CA AB 1609
enactedCustomer service chatbots.
California · 2025-2026 Regular Session · lower
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Quick answers
Did CA AB 1609 pass?
Yes. CA AB 1609 has been enacted into law. Latest recorded action (2026-09-28): Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 733, Statutes of 2026.
What is CA AB 1609 about?
Existing law prohibits a person from using a bot, as defined, to mislead another person about the bot's artificial identity to incentivize the purchase or sale of goods or services, among other things. Existing law requires an operator of a companion chatbot, as defined, to provide a disclosure regarding the companion chatbot's artificial identity if a reasonable person interacting with the companion chatbot would be misled to believe that the person is interacting with a human. This bill would prohibit a large private business, as defined, from representing that a customer service chatbot is a human. The bill would also require the large private business to provide certain disclosures if a reasonable person interacting with the chatbot would be misled to believe they are interacting with a human. This bill would require a large private business to provide a customer service feature allowing customers to contact a customer service agent during its regular business hours, as defined. This bill would require, except as specified, large private businesses to make a good faith effort to connect a customer to an agent within 15 minutes after a request for human customer service is made, or schedule an appointment with the customer, as specified. For online chatbot customer service platforms and telephonic customer service platforms, the bill would require a large private business to make a good faith effort to limit initial and cumulative telephonic hold times, and would require certain large private businesses to post prescribed contact information on their internet website. The bill would authorize a public prosecutor to enforce these provisions, and would make a large private business that violates these provisions liable for a penalty of up to $5,000 for an initial violation, and $10,000 for each subsequent violation. The bill would waive its requirements due to unforeseen circumstances beyond the reasonable control of a large private business or extraordinary or emergency situations, and would exempt a large private business that provides services subject to, and is in compliance with, specified public utilities law. The bill would further exempt exclusive business lines and communications by a hospital, as specified, and a consumer reporting agency, as prescribed. The bill would define terms for these purposes.
Who sponsors CA AB 1609?
Zbur is the primary sponsor of CA AB 1609.
Description
Existing law prohibits a person from using a bot, as defined, to mislead another person about the bot's artificial identity to incentivize the purchase or sale of goods or services, among other things. Existing law requires an operator of a companion chatbot, as defined, to provide a disclosure regarding the companion chatbot's artificial identity if a reasonable person interacting with the companion chatbot would be misled to believe that the person is interacting with a human. This bill would prohibit a large private business, as defined, from representing that a customer service chatbot is a human. The bill would also require the large private business to provide certain disclosures if a reasonable person interacting with the chatbot would be misled to believe they are interacting with a human. This bill would require a large private business to provide a customer service feature allowing customers to contact a customer service agent during its regular business hours, as defined. This bill would require, except as specified, large private businesses to make a good faith effort to connect a customer to an agent within 15 minutes after a request for human customer service is made, or schedule an appointment with the customer, as specified. For online chatbot customer service platforms and telephonic customer service platforms, the bill would require a large private business to make a good faith effort to limit initial and cumulative telephonic hold times, and would require certain large private businesses to post prescribed contact information on their internet website. The bill would authorize a public prosecutor to enforce these provisions, and would make a large private business that violates these provisions liable for a penalty of up to $5,000 for an initial violation, and $10,000 for each subsequent violation. The bill would waive its requirements due to unforeseen circumstances beyond the reasonable control of a large private business or extraordinary or emergency situations, and would exempt a large private business that provides services subject to, and is in compliance with, specified public utilities law. The bill would further exempt exclusive business lines and communications by a hospital, as specified, and a consumer reporting agency, as prescribed. The bill would define terms for these purposes.
- Introduced
- 2026-03-19
- Latest action
- 2026-09-28 — Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 733, Statutes of 2026.
- Bill type
- bill
- Last updated
- —
Subjects
Sponsors
- Zburauthor
Committees
Not provided by source.
Action timeline
Newest first
2026-09-28
Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 733, Statutes of 2026.
became-law
2026-09-28
Approved by the Governor.
executive-signature
2026-09-14
Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 1:30 p.m.
executive-receipt
2026-08-31
Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling.
2026-08-31
Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 58. Noes 18.).
amendment-passage,committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable
2026-08-31
Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 58. Noes 18. Page 6964.).
amendment-passage,committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable
2026-08-30
In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
2026-08-30
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 29. Noes 9.).
passage,reading-1,reading-3
2026-08-24
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
reading-1,reading-2,reading-3
2026-08-20
Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading.
amendment-passage,reading-1,reading-2,reading-3
2026-08-17
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
reading-1,reading-2,reading-3
2026-08-13
Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading.
amendment-passage,reading-1,reading-2
2026-08-13
From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 13).
amendment-introduction,amendment-passage,committee-passage
2026-08-03
In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file.
referral-committee
2026-07-01
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 1.) (June 30). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee
2026-06-25
From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on JUD.
amendment-introduction,amendment-passage,committee-passage,reading-1,reading-2,referral-committee
2026-06-23
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 22). Re-referred to Com. on JUD.
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee
2026-06-10
From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on P., D.T., & C.P.
amendment-introduction,amendment-passage,committee-passage,reading-1,reading-2,referral-committee
2026-06-10
Referred to Coms. on P., D.T., & C.P. and JUD.
referral-committee
2026-05-28
In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.
reading-1,referral-committee
2026-05-27
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 56. Noes 16.)
passage,reading-1,reading-3
2026-05-27
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 56. Noes 16. Page 5457.)
passage,reading-1,reading-3
2026-05-18
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
reading-1,reading-2,reading-3
2026-05-14
From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 11. Noes 4.) (May 14).
