California Wellness and Oversight for Psychological Resources Act (SB 903)

Properties

jurisdiction: US, California
level: state
domain: sectoral
status: vetoed
scope: Would add Chapter 13.6 to the Business and Professions Code to keep therapy and psychotherapy services under the control of licensed professionals, restricting how AI (including companion chatbots) may be used in mental-health care in California.
obligations: As of the print this agent fetched: bars advertising or offering psychotherapy services provided through companion chatbots; bars AI from independently making therapeutic decisions, generating therapeutic recommendations or diagnoses, detecting emotions or mental states, or conducting triage/screening, without review and approval by a licensed professional; requires informed consent before AI is used to record or transcribe a psychotherapy session; permits AI for administrative support (scheduling, billing), supplementary support (record-keeping, progress tracking), and administration of standardized screening questionnaires without clinical assessment.
penalties: Enforced by the applicable health care professional licensing board; board remedies include injunctions and other remedies otherwise authorized by law. No fixed statutory fine schedule confirmed in the bill text reviewed.
appliesTo: any person or company, including AI developers and operators, offering or purporting to offer psychotherapy or clinical decision support to patients in California
officialUrl: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB903
notes: VETOED: the Governor's own legislative update of September 30, 2026 (gov.ca.gov) lists SB 903 by Senator Steve Padilla (Mental health professionals: artificial intelligence) among the vetoed bills. The CalMatters Digital Democracy latest action 'In Senate. Consideration of Governor's veto pending' is the normal post-veto state, not a pending decision. The veto message itself was not read. Earlier history: passed the Assembly 08/30/26 and Senate concurrence 08/31/26 (Ayes 40, Noes 0), enrolled 09/04/26. Original scope: would have added Chapter 13.6 to the Business and Professions Code to keep therapy and psychotherapy under licensed professionals and bar companion chatbots from offering psychotherapy.

Properties

jurisdiction

US, California

level

state

domain

sectoral

status

vetoed

scope

Would add Chapter 13.6 to the Business and Professions Code to keep therapy and psychotherapy services under the control of licensed professionals, restricting how AI (including companion chatbots) may be used in mental-health care in California.

obligations

As of the print this agent fetched: bars advertising or offering psychotherapy services provided through companion chatbots; bars AI from independently making therapeutic decisions, generating therapeutic recommendations or diagnoses, detecting emotions or mental states, or conducting triage/screening, without review and approval by a licensed professional; requires informed consent before AI is used to record or transcribe a psychotherapy session; permits AI for administrative support (scheduling, billing), supplementary support (record-keeping, progress tracking), and administration of standardized screening questionnaires without clinical assessment.

penalties

Enforced by the applicable health care professional licensing board; board remedies include injunctions and other remedies otherwise authorized by law. No fixed statutory fine schedule confirmed in the bill text reviewed.

appliesTo

any person or company, including AI developers and operators, offering or purporting to offer psychotherapy or clinical decision support to patients in California

officialUrl

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB903

notes

VETOED: the Governor's own legislative update of September 30, 2026 (gov.ca.gov) lists SB 903 by Senator Steve Padilla (Mental health professionals: artificial intelligence) among the vetoed bills. The CalMatters Digital Democracy latest action 'In Senate. Consideration of Governor's veto pending' is the normal post-veto state, not a pending decision. The veto message itself was not read. Earlier history: passed the Assembly 08/30/26 and Senate concurrence 08/31/26 (Ayes 40, Noes 0), enrolled 09/04/26. Original scope: would have added Chapter 13.6 to the Business and Professions Code to keep therapy and psychotherapy under licensed professionals and bar companion chatbots from offering psychotherapy.