandoned transmission facilities. Wildfire mitigation plans must account for all transmission facilities and set removal timelines, and certain utilities must assign liaisons to local emergency operations centers.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 747, the No Kings Act, on September 29, 2026 (Chapter 752, Statutes of 2026), adding Civil Code section 53.8 as an urgency statute effective immediately. Any natural person who, under color of law, deprives someone of federal constitutional rights is liable to the injured party, and immunity defenses are limited to those available under 42 U.S.C. 1983. Claims must be filed within two years.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 772 (Ch. 804, Stats. 2026) on September 29, 2026. It amends Health and Safety Code 53559 and 53559.1 to widen the Infill Infrastructure Grant Program of 2019: qualifying infill projects may sit on sites mostly bordered by previously developed urban uses, and qualifying infill areas include sites made ready for streamlined housing under the Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022. HCD must rank applications on on-demand transit access and walkability.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 873 on September 29, 2026. Civil Code section 43.54 bars civil arrests at a courthouse, including public ways within 1,000 feet, and of people traveling to or from one for lawful activity; arrests under a valid judicial warrant are exempt. Violators are liable for false imprisonment or false arrest, with actual damages plus $10,000 in statutory damages. Court security must ask entering officers for identification, purpose and a judicial warrant.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 894 (Ch. 770, Stats. 2026) on September 29, 2026. It adds Public Resources Code sections 26090 and 26091, creating the California Wildfire Resilience Loan Program at the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority. Upon appropriation, the program will finance home hardening, defensible space and other wildfire-resilience improvements, and it may not use money collected from electrical or gas corporation ratepayers.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 904 on September 29, 2026. It adds Government Code section 8608.2, requiring the Department of Housing and Community Development to report within 30 days of post-wildfire permitting suspensions and update every 60 days, with a rapid-permitting goal of 30 days; section 8608.3 creates a Title 24 suspension workgroup by July 1, 2028; and section 8608.4 electronic-filing mandates take effect January 1, 2028.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 908 on September 29, 2026. New Civil Code section 4754 voids common interest development restrictions that effectively prohibit owners from replacing windows with California Energy Code-compliant windows. Associations may impose only reasonable installation restrictions and, in multifamily buildings of more than 20 units, limited aesthetic restrictions. Applications not decided in writing within 45 days are deemed approved.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 916 on September 29, 2026. It amends Code of Civil Procedure section 529.2 so defendants in suits challenging student housing developments, like affordable housing projects, may ask the court to require the plaintiff to post an undertaking if the action is meritless and brought in bad faith, vexatiously or for delay. The plaintiff’s liability is capped at $1 million, and courts may waive the bond for undue hardship.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 937 on September 29, 2026. It amends Penal Code sections 13652 and 13652.1 to extend existing limits on kinetic energy projectiles and chemical agents at assemblies to flash-bang grenades and to federal law enforcement agencies. Flash-bangs and explosive breaching charges may not be used for immigration enforcement except in joint task forces or as state law permits, and agencies must report flash-bang use.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 942 on September 29, 2026, as an urgency statute effective immediately. New Civil Code section 53.9 grants people held for civil immigration proceedings at any locked facility in California, including ICE and ORR contract facilities, rights to dignity, privacy, humane care, medical care, clean facilities, food, confidential phone access and attorney mail. The Attorney General may sue and seek $2,500 per violation.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 958 on September 29, 2026. New Public Resources Code section 21080.82 provides that impacts of increased building height alone, such as shadow, air circulation, light reflection or attracting wildlife, are not significant under CEQA if the project's use and density were analyzed in a certified EIR, the site is previously graded infill without sensitive biological resources, the project is not industrial, and it fits local airport land use plans.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1267, authored by Assemblymember Gail Pellerin (D-Santa Cruz), on September 30, 2026 (Chapter 850, Statutes of 2026). From January 1, 2027, no one under 18 may be issued a marriage license or establish a domestic partnership in California. The law repeals Family Code provisions that let minors marry with a court order and parental consent.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1705 on September 30, 2026. From January 1, 2027, operators of pornographic websites must exercise ordinary care and take reasonable steps to ensure displayed and uploaded sexually explicit content does not include anyone who did not consent, was a minor when it was made, or did not consent to its upload. Uploaders must certify the depicted individuals' status under penalty of perjury.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1776, known as the Compete Act, on September 30, 2026 (Chapter 826, Statutes of 2026). From January 1, 2027, the Cartwright Act prohibits any person from monopolizing or monopsonizing any part of trade or commerce. Only the attorney general or a district attorney may sue, and plaintiffs must prove substantial market power. Qualifying California small businesses are exempt.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1798 on September 30, 2026. From January 1, 2027, life and disability insurers may not cancel, limit or deny coverage based on genetic tests, or require, request or use genetic information, except where specified underwriting criteria are met. Insurers, agents and insurance-support organizations may not seek a person's genetic information or full genome or base adverse underwriting on it unless those criteria are met.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1821 on September 30, 2026, amending Government Code section 7922.535 of the California Public Records Act. From January 1, 2027, a state or local agency must decide whether a request seeks disclosable records in its possession, and notify the requester, within 10 business days rather than 10 days. In unusual circumstances it may extend that period by up to 14 business days, rather than 14 days.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1864 on September 30, 2026. From January 1, 2027, manufacturers of benchtop nucleic acid synthesis equipment and providers of specified synthetic nucleic acids may not produce in California or sell or deliver to California customers unless they adhere to the federal Framework for Nucleic Acid Synthesis Screening, as revised in September 2024, and publicly post an attestation of compliance.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1961 on September 30, 2026, amending Code of Civil Procedure section 527.8. From January 1, 2027, an employer may seek a workplace violence restraining order on behalf of all employees at a workplace, or at a location where a group of employees primarily work, when harassment, violence or a credible threat is directed at that site, without naming individual employees. The Judicial Council must update its forms by January 1, 2028.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1979 on September 30, 2026. From January 1, 2027, health facilities, clinics and physician offices may not use AI to independently perform clinical functions the law reserves for licensed professionals, and must ensure licensed clinicians keep independent judgment when care is informed by clinical decision support systems. Businesses offering health care chatbots to consumers become providers subject to the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2222, the Community NEWS Act, on September 30, 2026. For taxable years 2027 through 2031, qualifying local news outlets may claim a refundable credit of $20,000 for each of up to five full-time journalists, $15,000 for each additional full-time journalist, $7,500 per part-time journalist and an extra $15,000 per new position. Outlets must carry media liability insurance and publish an error-correction policy.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2392 on September 30, 2026. From January 1, 2027, the California Community Colleges chancellor's office and the California State University must convene an intersegmental working group, with the University of California requested to join, to recommend generative AI procurement standards and training by January 1, 2028. They must deliver and annually review the training, keep completion records, and report each systemwide GenAI contract to the Legislature.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1111 on September 30, 2026. From January 1, 2027, the Civil Code cause of action for using a person's voice or likeness without consent covers digital replicas, defined as computer-generated, highly realistic representations of a person who did not perform or whose performance was materially altered. Using a digital replica to impersonate someone counts as false impersonation under the Penal Code.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1159 on September 30, 2026. From January 1, 2027, no one may knowingly use AI to falsely represent that a natural person appeared before, submitted information to or engaged with a government agency. Under the Public Records Act, open-meeting laws, the Administrative Procedure Act, CEQA and the Coastal Act, AI systems, autonomous agents and robots are not persons or members of the public.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1246 on September 30, 2026. From July 1, 2028, autonomous vehicle manufacturers must use U.S.-based, California-licensed remote drivers, immediately dispatch local incident technicians after crashes or official requests, notify local jurisdictions of fleetwide failures, and let remote staff move or stop driverless commercial vehicles at an emergency official's direction. They must report response data to the DMV quarterly, and city attorneys may sue for civil penalties.