As this technology reshapes the workplace, California is putting people at the center, Newsom said.
On Wednesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed four laws regulating artificial intelligence in the workplace, including measures requiring human oversight of automated discipline and dismissal decisions and limits on workplace surveillance.
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Senate Bill 947 bars employers from relying solely on automated systems to discipline or dismiss workers. When an employer primarily relies on such a system, a human must corroborate the decision using relevant supporting information.
Senate Bill 951 requires employers to add AI-related information to the advance notices already required under California law before covered mass layoffs, relocations or closures. It applies when AI or automated technology wholly or substantially causes displacement by replacing or automating jobs.
The California Federation of Labor Unions sponsored the two Senate bills. The California Chamber of Commerce opposed both, citing compliance costs and potential penalties.
@CAGovernor Gavin Newsom on the Trump Administration’s AI meeting and the claim that the industry can self-regulate:
“What I heard in Washington DC yesterday is bullshit and that should scare the hell out of everybody.” pic.twitter.com/vbf8cJLGTf
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) September 30, 2026
Assembly Bill 1883 restricts AI surveillance that infers emotions or collects nervous-system data, while Assembly Bill 1331 generally prohibits technological surveillance in workplace bathrooms.
“AI should expand opportunity, not come at the expense of workers. That’s why I just signed first-in-the-nation laws to protect California workers as businesses adopt AI,” Newsom said.
“We’re now requiring human review before AI-driven firings, transparency when AI leads to layoffs, and new protections against workplace surveillance. California is putting people at the center of this conversation,” he added.
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler issued the following statement after Newsom signed the first-in-the-nation legislation to protect working Californians and place essential guardrails on unregulated AI technology:
“Today is a victory for working people in California and a testament to the power of the labor movement and its allies. One day after President Trump welcomed Big Tech CEOs to the White House and touted the administration’s support for ‘morally binding guardrails’ and ‘self-regulation,’ Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed some of the strongest state legislation in the country to protect working people from the harms of unregulated, untested AI. These bills will now become law in spite of a massive corporate lobbying campaign and millions of dollars spent to defeat them. There is still a long way to go to ensure that workers have a say in how AI technology is developed and implemented in the workplace—both in California and nationwide—but these bills are an essential step forward. When working people stand together, we can take on Big Tech—and we can win.”
teleSUR/ JF
Source: Xinhua – AFL-CIO
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