CA AB 686
enactedElections: deceptive audio or visual media.
California · 2025-2026 Regular Session · lower
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Quick answers
Did CA AB 686 pass?
Yes. CA AB 686 has been enacted into law. Latest recorded action (2026-09-19): Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 334, Statutes of 2026.
What is CA AB 686 about?
Existing law, until January 1, 2027, prohibits a person, committee, or other entity, within 60 days of an election at which a candidate for elective office will appear on the ballot, from distributing with actual malice materially deceptive audio or visual media of the candidate with the intent to injure the candidate's reputation or to deceive a voter into voting for or against the candidate, unless the media includes a disclosure stating that the media has been manipulated, subject to specified exemptions. Existing law, until January 1, 2027, authorizes a candidate for elective office whose voice or likeness appears in audio or visual media distributed in violation of this section to seek injunctive or other equitable relief prohibiting the distribution of the deceptive audio or visual media; authorizes a candidate whose voice or likeness appears in the deceptive audio or visual media to bring an action for general or special damages against the person, committee, or other entity that distributed the media; and authorizes the court to award a prevailing party reasonable attorney's fees and costs. A court is required to place such proceedings on the calendar in the order of their date of filing and give them precedence. This bill would extend the repeal date of these provisions to January 1, 2031.
Who sponsors CA AB 686?
Berman is the primary sponsor of CA AB 686, joined by 1 cosponsor.
Description
Existing law, until January 1, 2027, prohibits a person, committee, or other entity, within 60 days of an election at which a candidate for elective office will appear on the ballot, from distributing with actual malice materially deceptive audio or visual media of the candidate with the intent to injure the candidate's reputation or to deceive a voter into voting for or against the candidate, unless the media includes a disclosure stating that the media has been manipulated, subject to specified exemptions. Existing law, until January 1, 2027, authorizes a candidate for elective office whose voice or likeness appears in audio or visual media distributed in violation of this section to seek injunctive or other equitable relief prohibiting the distribution of the deceptive audio or visual media; authorizes a candidate whose voice or likeness appears in the deceptive audio or visual media to bring an action for general or special damages against the person, committee, or other entity that distributed the media; and authorizes the court to award a prevailing party reasonable attorney's fees and costs. A court is required to place such proceedings on the calendar in the order of their date of filing and give them precedence. This bill would extend the repeal date of these provisions to January 1, 2031.
- Introduced
- —
- Latest action
- 2026-09-19 — Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 334, Statutes of 2026.
- Bill type
- bill
- Last updated
- —
Subjects
Sponsors
- Bermanauthor
- Cervantescoauthor
Committees
Not provided by source.
Action timeline
Newest first
2026-09-19
Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 334, Statutes of 2026.
became-law
2026-09-19
Approved by the Governor.
executive-signature
2026-09-09
Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 1 p.m.
executive-receipt
2026-08-30
Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling.
2026-08-30
Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 63. Noes 14.).
amendment-passage,committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable
2026-08-30
Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 63. Noes 14. Page 6861.).
amendment-passage,committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable
2026-08-28
From committee: That the Senate amendments be concurred in. (Ayes 6. Noes 2.) (August 28).
committee-passage
2026-08-26
Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended.
2026-08-26
Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Page 6621.)
2026-08-25
Re-referred to Com. on ELECTIONS. pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.2.
referral-committee
2026-08-24
In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
2026-08-24
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 30. Noes 6.).
passage,reading-1,reading-3
2026-08-17
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
reading-1,reading-2,reading-3
2026-08-13
From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 1.) (August 13).
amendment-introduction,amendment-passage,committee-passage
2026-08-13
Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading.
amendment-passage,reading-1,reading-2
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 0.) (June 30). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee
2026-06-30
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (June 30). Re-referred to Com. on JUD.
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee
2026-06-15
Re-referred to Coms. on E. & C.A., JUD., and APPR.
referral-committee
2026-06-11
Re-referred to Com. on RLS. pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10(c).
referral-committee
2026-06-10
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
reading-1,reading-2,reading-3
2026-06-09
Ordered to second reading.
reading-1,reading-2
2026-06-09
From inactive file.
2026-06-09
Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading.
amendment-passage,reading-1,reading-2
2025-09-04
Ordered to inactive file at the request of Senator Laird.
