California Artificial Intelligence: Transparency and Governance Act (SB 1159)

Properties

jurisdiction: US, California
level: state
domain: transparency
status: enacted-pending
scope: Excludes AI systems, autonomous agents and robots from the definitions of person and interested person across California government transparency laws (including the Public Records Act and the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act), and bars using AI to falsely pose as a human engaging with a government agency.
obligations: Individuals may not knowingly use AI to falsely represent that a natural person appeared before, submitted information to, or otherwise engaged with a governmental agency. Government agencies are authorized to use disclosure verification tools to detect AI presence in public submissions.
enactedDate: 2026-09-30
appliesTo: members of the public and California government agencies
officialUrl: https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/30/californias-nation-leading-ai-framework-just-got-stronger-governor-newsom-signs-more-first-in-the-nation-worker-protections-and-more/
notes: Signed by Governor Newsom on September 30, 2026: the Governor's AI signing release lists SB 1159 (Christopher Cabaldon, Artificial intelligence: transparency and governance) but gives no description or operative date. Chapter 863, Statutes of 2026 and the substance (AI barred from falsely posing as a natural person before a government agency; AI excluded from the definitions of person) rest on the CalMatters Digital Democracy aggregator alone. The aggregator's 'upon passage' operative date could not be confirmed against bill text and no urgency clause was seen, so status is held at enacted-pending and effectiveDate is null; the usual January 1, 2027 operative date for non-urgency California statutes may apply. No penalty was reported. Distinct from ca-sb942 and SB 1000 (provider-side content disclosure).

Properties

jurisdiction

US, California

level

state

domain

transparency

status

enacted-pending

scope

Excludes AI systems, autonomous agents and robots from the definitions of person and interested person across California government transparency laws (including the Public Records Act and the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act), and bars using AI to falsely pose as a human engaging with a government agency.

obligations

Individuals may not knowingly use AI to falsely represent that a natural person appeared before, submitted information to, or otherwise engaged with a governmental agency. Government agencies are authorized to use disclosure verification tools to detect AI presence in public submissions.

enactedDate

2026-09-30

appliesTo

members of the public and California government agencies

officialUrl

https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/30/californias-nation-leading-ai-framework-just-got-stronger-governor-newsom-signs-more-first-in-the-nation-worker-protections-and-more/

notes

Signed by Governor Newsom on September 30, 2026: the Governor's AI signing release lists SB 1159 (Christopher Cabaldon, Artificial intelligence: transparency and governance) but gives no description or operative date. Chapter 863, Statutes of 2026 and the substance (AI barred from falsely posing as a natural person before a government agency; AI excluded from the definitions of person) rest on the CalMatters Digital Democracy aggregator alone. The aggregator's 'upon passage' operative date could not be confirmed against bill text and no urgency clause was seen, so status is held at enacted-pending and effectiveDate is null; the usual January 1, 2027 operative date for non-urgency California statutes may apply. No penalty was reported. Distinct from ca-sb942 and SB 1000 (provider-side content disclosure).