California’s newest laws could change how your utility spends your money, whether an employer can rely on AI to fire you and what your children encounter on social media.
Gov. Gavin Newsom finished reviewing bills from his final regular legislative session Wednesday, the deadline to sign or veto measures awaiting his decision. His office said he acted on 1,160 bills during this year’s session.
The decisions touch some of the Bay Area’s biggest concerns: electricity costs, housing, immigration enforcement and technology’s growing role in daily life. Some changes will require further action by regulators or local governments. Others leave the final decision to voters.
Here are some of the most consequential measures for the region.
Electricity costs and data centers
Batteries in homes and businesses could play a bigger role in keeping California’s lights on and potentially reducing the need for expensive utility construction.
Two laws by Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, aim to make better use of those resources and the existing power grid. SB 913 advances the use of coordinated networks of batteries and other small energy resources, while SB 905 requires closer examination of how efficiently the distribution grid is used.
These networks, often called virtual power plants, can supply electricity or reduce demand when the grid is strained. Supporters say using them more effectively could help hold down costs.
“Implementation of the bill at the CPUC under the next governor will determine whether customers see lower bills,” Brad Heavner, executive director of the California Solar & Storage Association, said in a statement.
Another law, SB 868, makes it easier to use qualifying portable solar devices that plug into a building’s electrical system by easing utility approval requirements and related charges. The devices must meet safety standards and have a combined output of no more than 1,200 watts per home.
Utilities also face new restrictions on spending customers’ money. SB 327, by Sen. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, bars investor-owned utilities from using that money to fight local efforts to establish publicly owned utilities.
And as communities weigh new data centers, two laws address who pays to serve them. AB 2383 requires electricity rate protections intended to prevent qualifying projects from shifting costs to other customers. AB 2469 requires water-supply information and planning for covered projects, with developers paying for needed water infrastructure improvements.
The measures could influence future costs, but they do not guarantee an immediate reduction in household bills.
Immigration enforcement and civil rights
Californians have a new way to sue federal officers who violate their constitutional rights.
SB 747, known as the No Kings Act, took effect immediately after Newsom signed it Tuesday. The law, by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, allows people to seek damages or other relief under state law for violations of federal constitutional rights.
It does not eliminate all legal protections that can shield officials from lawsuits, including certain immunity defenses.
The law is part of a broader package addressing immigration enforcement. Other measures strengthen oversight of detention facilities, restrict the use of state facilities for immigration enforcement and protect people traveling to and from courthouses for lawful activities from civil arrest.
California cannot dictate federal immigration policy. These measures focus on the state’s authority over facilities, public resources and civil rights.
More housing options
New laws aim to make it easier to build townhomes and harder for housing permits to get stuck in repeated reviews. AB 1751 creates a faster approval process for qualifying townhome developments. AB 1621 strengthens housing-permit deadlines and limits repeated plan checks.
There are direct East Bay provisions, too. AB 1294 creates a limited property-tax incentive program for qualifying rental housing serving moderate-income households in Alameda and Sacramento counties and San Francisco. SB 328 is intended to help move redevelopment of the former Concord Naval Weapons Station forward.
Another measure addresses housing for people recovering from addiction.
AB 1556 clarifies that recovery housing can receive state homelessness funding if it meets specified requirements, including tenant protections and access to other housing options.
“People working hard to stay sober deserve the choice to live in a home that supports their recovery,” Assemblymember Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, said in a news release quoted by CalMatters.
Some housing organizations opposed the legislation, arguing that it could divert scarce funding from programs that do not require sobriety, CalMatters reported. The law does not require everyone seeking housing assistance to be sober.
AI at work and on children’s screens
Employers cannot rely solely on an automated system to decide whether to fire or discipline a worker under SB 947. The law requires human oversight of those decisions.
Another law, AB 1883, generally bars employers from using AI surveillance tools to predict or interpret workers’ emotions or collect data measuring activity in their nervous systems. Exceptions include safety uses and certain activities needed to meet federal requirements.
“Workers across California have demanded that our state lead the way in regulating AI in our workplaces,” Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO, said in a signing announcement.
Children will also get new protections online.
AB 1709 prohibits covered platforms from offering users younger than 16 features that the law defines as addictive. It targets how platforms work rather than banning teenagers from social media altogether.
SB 1119 adds safeguards for children using companion chatbots — AI systems designed to interact socially with users. The requirements include child-safety audits, risk assessments and protocols for responding to crises.
More time to keep insurance after a disaster
Homeowners who lose their homes in a qualifying disaster will get another year of insurance renewal protections under AB 2038.
Insurers must offer at least three annual renewals and 36 months of coverage after a qualifying loss, up from two renewals and 24 months, subject to the law’s conditions and exceptions.
The measure also extends a separate wildfire protection. In designated ZIP codes within or next to a fire perimeter, insurers generally cannot cancel or refuse to renew a policy solely because of that location for two years after an emergency declaration, rather than one.
The law gives homeowners more time during recovery, but it does not freeze premiums or prevent insurers from ending coverage for other reasons allowed by law.
A proposed change to health-insurance enrollment did not survive.
AB 2066 would have allowed people to enroll in or change individual health coverage outside the usual enrollment window because they were pregnant. Newsom vetoed it Sept. 30.
In his veto message, he said opening special enrollment for a particular condition could destabilize the individual insurance market, repeating concerns behind his rejection of a similar proposal last year.
New power to challenge monopolies
California prosecutors will have another way to challenge companies accused of using their market power to shut out competition.
AB 1776, the COMPETE Act, expands the state’s antitrust law to cover anticompetitive conduct by a single company.
Previously, California’s Cartwright Act addressed conduct involving two or more companies, often leaving prosecutors to pursue monopolization cases under federal law. The new law allows them to bring those claims under state law.
Supporters, including Attorney General Rob Bonta, say stronger enforcement can protect consumers, workers and smaller competitors.
The proposal drew opposition during its passage. In May, the California Chamber of Commerce argued that its standards were too subjective and could expose businesses to costly litigation.
Marriage restricted to adults
California will no longer allow children to marry with their parents’ permission.
AB 1267, by Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, D-Santa Cruz, sets the minimum age for marriage and domestic partnerships at 18, removing provisions that allowed minors to marry with parental consent.
“I will keep fighting until children are protected from marriage in all 50 states,” advocate and child-marriage survivor Courtney Stodden said in a statement released by the governor’s office.
A $7.5 billion question for voters
One of the largest potential investments still needs voters’ approval.
SB 895 places a $7.5 billion science and health research bond on the March 2028 ballot. The proposed funding would support research in medicine, public health, climate, wildfire prevention and other fields. It also includes $1 billion for related infrastructure at University of California and California State University campuses.
The measure could bring substantial support to the Bay Area’s research economy. Newsom’s signature puts the question on the ballot; voters will decide whether to approve the borrowing.
Explore individual measures and their outcomes in the Bay Area News Group’s searchable California bill tracker.