Newsom Signs California Laws Requiring Human Review of AI Firing Decisions

California’s new AI workplace laws promise to put people in control, but they do not prohibit AI-assisted firing decisions. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the measures on September 30, 2026, requiring human review rather than allowing employers to rely on AI alone. The coordinated package also addresses technological displacement and workplace surveillance.

A person must review the employment decision

SB 947 covers AI and automated decision systems—technology used to make decisions about employment. Employers may not rely solely on AI when deciding on discipline or termination.

Displacement brings a notice obligation

SB 951 requires notice when an AI system causes a mass layoff, relocation or termination. Workers must receive written notices when AI is responsible for mass layoffs.

According to the Transparency Coalition, certain covered employers must provide 90 days’ notice before technological displacement affecting at least 25% of their workforce. That threshold limits the requirement; it does not cover every job changed by technology.

AI should expand opportunity – not come at the expense of workers and families. As this technology reshapes the workplace, California is putting people at the center, ensuring we all have a voice in the decisions shaping their future.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, in the September 30 signing announcement

Limits on what employers can watch

AB 1331 limits workplace surveillance and personal-data collection. AB 1883 restricts workplace-data collection, including neural data and surveillance that tracks workers’ emotional states.

Employers cannot use workers’ biometric data to predict their emotional states. The signed protections also ban employers from using workplace surveillance tools in workplace bathrooms.

The same signing reaches health care

The September 30 announcement also includes protections ensuring doctors and licensed providers can exercise their own professional judgment when AI tools are used in patient care.

SB 503 requires developers and organizations deploying AI clinical-support systems to describe intended uses and known or reasonably foreseeable risks. They must make reasonable efforts to identify and mitigate biased impacts—a risk-management obligation, not a guarantee of bias-free systems.

AB 1979 treats a business offering a consumer health-care chatbot as a health-care provider subject to California’s Confidentiality of Medical Information Act.

Training, content origins and impersonation

• Public higher education: AB 2392 requires California public higher-education institutions to create training for students, faculty and staff on AI and procurement.
• Content origins: AB 2713 updates transparency requirements to specify whether provenance data—information about content’s origin—or digital signatures are embedded in the content.
• Impersonation: SB 1111 clarifies that false impersonation includes using a digital replica with the intent to impersonate another person.
• Public participation: public comments at local government meetings must come from real people, not AI bots.