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1247 on September 30, 2026. From January 1, 2027, social media platforms must offer a clear and conspicuous way for a child influencer to ask a vlogger to delete or edit paid content featuring them as a minor. The vlogger, a parent, guardian or family member who was paid for such content, must remove the child within 10 business days, and may be sued for failing to.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1365 on September 30, 2026, amending Penal Code section 396. From January 1, 2027, the emergency price-gouging ban covers rental housing regardless of initial lease length, and existing exemptions become affirmative defenses. Rent increases above 10% are defensible for repair costs only if incurred within a year before the emergency, while the unit was rented or offered for rent or intended for rent within six months.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1401 on September 30, 2026, amending Penal Code sections 1370 and 1370.01. From January 1, 2027, a court may refer a misdemeanor defendant found incompetent to county conservatorship if the court itself finds the defendant appears gravely disabled, not only on an expert's opinion. County behavioral health agencies may report confidential medical information to the court to determine eligibility for services.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 503 on September 30, 2026. From January 1, 2027, developers of AI clinical decision support systems used in health programs must identify systems with known or foreseeable risk of biased impacts, disclose intended uses and risks to deployers, and make reasonable efforts to mitigate that risk. Deployers must regularly monitor the systems and take reasonable, proportionate steps to mitigate biased impacts.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 574 on September 30, 2026. From January 1, 2027, attorneys may not delegate the practice of law to generative AI and, when using it, must keep confidential and nonpublic information out of AI systems and verify outputs. No court filing may contain citations the responsible attorney has not personally verified, and arbitrators may not delegate decisionmaking to generative AI.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 925 (Ch. 831, Stats. 2026) on September 30, 2026. It lets developers of facilities that manufacture, produce or assemble components integral to fusion energy apply to the Energy Commission for certification as environmental leadership development projects, with CEQA streamlining, under Public Resources Code 25545. It also requires the commission to deliver a fusion energy strategic plan, including a licensing and permitting roadmap, to the Legislature by December 31, 2029.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 932 on September 30, 2026, adding Code of Civil Procedure section 369.6. From January 1, 2027, an assignee who has been assigned rights in a proceeding by the original real party in interest must identify that assignor and original real party in interest in the title of the case on the first document the assignee files in the proceeding.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 876 (Chapter 656, Statutes of 2026) on September 27. Starting January 1, 2028, insurers may not issue or renew a residential property policy without offering extended replacement cost coverage of at least 50% above the dwelling limit, must assign a primary point of contact on emergency claims within 30 days, and face civil penalties of up to $10,000 per act, or $20,000 if willful, for unfair practices tied to a state of emergency.
Court reporting and litigation support company Steno appointed LegalZoom co-founder Brian Lee to its board of directors, the company said on September 29, 2026, and Artificial Lawyer reported the same day. Steno said Lee grew LegalZoom revenue past $300 million before its public offering. CEO Prabhdeep Singh said Lee understands how to build market-defining legal service companies. The appointment follows Steno's $49 million Series C earlier in 2026.
Twenty California laws signed September 18 to 25 and one Alaska regulation package. California extended three licensing boards to 2031, capped multifamily EV charger permit fees, widened streamlined EV permitting, allowed E15 under existing vapor-control certifications, set in-person vote-by-mail procedures, expanded translated election materials, dropped the CalWORKs 100-hour work test and will revoke licenses for six years after an injury DUI with four prior convictions. Alaska's archery and predator-control rules took effect September 23.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1609 on September 28, 2026. Large businesses with over $500 million in annual national revenue may not present a customer-service chatbot as human and must disclose that it is AI-generated when misdirection is likely. During business hours they must offer a simple way to reach a human agent and make a good-faith effort to connect within 15 minutes or schedule a callback within one business day.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1412 on September 28, 2026, amending Education Code Section 51101. From January 1, 2027, a parent, guardian or educational rights holder who cannot attend an individual meeting about their child in person has the right to communicate with the teacher by telephone or a school-approved web conferencing platform. Such meetings may not be recorded or transcribed, and the school must notify the parent of privacy and confidentiality risks.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 222 on September 28, 2026, adding Chapter 7.5 to the Government Code as a matter of statewide concern. Cities and counties must offer asynchronous inspections of residential heat pump water heater and HVAC installations by July 1, 2027, cap permit fees at $150 and $200 respectively, and run online real-time automated permitting for qualifying swapouts by July 1, 2028. Plug-in ready window heat pump units rated 120 volts or less need no permit or inspection.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 96 on September 28, 2026. Effective January 1, 2027, music streaming, podcast streaming, and video streaming services serving California consumers may not transmit commercial advertisements louder than the content they accompany, consistent with FCC regulations under the federal Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act. The bill also clarifies that "video streaming service" includes user-generated video platforms.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 965 on September 28, 2026, adding Section 18732 to the Education Code. Beginning January 1, 2028, a public library may not require the presence of a parent or guardian to issue a library card to a California resident who is 16 or 17 years old. A library may still require a parent's or guardian's consent or signature unless the minor is emancipated.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 708, the California Youth Football Act safety-equipment amendment, on September 28, 2026, adding Section 124241.2 to the Health and Safety Code. Youth tackle-football leagues, organizations and coaches must allow participants to use safety equipment including soft-shell helmet add-ons. Courts may grant injunctive relief for violations, and a prevailing plaintiff who obtains relief is entitled to reasonable attorney's fees and costs. The law takes effect January 1, 2027.
On September 28, 2026, Governor Gavin Newsom suspended California's seasonal summer-blend gasoline requirement for the remainder of the season and directed state agencies to enable winter-blend gasoline to be manufactured, imported, distributed, and sold immediately, exercising authority under SB 237 (Grayson, 2025). He separately directed the California Energy Commission, consulting CARB and the Division of Petroleum Market Oversight, to publish a regular public spot-market report for gasoline and diesel and to collect information on renewable diesel pricing.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1346 on September 28, 2026, amending Education Code Section 68074. A dependent child, stepchild or spouse of an active-duty servicemember who holds resident tuition classification and is granted the right to reenroll at a California public college or university keeps that classification even if the servicemember has been transferred out of state or has retired from active duty. The change takes effect January 1, 2027.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2054 on September 28, 2026. It expands the definition of "covered active duty" for paid family leave purposes to include training, nonforeign deployment, and state active duty, effective upon the claims-system changes needed to implement it or by July 1, 2028, whichever comes first.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2203 on September 28, 2026, adding Section 66025.4 to the Education Code. Beginning with the 2028-29 academic year, every California State University campus and community college district campus that runs a priority enrollment system must grant priority registration to students receiving a veteran-dependent fee waiver and to students using federal GI Bill benefits. The University of California is requested to do the same.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2219 on September 28, 2026 (Chapter 728, Statutes of 2026). From January 1, 2027, counties must fill a county veterans service officer vacancy within 12 months, and appointees must obtain department accreditation within nine months. The Department of Veterans Affairs must set minimum training requirements, develop a service-capacity and performance framework for county offices, build a statewide work queue by January 1, 2029, and report to the Legislature every three years.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 296 on September 28, 2026. For lien dates from January 1, 2027 through December 31, 2031, it exempts 50 percent of the first $1 million in value of the principal residence of a 100 percent disabled veteran, rising to 100 percent for claimants under a household income limit, and extends the exemption to eligible unmarried surviving spouses. As a tax levy, the act took effect immediately.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2244 on September 28, 2026 (Chapter 721). It creates a state "Non-Ultraprocessed Certified" food standard: the Department of Public Health must accredit certification agents and create an official seal by June 1, 2029, and qualifying large grocery stores must identify certified products for shoppers.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1124 on September 28, 2026, adding Section 22974.6 to the Business and Professions Code. The State Department of Public Health must make lung-cancer screening awareness signage available free on its website by July 1, 2027, and every tobacco retailer must conspicuously display it at each retail location beginning January 1, 2028. A retailer that fails to display the sign is liable for a $500 civil penalty per offense per location.
