# Editorial: As legislative session ends, state lawmakers OK many bad bills > Source: > Published: 2026-09-01 21:57:23+00:00 **Getting your** [Trinity Audio](//trinityaudio.ai)player ready...The Legislature met its August 31 deadline for approving this session’s bills, even though it attached “urgency” clauses to a handful — allowing lawmakers to vote Tuesday after bills were publicly accessible for 72 hours, per state law. [Insider-baseball aside](https://www.kcra.com/article/california-lawmakers-midnight-deadline-bills/73569674), this legislative session was an immense disappointment as lawmakers failed to address the state’s most-pressing issues while focusing on ones that will only make California’s budget and regulatory situation worse. These Editorial Pages have focused on two terrible pension bills, which — not surprisingly — passed by overwhelming bipartisan majorities. [Assembly Bill 1383](https://www.ocregister.com/2026/08/21/steven-greenhut-gop-votes-to-hike-pensions-making-mockery-of-their-principles/) would gut former Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2012 Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act (PEPRA) that modestly scaled back pension formulas. AB 1383 will trigger a return to higher formulas and, of course, higher costs for California governments. Public-safety unions argued their agencies are facing recruitment crises and need higher pensions to lure workers, but recruitment levels are similar to what they’ve always been. Lawmakers also approved Assembly Bill 1054, which provides safety employees with lump-sum payouts if they officially “retire,” but continue working. That bill shows many employees want to work, but generous pension formulas push them out early and are a [key reason](https://www.pacificresearch.org/pensions-are-main-reason-for-slowing-police-response-times/) for any recruitment problems. In other matters, lawmakers rejected Gov. Gavin Newsom’s effort to reduce the liability of electrical utilities for wildfires caused by their equipment to protect California residents from escalating electricity bills. The final [measure](https://apnews.com/article/california-wildfire-liability-utility-newsom-legislature-541f91306390f1b3d10950d0b9e33555), under debate on Tuesday, would speed up insurance claims payments and limits bonuses to utility executives whose companies’ equipment sparked large wildfires. But the amended measure — a rare legislative loss for Newsom — doesn’t address the underlying problem. Also distressing, lawmakers approved [Assembly Bill 1776](https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/08/antitrust-legislation-business-lobbying/), an antitrust measure that would have allowed private lawsuits against any single company that allegedly engaged in broadly defined anti-competitive practices. After pushback from the business community, the bill was amended to only allow district attorneys and the state attorney general to file such suits. Still, this signifies a vast expansion of antitrust law — and, if signed, will further erode the state’s shaky business climate. Even though California’s economy is highly dependent on the tech sector, legislators are trying to impose obstacles on the development of data centers that power the AI industry. The latest bill ([Assembly Bill 2469](https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab2469)), similar to one that Newsom previously vetoed, would prohibit localities from providing a discretionary approval for a data center that increases water use unless the developer pays for all related water upgrades and provides a water plan. The Legislature also approved a whopping [30 AI-related bills](https://www.transparencycoalition.ai/news/california-legislature-nears-adjournment-after-passing-ai-bills), including a measure ([Assembly Bill 1709](https://legiscan.com/CA/bill/AB1709/2025)) that bans tech companies from providing “an addictive feature, as defined, to a user who is under 16 years of age.” That’s absurdly vague language given that virtually any element of an app could arguably be considered addictive. That and myriad other tech bills are yet another reminder of why Congress needs to implement a national standard to keep tech firms from having to jump through an ever-expanding number of conflicting state hoops. These are just some of the worst measures that jump to mind. [Newsom](https://calmatters.org/newsletter/california-legislature-climate-money-anti-monopoly/) has until September 30 to sign or veto hundreds of bills that will land on his desk, but as advocates for limited government, we’re not optimistic he will veto the most troublesome measures.