California AB 1883 (Workplace Surveillance Tools: Neural Data and Emotional Recognition Ban)

Properties

jurisdiction: US, California
level: state
domain: hiring
status: enacted-pending
scope: Would bar California employers, including governmental entities and the University of California, from using AI-powered workplace surveillance tools to collect employees' neural data or to recognize or predict their emotional state.
obligations: Per the Legislative Counsel's Digest, read directly from leginfo: the bill would 'prohibit an employer from using a workplace surveillance tool that uses artificial intelligence to, among other things, collect neural data or recognize an individual's emotional state.' The bill adds a new Part 5.8 to the Labor Code and defines 'employer' broadly to include governmental entities, charter cities, the University of California, and entities that contract for labor or property services.
appliesTo: California employers, including governmental entities, charter cities, and the University of California, and labor contractors, that use AI-based workplace surveillance tools
officialUrl: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1883
notes: ENACTED (this run, 2026-10-10): CalMatters Digital Democracy shows AB 1883 chaptered by the Secretary of State on September 30, 2026 as Chapter 853, Statutes of 2026; aipolicydesk.com lists it as signed Sept 30. This resolves the prior round's conflict (a Transparency Coalition summary said signed while leginfo then showed no action): the signing is now corroborated by two aggregators. leginfo was 403 this round. The aggregator reports limited exceptions for federal compliance in aerospace and defense, and application to all employers including governmental entities and the University of California. The operative date was not confirmed, so effectiveDate is null. Distinct from ca-crc-ads-employment-regs and ca-cppa-admt; the companion AB 1331 (restroom surveillance, Chapter 851) is not AI-specific and is not tracked.
enactedDate: 2026-09-30

Properties

jurisdiction

US, California

level

state

domain

hiring

status

enacted-pending

scope

Would bar California employers, including governmental entities and the University of California, from using AI-powered workplace surveillance tools to collect employees' neural data or to recognize or predict their emotional state.

obligations

Per the Legislative Counsel's Digest, read directly from leginfo: the bill would 'prohibit an employer from using a workplace surveillance tool that uses artificial intelligence to, among other things, collect neural data or recognize an individual's emotional state.' The bill adds a new Part 5.8 to the Labor Code and defines 'employer' broadly to include governmental entities, charter cities, the University of California, and entities that contract for labor or property services.

appliesTo

California employers, including governmental entities, charter cities, and the University of California, and labor contractors, that use AI-based workplace surveillance tools

officialUrl

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1883

notes

ENACTED (this run, 2026-10-10): CalMatters Digital Democracy shows AB 1883 chaptered by the Secretary of State on September 30, 2026 as Chapter 853, Statutes of 2026; aipolicydesk.com lists it as signed Sept 30. This resolves the prior round's conflict (a Transparency Coalition summary said signed while leginfo then showed no action): the signing is now corroborated by two aggregators. leginfo was 403 this round. The aggregator reports limited exceptions for federal compliance in aerospace and defense, and application to all employers including governmental entities and the University of California. The operative date was not confirmed, so effectiveDate is null. Distinct from ca-crc-ads-employment-regs and ca-cppa-admt; the companion AB 1331 (restroom surveillance, Chapter 851) is not AI-specific and is not tracked.

enactedDate

2026-09-30