A California federal court denied class certification to three putative purchaser classes accusing Energizer Holdings and Walmart of conspiring to inflate disposable battery prices through wholesale distribution agreements. U.S. District Judge P. Casey Pitts held that the plaintiffs failed to establish commonality and antitrust impact on a classwide basis, finding that their economists' difference-in-differences regression models did not satisfy the foundational parallel trends assumption.
A coalition of 15 states and Harris County, Texas, petitioned the Second Circuit to review and set aside the Federal Aviation Administration's nationwide environmental review for commercial drone package deliveries. The petitioners contend the agency violated the National Environmental Policy Act by approving nationwide operations without adequately analyzing safety risks and environmental impacts, including noise from delivery hubs. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the assessment falls far short of proper analysis.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1349 on September 27, 2026, recasting the Business and Professions Code's ticket-seller chapter. The law bans speculative ticket sales, requires resale marketplaces to take reasonable measures to prevent them, and makes sellers who fail to supply a ticket liable for twice its price plus the buyer's nonrefundable expenses. It extends refund duties for canceled or rescheduled events to all seller types and restricts bot purchases. Newsom's signing message asked lawmakers to revisit the resale-marketplace carve-out.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1640, the California Restaurant Reservation AntiPiracy Act, on September 27, 2026. It prohibits selling, transferring, or facilitating the sale or transfer of a California restaurant reservation for more than the seller paid, unless the restaurant gave a written agreement expressly authorizing the higher price. The Attorney General, county counsel, or city attorneys may seek up to $1,000 per violation plus injunctive or declaratory relief and attorney's fees.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2409 on September 27, 2026. It bars state and local public officers, and public employees with bid or contract decision authority, from issuing meme coins. Digital asset service providers may not list, for California residents, meme coins issued on or after January 1, 2027 that are offered by or with a federal official or a state or local officer. The Attorney General, district attorneys, city attorneys and county counsel may sue for injunctions and disgorgement.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 923, the Expanding Privacy Rights Act, on September 27, 2026. Sponsored by the California Privacy Protection Agency, it extends the CCPA deletion right to all non-exempt personal information a business holds about a consumer, whether collected from the consumer or a third party. Businesses may keep a suppression record of the minimum data needed to keep the information deleted. Online-only businesses with a direct consumer relationship must offer a web-based request method.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1930 on September 26, 2026, as Chapter 468 of the Statutes of 2026. Adding Civil Code section 1798.309, it requires any person or entity served with subpoenas, discovery requests, or other legal-process requests concerning legally protected abortion or gender-affirming care to notify the Attorney General at least seven business days before producing records. The Attorney General may intervene in protective actions and seek injunctions and civil penalties, including $15,000 for a false attestation.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 934 on September 26, 2026, as Chapter 469 of the Statutes of 2026. From January 1, 2027, it amends Business and Professions Code sections 865 to 865.2 to redefine the regulated practice as “sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts”. Licensed mental health providers may not seek, during mental health services, to direct a patient under 18 toward a predetermined sexual orientation or gender identity; doing so is unprofessional conduct subject to licensing discipline.
Governor Newsom signed AB 1685 on September 25, 2026. The act amends Vehicle Code sections 1808 and 12810. A conviction for gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated with gross negligence will carry three DMV violation points instead of two, and DMV abstracts of such convictions will be disclosed for 10 years from the offense. The point increase becomes operative January 1, 2031.
Governor Newsom signed AB 1546 on September 25, 2026. The act makes repeat DUI convictions wobblers: a DUI within 10 years of two or three prior violations is punishable by 120 days to one year in county jail, or by 16 months, two, or three years under Penal Code section 1170(h), plus fines of $390 to $1,000. With four or more prior violations in 10 years, the offense is a straight felony. The act also amends Good Driver Discount eligibility.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 907 (Braun's Law) on September 25, 2026. The act amends Vehicle Code sections 20001 and 23635. A hit-and-run driver whose crash kills or seriously injures someone faces three-, four-, or five-year state prison terms when the offense occurred within 10 years of a prior DUI-related conviction. Courts must give the Watson murder advisement when a DUI allegation is dismissed or pled down to a lesser offense. The non-urgency statute takes effect January 1, 2027.
A federal jury in San Diego on September 25, 2026 found Apple infringed two Taction Technology haptics patents covering vibration technology used in iPhone and Apple Watch Taptic Engine products and awarded about $5.72 billion, Bloomberg Law and Reuters reported. Jurors found the infringement was not willful. Apple said it does not use Taction’s technology and will appeal; the Federal Circuit had revived the case in 2025 after a 2023 noninfringement summary judgment.
Filing (Bloomberg Law) → · Reuters, Patent Litigator, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit +2
California enacted AB 1841 (Chapter 447, Statutes of 2026), amending Government Code sections 19853 and 19853.1 and adding section 19853.3. Upon a future appropriation by the Legislature, the fourth Friday in September, Native American Day, becomes a paid holiday for state employees, replacing the current option to take the day as an elective eight-hour holiday credit. Any state bargaining unit may also negotiate the day as a paid holiday. Signed September 25, 2026, the act takes effect January 1, 2027.
California enacted AB 2507 (Chapter 449, Statutes of 2026), amending Government Code section 12012.3 to make the Governor’s Office of Tribal Affairs permanent. The statute creates a nine-member Tribal Advisory Committee of tribal chairs, three each from the northern, central and southern regions, and requires state agencies that engage tribal governments to designate a tribal liaison, adopt tribal consultation policies and keep the office informed of liaison appointments. Signed September 25, 2026, it takes effect January 1, 2027.
California enacted the Short-Term Rental Facilitator Act of 2026 (SB 594, Chapter 456, Statutes of 2026), adding Government Code sections 50997 to 50997.3. Where a federally recognized tribe adopts an ordinance applying the chapter, short-term rental facilitators must, on request, report each listing’s address and nine-digit ZIP code, with parcel numbers and URLs when needed to identify the rental. Tribes may fine non-reporting under tribal law. Signed September 25, 2026, it takes effect January 1, 2027.
The Trump administration agreed on September 25, 2026 to rescind guidance authorizing federal agencies to initiate reductions in force during appropriations lapses, settling American Federation of Government Employees v. Office of Management and Budget in the Northern District of California, Bloomberg Law, Reuters and Government Executive reported. Agencies must strip blanket RIF authorization from shutdown contingency plans and give plaintiff unions 30 days’ notice before restoring such language. The suit challenged mass layoff notices issued during the 2025 government shutdown.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1824 on September 25 as part of a Native American legislative package, aligning California guardianship and conservatorship proceedings involving Indian children with Indian Child Welfare Act standards. Courts and petitioners must inquire whether a child is or may be an Indian child, parties seeking placement must show 'active efforts' to prevent family breakup, and placements must follow ICWA placement preferences.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2187 on September 25, amending Public Contract Code section 10340 so state agencies may contract with federally recognized California Native American tribes without securing three competitive bids. A tribe fulfilling such an interagency agreement may subcontract with its wholly owned subdivisions or business enterprises if it provides a limited waiver of sovereign immunity and cost justification showing market equivalence.
