CA AB 1946
enactedReporting mechanism: child sexual abuse material.
California · 2025-2026 Regular Session · lower
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Quick answers
Did CA AB 1946 pass?
Yes. CA AB 1946 has been enacted into law. Latest recorded action (2026-09-10): Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 185, Statutes of 2026.
What is CA AB 1946 about?
Existing law requires a social media platform to take certain actions with respect to child sexual abuse material on the social media platform, including requiring the platform to provide, in a mechanism that is reasonably accessible to users, a means for a user who is a California resident to report material to the platform that the user reasonably believes meets certain criteria, including that the reported material is child sexual abuse material and that the reporting user is depicted in the material. Existing law also requires the social media platform to collect information reasonably sufficient to enable the platform to contact, as specified, a reporting user. Existing law defines child sexual abuse material for these purposes to include obscene matter that depicts a minor personally engaging in, or personally simulating, sexual conduct. This bill would revise the definition of child sexual abuse material to instead include an intimate visual depiction, as defined, of an identifiable individual who is a minor. The bill would additionally require the above-described mechanism to be clear and conspicuous, as defined, and would delete the requirement that the reporting user be depicted in the material. The bill would require a social media platform to, among other things, ensure review by a natural person if there is not an established or known hash match to child sexual abuse material with respect to the reported material and the reported material is not otherwise blocked. The bill would require a social media platform to restore availability or functionality of the reporting mechanism if the reporting mechanism is unavailable or nonfunctional. Existing law makes a noncomplying social media company liable to a reporting user for actual damages and statutory damages, as specified. This bill would instead make a social media company liable to a depicted individual, as defined, for actual and statutory damages, as provided. The bill would also impose specified civil penalties on a noncomplying company to be collected in a civil action by certain public attorneys, including the Attorney General. Existing law establishes the Survivor Support Fund within the state treasury and makes moneys in the fund available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for grants by the California Victim Compensation Board to community-based organizations that provide direct services to vulnerable individuals in areas with a high concentration of sex trafficking. This bill would require any penalty collected in a civil action by the Attorney General under these provisions to be deposited into the Survivor Support Fund. Existing law prohibits a social media platform from knowingly facilitating, aiding, or abetting commercial sexual exploitation, as defined. Existing law deems a social media platform to have knowledge for the purposes of this prohibition if material was reported to the social media platform using the reporting mechanism for 4 consecutive months, as provided. Existing law exempts a social media platform from being deemed in violation of this prohibition if it instituted a specified audit program and provided to each member of its board of directors a true and correct copy of each audit, as prescribed. This bill would remove the requirement that material was reported for 4 consecutive months to deem a social media platform to have knowledge for the purposes of the above-described prohibition. The bill would, in order to be exempt from that prohibition, require the social media platform to also submit the audit to the Attorney General, and if requested, to certain other public officials. The bill would provide that an audit submitted as described above is confidential and shall be exempt from disclosure under the California Public Records Act. This bill would declare its provisions severable. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
Who sponsors CA AB 1946?
Wicks is the primary sponsor of CA AB 1946, joined by 7 cosponsors.
