California’s 2026 legislative session gaveled closed Sept. 1 with more than two dozen AI bills sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom, who now has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto. NBC News and the Transparency Coalition put the count at 24-plus; the coalition’s tally reaches 26. Either way, the compliance surface for anyone selling into California is about to shift on Oct. 1.

Four of the pending measures land squarely on how a five-to-thirty-person shop actually acquires customers. One bill flagged by NBC would bar retailers from certain forms of AI-driven dynamic pricing branded as “surveillance pricing.” AB 1609, sent to Newsom on Aug. 31, targets customer-service chatbots. SB 1119, styled “Adam’s Law,” would require age verification, prohibit ads to minors that rely on personal information gleaned from chatbot interactions, and mandate risk assessments. On the employment side, SB 947 limits automated decision-making around disciplining or firing workers, and SB 951 requires 90-day notice before AI-driven displacement affecting 25%+ of a workforce.

The lobbying tell is worth its own paragraph. Politico reported that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sought to speak with Newsom about SB 1119 before passage; a person familiar denied a direct call, per Gizmodo, and OpenAI ultimately issued a statement supporting the bill. Public endorsement after private outreach is the classic posture of a company that has read the vote count.

This is the back end of the seven-day sprint that produced this stack, and a companion piece to the SB 1000 provenance update. California rules routinely become the national floor. The next thirty days decide which parts of the floor go in.

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