Bill Smelko joined Buchalter as a partner in its insolvency and financial law practice in San Diego, Bloomberg Law reported on September 25, 2026. He focuses on business bankruptcy, restructuring and corporate governance disputes for financial institutions, creditors, debtors and businesses. He joins from Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1836 (Chapter 441, Statutes of 2026) on September 25, 2026, amending Government Code section 8588.9 to extend the California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program beyond fixed facilities to offsite events hosted by nonprofits at high risk of violent attack or hate crime. Cal OES administers the program, which funds security guards, temporary infrastructure and screening equipment; offsite-event security is capped at $25,000 per grant. The change takes effect January 1, 2027.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2664 on September 25, adding Penal Code section 594.38, which bars anyone within 100 feet of a house of worship's entrance from intentionally approaching within 8 feet of a person entering or exiting to pass leaflets, display signs, protest, or harass. A first violation is a misdemeanor punishable by up to $1,000 or six months in jail; repeat violations carry up to $5,000 or one year.
California enacted AB 1592 (Ramos), authorizing the Department of Parks and Recreation to contract with a 501(c)(3) California Indian Heritage Center support organization to help operate and program the heritage center. The organization may recruit culturally knowledgeable staff, raise private funding, and receive state funds, while a board of up to 25 - at least 51 percent representing California Native American tribes - oversees it. Governor Newsom signed the bill on September 25, 2026; it takes effect January 1, 2027.
California enacted AB 1641 (Jackson), amending Education Code section 66010 so that tribal colleges and universities located in California and operated by an Indian tribal government count as part of state public higher education. The bill places tribal colleges alongside the California Community Colleges, California State University, and the University of California in statute. Governor Newsom signed the bill on September 25, 2026; it takes effect January 1, 2027, with the definition continuing under a successor provision in 2030.
California enacted AB 1769 (Ramos), adding Education Code section 66728 to build transfer pathways between tribal colleges and universities in the state and public postsecondary institutions. CSU trustees and community college districts offering baccalaureates must develop articulation agreements and concurrent-enrollment programs for students at tribal colleges; UC regents are asked to do the same. Governor Newsom signed the bill on September 25, 2026; it takes effect January 1, 2027.
California enacted AB 31 (Ramos), creating a Tribal Police Program under the Department of Justice and the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. Up to three federally recognized tribes may enroll; officers who complete state peace-officer training are deemed peace officers. Participating tribes must enact tribal laws mirroring state public-records and claims rules, waive sovereign immunity for program suits, and accept Attorney General oversight. Governor Newsom signed the bill on September 25, 2026; it takes effect January 1, 2027.
The Supreme Court of California issued two unanimous opinions on Thursday ordering Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco to return approximately 650,000 voted ballots seized following the November 2025 special election. Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero held that Elections Code section 15551, as it then read, prohibited removing ballots from election officials' custody even during criminal investigations. The court also held that Article V, Section 13 of the California Constitution grants Attorney General Rob Bonta binding supervisory authority over county sheriffs' investigations.
Kaitlin Bagby joined Morrison Foerster as a partner in its Emerging Companies + Venture Capital group in Palo Alto, Bloomberg Law reported on September 24, 2026. Bagby advises high-growth technology companies from formation and venture financings through M&A and IPOs and represents venture investors. She joins from Orrick and is the firm’s tenth ECVC partner addition since 2024, Morrison Foerster said.
Alston & Bird announced on September 24, 2026 that Devin Donohue and Andy Hutchison joined as partners in its Litigation & Trial Practice Group, Bloomberg Law reported. Donohue joined the Century City office and Hutchison joined San Francisco, expanding the firm’s West Coast commercial litigation bench for complex business disputes, investigations, and consumer-related class actions.
Los Angeles private equity boutique Massumi + Consoli on September 24, 2026 announced ElevenHundred+, a management services organization backed by Dallas private equity firm Trive Capital, Law.com and a firm Business Wire release reported. The MSO will build technology and operational infrastructure and offer equity incentives aimed at lateral recruiting. Former Sheppard Mullin executive-committee member and firmwide lateral recruitment lead Shon Glusky joined as a New York partner and chief strategy officer.
Duane Morris and a former partner notified a California federal court that they had agreed to settle the plaintiff’s claims individually after private mediation. Reuters reported the notice on September 24. The lawsuit challenged the treatment of non-equity partners; the firm had previously denied wrongdoing.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the California Energy Commission sued the Department of the Interior, federal officials, and Invenergy California Offshore in federal court on Tuesday. The fifty-four-page complaint challenges a June 2026 agreement paying Invenergy over $111 million to surrender its two-gigawatt Morro Bay offshore wind lease. California alleges the buyout violates the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, and constitutional spending limits while requiring fossil-fuel investments.
San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu sued Trump Media and Technology Group in San Francisco Superior Court on September 21, 2026. The 22-page complaint alleges the company’s Truth API service charges subscribers up to $100,000 a month for a 50-millisecond head start on market-moving presidential posts. The suit asserts the service monetizes nonpublic government information, aids violations of federal ethics and securities laws, and constitutes unfair and unlawful business practices under California law.
AB 2674 (Chapter 406), approved September 20, added Section 39732 to the Health and Safety Code, requiring the State Air Resources Board to post on its website the temperature and monitoring data it receives regarding methane emissions from landfills. Legislative findings cite the board's 2010 landfill methane regulations and state that public posting increases trust and transparency and helps nearby communities protect themselves.
AB 2776 (Chapter 408), approved September 20, reenacted Health and Safety Code Section 25201.5 governing generators that treat small quantities of hazardous waste under a conditional exemption or permit-by-rule. The section keeps the 500-pound or 55-gallon monthly threshold, requires 60-day advance notice to the department or CUPA, three years of onsite records, and unit decontamination on closure.
AB 2793 (Chapter 409), approved September 20, amended Business and Professions Code Sections 19800 and 19812 so that the attorney seat on the five-member California Gambling Control Commission requires 'regulatory or gaming law experience' rather than only 'regulatory law experience.' The commission's structure, party-balance cap, and cooling-off rules for gambling-establishment employment were unchanged.
AB 2795 (Chapter 410), approved September 20, restated Corporations Code Section 25608, the fee schedule the Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation charges for securities filings, broker-dealer and investment adviser certificates, examinations, and hearings. All fees collected under the section go to the Financial Protection Fund.
SB 1078 (Chapter 420), approved September 20, added Civil Code Section 1749.52, letting gift-certificate issuers sell through December 31, 2028, certificates printed with a cash-redemption threshold lower than the statutory amount, if the certificates were manufactured or printed before April 1, 2026. Issuers must post a notice in at least 24-point font at each point of sale stating that certificates with cash value under fifteen dollars are redeemable in cash.
SB 1169 (Chapter 423), approved September 20, rewrote Government Code Section 66452.6 so that an approved or conditionally approved tentative subdivision map expires 48 months after approval, plus any local-ordinance extension of up to 36 months. Where the subdivider must spend at least $236,790 on offsite public improvements, each phased final-map filing extends expiration by 48 months, up to 10 years from approval.
SB 1205 (Chapter 424), approved September 20, added Public Contract Code Section 7204, capping retention on design-bid-build contracts and amendments entered on or after January 1, 2027, between a public entity and an architecture or engineering firm at 5 percent. Withheld retention must be released within 60 days after the firm's services are complete, regardless of project completion. Higher retention requires a pre-bid substantially-complex finding.
SB 1218 (Chapter 425), approved September 20, added Vehicle Code Section 22651.10, authorizing peace officers and salaried code-enforcement employees to immobilize a vehicle on a highway or public lands when the registered owner has five or more delinquent illegal-dumping violation notices, or two or more delinquent commercial-quantity dumping notices. Release requires identification, proof of payment or an active payment plan, and current registration.
SB 1264 (Chapter 427), approved September 20, added subdivision (e) to Probate Code Section 9202, requiring a general personal representative or estate attorney with actual knowledge of a court-ordered child support obligation to notify the Director of the Department of Child Support Services within 90 days after letters are first issued. The duty applies to estates where letters are first issued on or after January 1, 2027.