Description
Existing law requires a social media platform to take certain actions with respect to child sexual abuse material on the social media platform, including requiring the platform to provide, in a mechanism that is reasonably accessible to users, a means for a user who is a California resident to report material to the platform that the user reasonably believes meets certain criteria, including that the reported material is child sexual abuse material and that the reporting user is depicted in the material. Existing law also requires the social media platform to collect information reasonably sufficient to enable the platform to contact, as specified, a reporting user. Existing law defines child sexual abuse material for these purposes to include obscene matter that depicts a minor personally engaging in, or personally simulating, sexual conduct. This bill would revise the definition of child sexual abuse material to instead include an intimate visual depiction, as defined, of an identifiable individual who is a minor. The bill would additionally require the above-described mechanism to be clear and conspicuous, as defined, and would delete the requirement that the reporting user be depicted in the material. The bill would require a social media platform to, among other things, ensure review by a natural person if there is not an established or known hash match to child sexual abuse material with respect to the reported material and the reported material is not otherwise blocked. The bill would require a social media platform to restore availability or functionality of the reporting mechanism if the reporting mechanism is unavailable or nonfunctional. Existing law makes a noncomplying social media company liable to a reporting user for actual damages and statutory damages, as specified. This bill would instead make a social media company liable to a depicted individual, as defined, for actual and statutory damages, as provided. The bill would also impose specified civil penalties on a noncomplying company to be collected in a civil action by certain public attorneys, including the Attorney General. Existing law establishes the Survivor Support Fund within the state treasury and makes moneys in the fund available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for grants by the California Victim Compensation Board to community-based organizations that provide direct services to vulnerable individuals in areas with a high concentration of sex trafficking. This bill would require any penalty collected in a civil action by the Attorney General under these provisions to be deposited into the Survivor Support Fund. Existing law prohibits a social media platform from knowingly facilitating, aiding, or abetting commercial sexual exploitation, as defined. Existing law deems a social media platform to have knowledge for the purposes of this prohibition if material was reported to the social media platform using the reporting mechanism for 4 consecutive months, as provided. Existing law exempts a social media platform from being deemed in violation of this prohibition if it instituted a specified audit program and provided to each member of its board of directors a true and correct copy of each audit, as prescribed. This bill would remove the requirement that material was reported for 4 consecutive months to deem a social media platform to have knowledge for the purposes of the above-described prohibition. The bill would, in order to be exempt from that prohibition, require the social media platform to also submit the audit to the Attorney General, and if requested, to certain other public officials. The bill would provide that an audit submitted as described above is confidential and shall be exempt from disclosure under the California Public Records Act. This bill would declare its provisions severable. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
- Introduced
- 2026-03-19
- Latest action
- 2026-09-10 — Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 185, Statutes of 2026.
- Bill type
- bill
- Last updated
- —
Subjects
Sponsors
- Wicksauthor
- Krellauthor
- Aguiar-Currycoauthor
- Bauer-Kahancoauthor
- Kalracoauthor
- Macedocoauthor
- Petrie-Norriscoauthor
- Stefanicoauthor
Committees
Not provided by source.
Action timeline
Newest first
2026-09-10
Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 185, Statutes of 2026.
became-law
2026-09-10
Approved by the Governor.
executive-signature
2026-09-03
Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
executive-receipt
2026-08-26
Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 78. Noes 0.).
amendment-passage,committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable
2026-08-26
In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
2026-08-26
Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 6638.).
amendment-passage,committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable
2026-08-26
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0.).
passage,reading-1,reading-3
2026-08-24
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
reading-1,reading-2,reading-3
2026-08-21
Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading.
amendment-passage,reading-1,reading-2,reading-3
2026-08-13
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
reading-1,reading-2,reading-3
2026-08-13
From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 13).
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable
2026-08-03
In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file.
referral-committee
2026-07-02
Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
amendment-passage,reading-1,reading-2,referral-committee
2026-07-02
From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (June 30).
amendment-introduction,amendment-passage,committee-passage,referral-committee
2026-06-29
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 29). Re-referred to Com. on JUD.
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee
2026-06-22
In committee: Set, second hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
2026-06-12
In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
2026-06-03
Referred to Coms. on P., D.T., & C.P. and JUD.
referral-committee
2026-05-27
In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.
reading-1,referral-committee
2026-05-26
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 75. Noes 0.)
passage,reading-1,reading-3
2026-05-26
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 75. Noes 0. Page 5400.)
2026-05-21
Read third time and amended. Ordered to third reading. (Page 5242.)
amendment-passage,reading-1,reading-3
2026-05-19
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
reading-1,reading-2,reading-3
2026-05-18
Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading.
amendment-passage,reading-1,reading-2
2026-05-14
From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (May 14).
amendment-introduction,amendment-passage,committee-passage
2026-05-06
In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file.
referral-committee
2026-04-28
Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
referral-committee
2026-04-27
Read second time and amended.
amendment-passage,reading-1,reading-2
2026-04-23
From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (April 21).
amendment-introduction,amendment-passage,committee-passage,referral-committee
2026-04-16
Coauthors revised.
2026-04-16
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 14. Noes 1.) (April 16). Re-referred to Com. on JUD.
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee
2026-04-07
Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P.
referral-committee
2026-04-06
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
2026-03-23
Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P.
referral-committee
2026-03-19
Referred to Coms. on P. & C.P. and JUD.
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
2026-02-14
From printer. May be heard in committee March 16.