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable
2026-05-06
In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file.
referral-committee
2026-04-22
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 3.) (April 21). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee
2026-04-16
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 9. Noes 4.) (April 16). Re-referred to Com. on JUD.
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee
2026-04-15
Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P.
referral-committee
2026-04-14
From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on P. & C.P. Read second time and amended.
amendment-introduction,amendment-passage,committee-passage,reading-1,reading-2,referral-committee
2026-03-31
In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
2026-03-23
Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P.
referral-committee
2026-03-19
From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on P. & C.P. Read second time and amended.
amendment-introduction,amendment-passage,committee-passage,reading-1,reading-2,referral-committee
2026-03-19
Referred to Coms. on P. & C.P. and JUD.
referral-committee
2026-01-21
From printer. May be heard in committee February 20.
2026-01-20
Read first time. To print.
reading-1
Versions
- 01/20/26 - Introduced — 2026-01-20Compare
- 03/19/26 - Amended Assembly — 2026-03-19Compare
- 04/14/26 - Amended Assembly — 2026-04-14Compare
- 06/10/26 - Amended Senate — 2026-06-10Compare
- 06/25/26 - Amended Senate — 2026-06-25Compare
- 08/13/26 - Amended Senate — 2026-08-13Compare
- 08/20/26 - Amended Senate — 2026-08-20Compare
- 09/04/26 - Enrolled — 2026-09-04Compare
- 09/28/26 - Chaptered — 2026-09-28Compare
- (document, no version)Compare
- AB1609Compare
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Votes
Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary]
2026-04-16 · pass · 9-4
Member-level votes (15)
- Aguiar-Curry: yes
- Bryan: yes
- Wicks: yes
- Bauer-Kahan: yes
- Ward: yes
- Ortega: yes
- Lowenthal: yes
- Irwin: yes
- McKinnor: yes
- Macedo: no
- DeMaio: no
- Patterson: no
- Hoover: no
- Petrie-Norris: other
- Wilson: other
Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations]
2026-04-21 · pass · 9-3
Member-level votes (12)
- Zbur: yes
- Papan: yes
- Connolly: yes
- Bauer-Kahan: yes
- Bryan: yes
- Kalra: yes
- Harabedian: yes
- Pacheco: yes
- Stefani: yes
- Macedo: no
- Dixon: no
- Sanchez: no
Do pass.
2026-05-14 · pass · 11-4
Member-level votes (15)
- Krell: yes
- Sharp-Collins: yes
- Wicks: yes
- Pacheco: yes
- Caloza: yes
- Fong: yes
- Calderon: yes
- Solache: yes
- Pellerin: yes
- Aguiar-Curry: yes
- Mark González: yes
- Tangipa: no
- Ta: no
- Dixon: no
- Hoover: no
AB 1609 Zbur Assembly Third Reading
2026-05-27 · pass · 56-16
Member-level votes (80)
- Bennett: yes
- Connolly: yes
- Stefani: yes
- Rivas: yes
- Michelle Rodriguez: yes
- Schiavo: yes
- Ávila Farías: yes
- Papan: yes
- Fong: yes
- Calderon: yes
- Sharp-Collins: yes
- Aguiar-Curry: yes
- Hart: yes
- Ramos: yes
- Addis: yes
- Bains: yes
- Elhawary: yes
- Boerner: yes
- Ward: yes
- Alvarez: yes
- Rogers: yes
- Soria: yes
- Harabedian: yes
- McKinnor: yes
- Lee: yes
- Jackson: yes
- Zbur: yes
- Wicks: yes
- Bonta: yes
- Pellerin: yes
- Carrillo: yes
- Berman: yes
- Valencia: yes
- Gabriel: yes
- Caloza: yes
- Bryan: yes
- Ahrens: yes
- Bauer-Kahan: yes
- Blanca Rubio: yes
- Haney: yes
- Arambula: yes
- Gipson: yes
- Lowenthal: yes
- Quirk-Silva: yes
- Nguyen: yes
- Krell: yes
- Ortega: yes
- Mark González: yes
- Garcia: yes
- Solache: yes
- Kalra: yes
- Schultz: yes
- Pacheco: yes
- Ransom: yes
- Irwin: yes
- Muratsuchi: yes
- Johnson: no
- Hoover: no
- Macedo: no
- DeMaio: no
- Dixon: no
- Wallis: no
- Davies: no
- Flora: no
- Jeff Gonzalez: no
- Tangipa: no
- Hadwick: no
- Sanchez: no
- Alanis: no
- Ellis: no
- Patterson: no
- Ta: no
- Petrie-Norris: other
- Celeste Rodriguez: other
- Patel: other
- Chen: other
- Castillo: other
- Wilson: other
- Gallagher: other
- Lackey: other
Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary]
2026-06-22 · pass · 7-0
Member-level votes (9)
- Gonzalez: yes
- Umberg: yes
- McNerney: yes
- Reyes: yes
- Padilla: yes
- Wiener: yes
- Cabaldon: yes
- Jones: other
- Ochoa Bogh: other
Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations]
2026-06-30 · pass · 11-1
Member-level votes (13)
- Wahab: yes
- Umberg: yes
- Laird: yes
- Stern: yes
- Ashby: yes
- Allen: yes
- Weber Pierson: yes
- Wiener: yes
- Caballero: yes
- Reyes: yes
- Durazo: yes
- Niello: no
- Valladares: other
Related bills
No related bills recorded for this bill.
Official source
Attribution
Data from openstates_api_sync, retrieved 2026-09-30T07:35:46.414591Z
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