SB 1273 (Chapter 428), approved September 20, amended Business and Professions Code Section 25503.56, the tied-house exception for instructional tasting events on qualifying off-sale premises. Authorized licensees may conduct consumer tastings of wine, beer, or distilled spirits with per-person caps — one-fourth ounce for spirits, one ounce for wine, eight ounces of beer per day — and no charge may be made.
SB 299 (Chapter 413), approved September 20, added Section 21080.68 to the Public Resources Code, exempting from the California Environmental Quality Act any project consisting exclusively of a day care center located in a residential area. Existing law already exempted day care centers outside residential areas. The exemption excludes projects within 3,200 feet of active oil or gas extraction or refining facilities and projects on natural and protected lands.
SB 501 (Chapter 414), approved September 20, amended the Responsible Battery Recycling Act of 2022's stewardship-plan requirements in Public Resources Code Section 42422.1, extending the extended-producer-responsibility program to medium-format batteries. Plans must provide free-at-drop-off collection in every county: at least 10 sites per county or one per 15,000 people for small format, and at least five sites per county or one per 30,000 people in larger counties for medium format.
SB 58 (Chapter 411), approved September 20, added Section 41514.7 to the Health and Safety Code, directing the State Air Resources Board to develop a response framework for fugitive and natural sources of hydrogen sulfide gas. The board must consult local air districts, health and emergency agencies, tribes, and community organizations, hold at least three public workshops, and estimate implementation resources.
SB 691 (Chapter 416), approved September 20, added subdivision (c) to Penal Code Section 832.18, requiring every law enforcement agency with a body-worn camera policy to add, by July 1, 2027, a procedure letting emergency service personnel request redaction — before any public release — of recordings showing a patient receiving medical or psychological evaluation, procedure, or treatment. Redaction may include blurring patient care and muting audio.
SB 802 (Chapter 417), approved September 20, enacted the Sacramento Regional Housing and Homelessness Joint Powers Authority Act, requiring Sacramento County and the cities of Sacramento, Elk Grove, Rancho Cordova, Citrus Heights, and Folsom to establish a joint powers authority by January 1, 2028. The authority assumes oversight of the Sacramento City and County Continuum of Care, sets system performance goals, and coordinates prevention, outreach, shelter, and housing programs.
AB 1738 (Chapter 271), approved September 18, added Section 17970.9 to the Health and Safety Code, requiring California cities and counties to offer homeowners and their contractors the option of remote building inspections for specified residential work, including heat-pump installations, reroofs, small photovoltaic systems, and smoke and carbon-monoxide detectors. Larger agencies must comply by January 1, 2028; small agencies that issue remote inspections by July 1, 2028.
SB 1168 (Chapter 440), signed September 21, requires the Public Utilities Commission, in a new or existing proceeding, to assess rate-structure opportunities ensuring data centers pay a reasonable share of transmission and distribution costs, their proportionate share of load increases and procurements, consistent with integrated resource planning. The review must also alleviate cost pressures on residential ratepayers, including CARE and FERA program customers.
SB 887 (Chapter 439), signed September 21, added data centers to California's environmental leadership development project program under the California Environmental Quality Act, opening a path to expedited judicial review. To qualify, a project must prepay interconnection costs, add no fossil fuel use, install four-hour zero-carbon storage at peak demand, use recycled or waterless cooling, reach 100 percent zero-carbon electricity within five years, and sign an enforceable community benefits agreement.
SB 886, the California Technology Innovation and Ratepayer Protection Act (Chapter 438), signed September 21, directs the Public Utilities Commission to establish interconnection and service tariffs for large data centers by January 1, 2028. Tariffs must prevent stranded costs and cost shifts to other customers, assign transmission upgrade costs to the data center, impose early termination fees for departures within ten years, and require utilities to publish maps of low-upgrade interconnection sites.
AB 2619 (Chapter 437), signed September 21, adds data-center electricity demand to the factors shaping urban water-shortage contingency planning. Urban water suppliers must incorporate the unconstrained demand of data centers, irrigation, and other large users into their annual water supply and demand assessments, weighing weather, growth, and supply-management policies for the current year and one dry year against available supply, infrastructure constraints, and shortage response actions.
AB 2469 (Chapter 436), signed September 21, bars cities and counties from approving permits for data-center construction or water-use-increasing expansions unless the applicant supplies a water supply assessment, a water scarcity plan beginning in 2028, projected water use and efficiency measures, and workforce disclosures. Applicants must bear the full cost of required water infrastructure improvements. Meeting the conditions does not obligate the locality to approve the project.
AB 2383 (Chapter 435), signed September 21, requires the Public Utilities Commission to order electrical corporations to file transmission, distribution, and generation tariffs for data centers that keep incremental costs off other ratepayers. Community choice aggregators and electric service providers must adopt equivalent generation tariffs by January 1, 2028. The tariffs must run at least ten years, with upfront collateral, minimum payments tied to projected load, and early termination fees.
AB 1577 (Chapter 434), signed September 21, requires owners or operators of data centers with at least 10 megawatts of electrical capacity to report energy and operating data to the California Energy Commission at energization and annually thereafter. The commission must publish the data in anonymized, aggregated form on its website and assess data-center electricity load trends in its biennial Integrated Energy Policy Report beginning in 2029.
AB 2481 (Chapter 403), signed September 20, adds Public Resources Code section 14549.1, authorizing CalRecycle, subject to available funds, to pay quality incentive payments per beverage-container material type: up to $60 per ton for color-sorted glass used to make glass beverage containers in California, up to $30 per ton for other glass products, up to $180 per ton for resin-sorted plastic, and up to $125 per ton for clean aluminum. Only one payment per container is allowed.
AB 2453 (Chapter 400), signed September 20, adds Vehicle Code section 21100(p), authorizing local authorities to regulate off-highway motor vehicle operation by peace officers and first responders on highways within their jurisdiction during official duties. The locality must adopt a publicly reviewed policy or plan posted on its website, limiting highway operation to five miles for accessing off-highway areas or patrol locations and specifying activities, timeframes, and required training and safety equipment.
AB 2380 (Chapter 397), signed September 20, raises the maximum total registration fee for a pest control business to register in its home county from $25 to $75, with a $50 maximum for an additional county. It also raises the maximum fees for pest control aircraft pilots, pest control advisers, and Structural Pest Control Board registered companies in their home and additional counties, including fumigation registration and fees for adding operators and field representatives.
AB 2375 (Chapter 396), signed September 20, requires licensed retailers' payments to licensed wholesalers for beer, wine, or distilled spirits to be made by wholesaler-initiated electronic funds transfer, received no later than 30 days after delivery. Cash, check, or money order is allowed only in specified cases such as failed transfers or temporary permits. Each party pays its own processing costs, and retailers may not accept rebates or incentives from the wholesaler's chosen processor.
AB 2326 (Chapter 395), signed September 20, extends the Broomrape Program in the Department of Food and Agriculture by two years to July 1, 2030, and expands assessed commodities from processing tomatoes to any broomrape-impacted commodity the secretary specifies. It revises Noxious Weed Management Account rules so the 60 percent control-and-abatement share goes only to eligible weed management areas, and raises the administration cost cap from 10 to 25 percent. The bill appropriates continuously appropriated funds.
AB 2312 (Chapter 394), signed September 20, grants tidelands trust lands to the City of Martinez to hold as trustee for maritime and water-dependent commerce, navigation, fisheries, scientific study, open space, wildlife habitat, and water-oriented recreation. The city may not alienate the lands and may lease them for up to 66 years at fair rent, with longer terms requiring State Lands Commission approval. The state reserves highway use, public fishing rights, and archaeological, historical, and mineral deposits.