2026-02-13
Read first time. To print.
reading-1
Versions
- 02/13/26 - Introduced — 2026-02-13Compare
- 03/19/26 - Amended Assembly — 2026-03-19Compare
- 04/06/26 - Amended Assembly — 2026-04-06Compare
- 04/27/26 - Amended Assembly — 2026-04-27Compare
- 05/18/26 - Amended Assembly — 2026-05-18Compare
- 05/21/26 - Amended Assembly — 2026-05-21Compare
- 07/02/26 - Amended Senate — 2026-07-02Compare
- 08/21/26 - Amended Senate — 2026-08-21Compare
- 08/30/26 - Enrolled — 2026-08-30Compare
- 09/10/26 - Chaptered — 2026-09-10Compare
- AB1946Compare
- (document, no version)Compare
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Votes
Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary]
2026-04-16 · pass · 14-1
Member-level votes (15)
- Macedo: yes
- Petrie-Norris: yes
- Aguiar-Curry: yes
- Bryan: yes
- Patterson: yes
- Bauer-Kahan: yes
- Wicks: yes
- Ward: yes
- Ortega: yes
- Wilson: yes
- Lowenthal: yes
- Irwin: yes
- McKinnor: yes
- Hoover: yes
- DeMaio: no
Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations]
2026-04-21 · pass · 12-0
Member-level votes (12)
- Zbur: yes
- Papan: yes
- Connolly: yes
- Bauer-Kahan: yes
- Dixon: yes
- Bryan: yes
- Sanchez: yes
- Kalra: yes
- Harabedian: yes
- Pacheco: yes
- Macedo: yes
- Stefani: yes
Do pass as amended.
2026-05-14 · pass · 11-0
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: other
- Ta: other
- Dixon: other
- Hoover: other
AB 1946 Wicks Assembly Third Reading
2026-05-27 · pass · 75-0
Member-level votes (80)
- Hadwick: yes
- Ward: yes
- Patel: yes
- Hart: yes
- Macedo: yes
- Valencia: yes
- Ellis: yes
- Jeff Gonzalez: yes
- Wicks: yes
- Wilson: yes
- Gabriel: yes
- Stefani: yes
- Wallis: yes
- Ahrens: yes
- Alanis: yes
- Nguyen: yes
- Lee: yes
- Patterson: yes
- Harabedian: yes
- Connolly: yes
- Haney: yes
- Flora: yes
- Ramos: yes
- Ortega: yes
- Chen: yes
- Papan: yes
- Soria: yes
- Arambula: yes
- Johnson: yes
- Zbur: yes
- Solache: yes
- Pacheco: yes
- Ávila Farías: yes
- Garcia: yes
- Mark González: yes
- Caloza: yes
- Krell: yes
- Alvarez: yes
- Aguiar-Curry: yes
- Blanca Rubio: yes
- Berman: yes
- Bauer-Kahan: yes
- Schultz: yes
- Bennett: yes
- Gallagher: yes
- Sharp-Collins: yes
- Tangipa: yes
- Bonta: yes
- Davies: yes
- McKinnor: yes
- Gipson: yes
- Ransom: yes
- Sanchez: yes
- Petrie-Norris: yes
- Quirk-Silva: yes
- Calderon: yes
- Rogers: yes
- Lowenthal: yes
- Bains: yes
- Dixon: yes
- Hoover: yes
- Carrillo: yes
- Boerner: yes
- Elhawary: yes
- Castillo: yes
- Fong: yes
- Irwin: yes
- Schiavo: yes
- Kalra: yes
- Addis: yes
- Bryan: yes
- Rivas: yes
- Jackson: yes
- Pellerin: yes
- Michelle Rodriguez: yes
- Lackey: other
- DeMaio: other
- Muratsuchi: other
- Celeste Rodriguez: other
- Ta: other
Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary]
2026-06-29 · pass · 9-0
Member-level votes (9)
- Seyarto: yes
- Wiener: yes
- Umberg: yes
- Reyes: yes
- Cabaldon: yes
- Gonzalez: yes
- McNerney: yes
- Padilla: yes
- Ochoa Bogh: yes
Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations]
2026-06-30 · pass · 13-0
Member-level votes (13)
- Wahab: yes
- Niello: yes
- Umberg: yes
- Laird: yes
- Stern: yes
- Ashby: yes
- Allen: yes
- Valladares: yes
- Weber Pierson: yes
- Wiener: yes
- Caballero: yes
- Reyes: yes
- Durazo: yes
Related bills
No related bills recorded for this bill.
Official source
Attribution
Data from openstates_api_sync, retrieved 2026-09-12T06:16:12.428990Z
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