AB 2266 (Chapter 389), signed September 20, requires the Public Utilities Commission, by January 1, 2030, to consider consolidating the procurement plans load-serving entities file under specified provisions into a single plan. Where feasible, the commission must consolidate compliance reporting for reliability requirements and explain in a decision or ruling if consolidation is not feasible. Commission-issued reporting templates must be final at least 30 business days before reports are due.
AB 2174 (Chapter 386), signed September 20, requires the department, beginning January 1, 2028, to accept verified electronic signatures — digital signatures meeting Government Code section 16.5 attributes — on documents releasing or satisfying a legal owner's security interest in manufactured homes, mobilehomes, commercial coaches, truck campers, and floating homes, with the same force as an original signature. The 120-day escrow moratorium on competing title-record amendments is retained.
AB 2150 (Chapter 384), signed September 20, requires California employers that mandate CPR certification training to also require an Emergency Medical Services Authority-approved online video module on naloxone use, at the employer's cost. The training covers overdose recognition, response actions, and proper administration of naloxone or other FDA-approved opioid antagonists. It creates no independent duty to administer naloxone and sets a floor other agencies may exceed.
AB 2113 (Chapter 383), signed September 20, makes it unlawful to operate an unmanned aircraft within 400 feet of an outdoor ticketed entertainment event or an amusement park. A covered event is a professional music, sporting, or performing arts event at a gated venue with capacity of 1,000 or more not subject to FAA restrictions. Exemptions cover venue consent, official business, and emergency responders. Violations are infractions punishable by a $500 fine.
AB 2111, the Accelerating Renewable Energy Delivery Act (Chapter 382), signed September 20, requires the Public Utilities Commission, consulting the Energy Commission, to give the Independent System Operator transmission-focused guidance on portfolios of expected renewable and zero-carbon resources. The commission must submit at least three risk-prudent, near-term resource portfolios spanning plausible futures and request approval of transmission projects it finds reasonable, with projections covering at least 20 years.
AB 2110, the Workforce Housing Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Act (Chapter 381), signed September 20, lets cities and counties form workforce housing enhanced infrastructure financing districts under an infrastructure financing plan reviewed every ten years. Every financed development must reserve all units for public safety, education, health care, or manufacturing personnel, with at least 70 percent for lower income households. Bonds require a two-thirds vote of district voters.
AB 1982 (Chapter 377), signed September 20, requires applicants for and holders of Type 48 on-sale general public premises licenses to offer customers drug testing devices, such as strips or straws that detect controlled substances in drinks, at no more than a reasonable wholesale-based price. Licensees must post a prescribed notice about drink lids and test kits in a prominent location. Violations are not crimes, and licensees are shielded from liability for defective tests or inaccurate results.
AB 1715 (Chapter 372), signed September 20, requires each electrical or gas corporation to file quarterly reports with the Public Utilities Commission on taxpayer funding of $1 million or more from federal programs including the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Inflation Reduction Act, or CHIPS Act. Reports must detail sources, spending plans, and expected ratepayer savings. The commission must require utilities to pass funding benefits through to ratepayers via rate adjustments. The reporting duty ends January 1, 2037.
AB 1712 (Chapter 371) authorizes Santa Fe Springs to sell its public water utility for consolidation with a bordering public water system when the council finds public ownership is not in the public interest. Conditions include fair market value and a four-fifths council vote. A 45-day protest period follows; protests by 10 percent of interested persons trigger a majority-vote election, and 50 percent or more bars the sale for a year. The act is repealed January 1, 2032.
AB 871 (Chapter 360), signed September 20, makes every officer and employee of a financial institution a mandated reporter of suspected financial abuse of an elder or dependent adult. Reports go immediately by phone or confidential internet tool, and in writing within two working days, to adult protective services or law enforcement, plus a report to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center. Institutions face civil penalties up to $1,000, or $5,000 if willful. The duties take effect January 1, 2028.
AB 643 (Chapter 358), signed September 20, extends rural exemptions from organic-waste collection and procurement requirements to January 1, 2037, renewable in five-year increments. By January 1, 2027, CalRecycle must let jurisdictions count pipeline biomethane converted from landfill-diverted organic waste toward recovered organic waste procurement targets. The law also expands countable procurement to vermicomposting, mushroom compost, tree-trimming mulch, and limited edible food recovery.
AB 550 (Chapter 357), signed September 20, authorizes the Department of Fish and Wildlife to permit incidental take of species proposed for listing under the California Endangered Species Act, expanding a program previously limited to listed and candidate species. The governor's release describes the measure as covering take associated with renewable electrical generation facilities. Permits require minimized and fully mitigated impacts with adequate funding, plus a no-jeopardy determination based on best available science.
AB 28 (Chapter 356), signed September 20, requires landfill owners and operators to notify CalRecycle, water boards, air agencies, and local enforcement bodies upon a subsurface elevated temperature event, defined as subsurface temperatures persistently over 131 degrees Fahrenheit, and to implement mitigation including a corrective action plan. CalRecycle may assume enforcement, recover its costs, and impose administrative civil penalties up to $100,000 per day. The law creates a continuously appropriated community mitigation fund.
A twelve-state coalition led by California submitted a proposed consent decree in California federal court on Monday, settling antitrust litigation against Paramount Skydance's planned acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery. Under the thirty-two-page agreement, Paramount agreed to divest cable networks including Comedy Central and BET, maintain theatrical film quotas for five years, increase domestic production spending by $300 million annually, and establish independent editorial oversight boards for CBS News and CNN.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1577 on September 21, 2026, chaptered as Cal. Stats. 2026, ch. 434 and adding Public Resources Code section 25302.10. From January 1, 2027, owners and operators of data centers of at least 10 megawatts must report operational data to the Energy Commission upon energization and after any substantive change. The Commission publishes the data annually in anonymized, aggregated form and adds biennial data-center load assessments to integrated energy policy reports from 2029.
Boies Schiller Flexner hired Christian Mammen as an intellectual property partner in San Francisco, Law.com reported on September 21, 2026. Mammen joins from Womble Bond Dickinson, where he was office managing partner for San Francisco and Walnut Creek and co-founded the firm’s AI practice.
Governor Newsom signed AB 2305 on September 20, adding Article 7.5 (Business and Professions Code sections 6134 to 6134.14). For contracts entered on or after January 1, 2027, a corporate legal funder that interferes with a substantive litigation decision or controls a litigation function commits the unauthorized practice of law. Litigation practices may not accept funder terms that restrict withdrawal, bar reporting, or penalize resistance; such terms are void. Compliant nonrecourse litigation finance is not impermissible fee sharing.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 615 (Chapter 351, Statutes of 2026) on September 20, 2026, adding Part 11 to Division 26 of the Health and Safety Code. Battery suppliers and remanufacturers must register with the Air Resources Board within 90 days of chaptering and update annually. From July 1, 2028, new vehicle traction batteries need a permanent label and remanufacturers must relabel. From July 1, 2029, suppliers pay annual tiered cost-recovery fees; board regulations are due by July 1, 2031.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1982 on September 20, 2026, removing the January 2027 sunset on California's bar drink-safety law. Type 48 on-sale general public premises must continue offering drug-testing devices for sale at near-wholesale cost, keep them unexpired, and post one of two prescribed notices about drink lids and test kits. Violations are not crimes, and licensees are not liable for defective or inaccurate test results.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2001 (Chapter 378, Statutes of 2026) on September 20, 2026, amending Penal Code section 11105. From January 1, 2027, the Attorney General must furnish state summary criminal history information to city attorneys and county counsel pursuing red light abatement actions, alongside listed actions such as gang injunctions, drug abatement, illegal cannabis, substandard housing and gun violence restraining orders. The Attorney General may also furnish the information to tribal peace officers in other states.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2110 on September 20, 2026, as Chapter 381, enacting the Workforce Housing Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Act. It lets cities and counties establish workforce-housing enhanced infrastructure financing districts funded by tax increment financing. Financed housing must reserve all units for public safety, education, health care, or manufacturing personnel and lower- or moderate-income households, with affordability covenants of 55 years for rentals and 45 for owner-occupied homes. Bonds need two-thirds voter approval; effective January 1, 2027.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2212 on September 20, 2026, adding Education Code section 66262.5 on sexual harassment in postsecondary education. The law defines affirmative consent, sextortion, digitized sexually explicit material, sexual exploitation, sexual violence, and technology-facilitated sexual harassment, and states that sexual harassment of students is a form of sex discrimination. The section becomes operative August 1, 2027.
California added Article 7.5 to the Business and Professions Code, making it unauthorized practice of law for a corporate legal funder to interfere with an attorney's or litigant's substantive litigation decisions. Chapter 393, approved September 20, 2026, voids contract terms enabling such control and exposes violators to client suits for $10,000 per violation or treble actual damages. It preserves nonrecourse litigation finance without control over legal judgment.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1024 (Chapter 419, Statutes of 2026) on September 20, 2026, adding Chapter 9.6.1 to the Government Code. From January 1, 2027, city, county, district, CSU and Cal Fire departments must grant active firefighters with 1,250 hours of service in the prior year up to 26 weeks of fully paid leave when disabled by pregnancy, childbirth or a related condition, without requiring them to exhaust sick, vacation or compensatory leave, with benefits continuing.
Governor Gavin Newsom approved SB 1213 on September 20, 2026, as Chapter 349, effective January 1, 2027. Beginning January 1, 2027, the State Air Resources Board and the Energy Commission must condition inclusion of any medium- or heavy-duty vehicle model in incentive programs funded by the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, including the Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project, on receipt of the pricing data specified in new Health and Safety Code Section 43216.
Governor Gavin Newsom approved SB 1267 on September 20, 2026, as Chapter 350, effective January 1, 2027. The law amends Civil Code Section 4745 so a homeowner in a common interest development may install an EV charging station in a common area for the owner's exclusive use when installation in a designated parking space is impossible or unreasonably expensive. Associations must authorize installation through a license agreement, and associations or owners may also install shared chargers for all members.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1130 (Chapter 335, Statutes of 2026) on September 19, 2026, amending Government Code section 84513 to remove the Political Reform Act exemption that shielded paid online political posters from penalties. From January 1, 2027, a person paid by a committee to post political content without the required disclaimer, and the paying committee, are jointly and severally liable for penalties, and the committee must flag the payment as a paid third-party post on its report.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 282 on September 19 as an urgency statute, in force immediately. New Elections Code section 18579 makes it a felony, punishable by 16 months or two or three years in custody, to seize, cause, or assist the seizure of ballots, election records, or certified voting technology before results are certified. A person with authority who directs subordinates to seize such materials commits a separate felony punishable by two, three, or four years.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 502 on September 19 as an urgency statute so it governs the November 3, 2026 general election. The bill rewrites Elections Code section 20012: the ban on knowingly distributing materially deceptive election communications now turns on content material to a voter's electoral decisions or to public confidence in an election's process or outcome, the window narrows from 120 days to 30 days before an election, and disclosures must meet new color and font-size rules.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 686 on September 19. The bill extends the repeal date of Elections Code section 20010, California's prohibition on distributing, with actual malice, materially deceptive audio or visual media of a candidate within 60 days of an election, from January 1, 2027 to January 1, 2031. Media that discloses it was manipulated is exempt; candidates keep injunctive and damages remedies through 2030.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1164 (Chapter 338, Statutes of 2026) on September 19, 2026, revising the California Voting Rights Act of 2001. From January 1, 2027, no political subdivision or state agency may implement, impose or enforce an election policy or practice that results in, or is likely to result in, voter suppression, and no political subdivision may use a method of election that dilutes the vote of a protected class, defined as any race, color or language-minority group.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 1354 (Chapter 329, Statutes of 2026) on September 19. New Military and Veterans Code section 570 bars military personnel of another state, territory, or district from entering California, or causing something to enter, to perform military duty or law-enforcement functions for another state without the governor's permission. Personnel in active federal service under Title 10, military compacts entered before January 1, 2027, and training exercises are exempt.
Governor Newsom signed SB 884, the Protect Our Polls Act, on September 19 as an urgency statute. New Elections Code Chapter 5 (from section 400) bars arrests within 200 feet of a polling place on election day except for crimes against persons or property or disruption of the polling place, requires ballot drop-off locations to open 30 days before an election, and lets counties widen the electioneering ban to 200 feet, for elections from November 2026 through 2029.
Governor Newsom signed AB 1664 (Chapter 336) on September 19, 2026, as an urgency statute effective immediately. New Elections Code Section 23 requires a local agency, political subdivision or elections official to notify the Secretary of State and Attorney General within one calendar day of learning of a warrant, subpoena or law-enforcement investigation involving election records or certified voting technology. Either official may intervene in court to challenge it. The section is repealed January 1, 2030.
Governor Gavin Newsom approved AB 2319 on September 19, 2026, creating a new California tax credit for post-production of qualified motion pictures. The credit equals 35% of qualified editorial post-production expenditures for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2027, with per-project caps of $6 million for non-visual-effects work and $6 million for visual effects, plus uplifts for out-of-Los-Angeles-zone work, music scoring, and in-state principal photography.
AB 502, approved September 19, 2026, as Chapter 333, amends Elections Code section 20012. Knowingly distributing materially deceptive content about candidates, elections officials or voting equipment with malice is prohibited within 30 days before an election, replacing the prior 120-day window, and through 38 days after for officials and equipment. The person depicted, rather than any recipient, may seek an injunction and damages. The urgency statute took effect on signing.
AB 686, approved September 19, 2026, as Chapter 334, Statutes of 2026, amends Elections Code section 20010 and Code of Civil Procedure section 35 to extend the repeal date of California's deceptive-media election law from January 1, 2027, to January 1, 2031. The law bars distributing, with actual malice, materially deceptive audio or visual media of a candidate within 60 days of an election, and lets candidates seek injunctive relief, damages and attorney's fees.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 186, a budget trailer bill, on September 19, 2026, as Chapter 344 of the Statutes of 2026, effective immediately. It extends the carryforward period for motion picture credits 2.0 and 3.0 from 9 to 15 years. It raises the refundable amount under motion picture credit 4.0 from 90 to 95 percent, payable over two years, and, for taxable years from January 1, 2027, exempts sold credits from the $5 million business credit limit.
Subscribers to paid artificial intelligence services sued Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI, and Google in the Northern District of California on September 18, 2026, alleging the companies formed an illegal horizontal agreement to slow frontier model improvements. The complaint claims public statements endorsing coordinated development pacing, presented as AI safety measures, constitute an unlawful restraint on output and product quality under Section 1 of the Sherman Act, depriving consumers of faster competitive innovations.
Corrected . An earlier version of this piece misquoted the complaint. It attributed to paragraphs 111 and 112 a sentence the complaint does not contain; the complaint's words, in paragraph 112, are now quoted. It quoted Sam Altman as writing "OpenAI will do the same"; the complaint quotes "will do the same." It placed quotation marks around several passages the complaint paraphrases, gave some paragraph numbers incorrectly, and said each plaintiff subscribed to one defendant's product; three plaintiffs allege subscriptions to all four. It also quoted Dario Amodei's essay beyond what the complaint quotes. The piece now links the desk's copy of the complaint as filed.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1744 (Chapter 272, Statutes of 2026) on September 18, 2026, adding Business and Professions Code section 17580.7. From January 1, 2027, no one may represent in advertising or on the label or container of a sunscreen product sold in California that it is “reef safe,” “reef friendly,” “ocean safe” or similar unless the product contains no chemical ultraviolet filters such as oxybenzone or octinoxate. Violations are misdemeanors; the rule covers FDA-regulated over-the-counter sunscreens.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1828 (Chapter 275, Statutes of 2026) on September 18, 2026. From January 1, 2028, bond filings for legal document assistants, unlawful detainer assistants, process servers, professional copiers and notaries public move from county recorders to county clerks. Clerks must retain each bond for at least six years (ten for notaries), issue the registrant one certified copy as official proof, and the $7 filing fee gives way to a fee set under Government Code Section 54985.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1983 (Chapter 281, Statutes of 2026) on September 18, 2026, amending Health and Safety Code sections 1771, 1788 and 1788.4. From January 1, 2027, a continuing care retirement community offering repayable in sequential order contracts must keep a repayment account, number each terminated contract and repay them in that order from later entrance fees. Contracts must disclose the average and longest wait between termination and repayment over the past five years.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2078 on September 18, 2026, adding stationary engineers who perform building-maintenance work to the categories of employees exempt from California's standard meal-period rules. The exemption applies only when the worker is covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement that provides meal periods, final and binding arbitration of meal-period disputes, premium overtime pay, and a regular rate at least 30 percent above the state minimum wage.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2224 (Chapter 292, Statutes of 2026) on September 18, 2026, revising county recorder fee law from January 1, 2027. Recording and indexing fees rise to $15 for the first page and $4 per additional page, capped at reasonable costs, and recorders collecting the fee must implement an electronic recording delivery system. The act repeals nonconforming-page surcharges and per-name indexing fees, removes the 2027 sunset on electronic-recording contracts, and extends electronic recording to all document types.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2227 (Chapter 294, Statutes of 2026) on September 18, 2026, amending Labor Code sections 1683 and 1684. From January 1, 2027, licensed farm labor contractors must post a $50,000 surety bond for payrolls up to $500,000, $100,000 for payrolls of $500,000 to $2 million and $150,000 above $2 million, double the previous tiers, deposited at first registration or first annual renewal. The Labor Commissioner must publish bond details on its public license database.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2613 (Chapter 306, Statutes of 2026) on September 18, amending Health and Safety Code section 1373.65. From January 1, 2027, health plans must send the existing 60-day notice of a provider-group or hospital contract termination by email or text, as well as mail, to enrollees who opted in. If plan and provider later reach agreement, the plan must notify enrollees by mail and electronically within 10 business days of DMHC approval.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2783 on September 18, 2026, as an urgency statute. The act lets successful completion of the National Court Reporters Association's Registered Professional Reporter certification satisfy the Dictation/Transcription skill portion of California's certified shorthand reporter examination. It also extends the remote court-reporting pilot in 13 participating superior courts through July 1, 2028.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2796 on September 18, 2026, as an urgency statute. The act conforms criminal-history background-check requirements across firearms permits, education contractors, massage professionals, professional fiduciaries, tax preparers, humane officers, financial-sector workers, escrow agents, care facilities, and certain Medi-Cal providers. It includes an FBI-authorization fallback and requires subsequent-notification refingerprinting under Penal Code Section 11105.2.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 744 on September 18, 2026, as Chapter 265 of the Statutes of 2026, effective January 1, 2027. It amends Business and Professions Code section 25503.2, the tied-house exception that lets manufacturers and wholesalers stack, rotate, inventory and service their brands at off-sale retail premises with the retailer's permission. The exception, previously limited to beer and single-serve wine and spirits, will cover beer and wine or distilled spirits in containers of 500 milliliters or less.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 936 (Chapter 317, Statutes of 2026) on September 18, 2026, adding Chapter 10 to Part 15 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code. From January 1, 2027, no one may sell or distribute nitrous oxide containers holding more than eight grams or allowing direct inhalation, food-flavoured nitrous oxide, or inhalation devices, subject to medical, dental, culinary, automotive and manufacturing exemptions. Violations are infractions fined $500 to $2,000, with license suspension for repeat offenders.
Gibson Dunn hired a three-partner mass-torts and product-liability trial team from Paul Weiss on September 18, 2026. Kimberly Branscome joins as co-chair of the practice; Yahonnes Cleary and Jonathan Tam join as partners. Branscome and Tam are based in Los Angeles and Cleary in New York, adding first-chair trial depth in pharmaceutical, medical-device, consumer, and industrial matters.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1069 (Chapter 244, Statutes of 2026) on September 16, 2026; it takes effect January 1, 2027. The law creates a conditional approval pathway for makers of emissions-related aftermarket parts. Manufacturers that file complete California Air Resources Board executive-order applications, backed by emissions testing and technical documentation, may sell, advertise and install parts while the board completes its review. Conditional approvals last two years; CARB keeps authority to approve or deny the final order.
California signed Senate Bill 1392 on September 16, 2026. The law phases in biennial smog-check exemptions for collector motor vehicles meeting Vehicle Code section 259 criteria, extending eligibility from pre-1976 vehicles to pre-1986 model years by 2033. The exemption phases in one model year at a time beginning January 1, 2028, for pre-1981 vehicles. Older collector cars at least 35 model years old gain partial test exemptions if insured as collectors and meeting emissions standards.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed four wildfire-recovery bills in Altadena on September 15, 2026. Assembly Bills 1642 and 1795 direct state agencies to set standards for testing and remediating lead and asbestos contamination from wildfire smoke, require insurers to cover qualifying testing, cleanup and restoration, and bar cutoff of living-expense coverage until homes are safe. Assembly Bills 1842 and 1847 create permanent mortgage-forbearance protections and double the forbearance window for Los Angeles fire survivors from 12 to 24 months.
California adopted Chapter 190, Statutes of 2026, on September 10, 2026, requiring operators of companion chatbots accessible to children to conduct documented child-risk assessments before new or substantially modified products launch. The law imposes child-safety policies, crisis protocols, parental default settings, session limits, advertising restrictions, and biennial independent audits starting January 1, 2029, with core duties operative July 1, 2027.
California chaptered Senate Bill 867 on September 10, 2026, prohibiting the manufacture, sale, exchange, and possession for sale of any toy that includes an AI companion chatbot. The four-year moratorium runs through December 31, 2030, covering physical products designed, marketed, or manufactured for play by children under 16. Violations carry the same civil liability provisions as California's companion-chatbot operator law.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 813 and AB 1405 on September 9, adding two chapters to the Government Code. SB 813 has the Government Operations Agency designate and police independent verification organizations that assess AI systems by January 1, 2028; engaging one stays voluntary. AB 1405 creates an AI Auditor Registry by January 1, 2029, after which no unregistered person may sell or conduct a covered AI audit in California.
California's legislature passed Senate Bill 574 on August 31, 2026, 75-0 in the Assembly and 40-0 in the Senate, and sent it to Governor Gavin Newsom. The bill would bar attorneys from delegating the practice of law to generative AI, require personal verification of every citation, require disclosure of AI use to the court for all filed documents, and bar arbitrators from delegating decisions to AI. The governor has until September 30 to sign or veto.
Meta's Model Capability Initiative, which recorded employees' keystrokes, mouse movements and screens to train AI on how people use computers, remains suspended more than two months after an engineer found the collected data, including private conversations, viewable company-wide, Business Insider reported on September 11. Meta paused the mandatory program in late June, said it would return only as opt-in, and declined to say whether the data trained its models. A staff petition drew more than 1,800 signatures.