2025-08-20
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
reading-1,reading-2,reading-3
2025-08-19
From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8.
committee-passage,reading-1,reading-2
2025-06-30
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 30). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee
2025-06-04
Referred to Com. on B. P. & E.D.
referral-committee
2025-05-28
In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.
reading-1,referral-committee
2025-05-27
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 1740.)
passage,reading-1,reading-3
2025-05-22
Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar.
reading-1,reading-2
2025-05-21
From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (May 21).
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable
2025-04-01
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (April 1). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee
2025-03-03
Referred to Com. on B. & P.
referral-committee
2025-02-15
From printer. May be heard in committee March 17.
2025-02-14
Read first time. To print.
reading-1
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Votes
Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar
2025-04-01 · pass · 17-0
Member-level votes (18)
- Haney: yes
- Jackson: yes
- Ahrens: yes
- Chen: yes
- Lowenthal: yes
- Macedo: yes
- Krell: yes
- Nguyen: yes
- Bains: yes
- Hadwick: yes
- Alanis: yes
- Pellerin: yes
- Flora: yes
- Irwin: yes
- Caloza: yes
- Elhawary: yes
- Berman: yes
- Bauer-Kahan: other
Do pass. To Consent Calendar.
2025-05-21 · pass · 15-0
Member-level votes (15)
- Pellerin: yes
- Ta: yes
- Fong: yes
- Calderon: yes
- Pacheco: yes
- Elhawary: yes
- Tangipa: yes
- Sanchez: yes
- Mark González: yes
- Wicks: yes
- Arambula: yes
- Dixon: yes
- Caloza: yes
- Solache: yes
- Hart: yes
AB 686 Berman Consent Calendar Second Day
2025-05-27 · pass · 76-0
Member-level votes (79)
- Alanis: yes
- Carrillo: yes
- Bonta: yes
- Mark González: yes
- Sanchez: yes
- Michelle Rodriguez: yes
- Berman: yes
- Pellerin: yes
- Lackey: yes
- Valencia: yes
- Pacheco: yes
- Aguiar-Curry: yes
- Muratsuchi: yes
- Schultz: yes
- Petrie-Norris: yes
- Ellis: yes
- Solache: yes
- Calderon: yes
- Fong: yes
- Krell: yes
- Davies: yes
- Irwin: yes
- Macedo: yes
- Connolly: yes
- Lee: yes
- Hadwick: yes
- Rogers: yes
- Chen: yes
- Kalra: yes
- Ahrens: yes
- Schiavo: yes
- Celeste Rodriguez: yes
- Gallagher: yes
- Gipson: yes
- Haney: yes
- Sharp-Collins: yes
- Caloza: yes
- Ramos: yes
- Ransom: yes
- Hoover: yes
- Patterson: yes
- Harabedian: yes
- DeMaio: yes
- Bauer-Kahan: yes
- Flora: yes
- Patel: yes
- Quirk-Silva: yes
- Wilson: yes
- Lowenthal: yes
- Papan: yes
- Dixon: yes
- Tangipa: yes
- Wicks: yes
- Ta: yes
- Bryan: yes
- Alvarez: yes
- Elhawary: yes
- Hart: yes
- Jackson: yes
- Zbur: yes
- Ward: yes
- Ortega: yes
- Wallis: yes
- Castillo: yes
- Stefani: yes
- Blanca Rubio: yes
- Ávila Farías: yes
- Boerner: yes
- Gabriel: yes
- Garcia: yes
- McKinnor: yes
- Soria: yes
- Bains: yes
- Addis: yes
- Rivas: yes
- Arambula: yes
- Bennett: other
- Nguyen: other
- Jeff Gonzalez: other
Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations]
2025-06-30 · pass · 9-0
Member-level votes (11)
- Arreguín: yes
- Smallwood-Cuevas: yes
- Weber Pierson: yes
- Choi: yes
- Umberg: yes
- Strickland: yes
- Archuleta: yes
- Ashby: yes
- Menjivar: yes
- Grayson: other
- Niello: other
Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations]
2026-06-30 · pass · 11-0
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
- Valladares: other
- Niello: other
Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary]
2026-06-30 · pass · 4-1
Member-level votes (5)
- Allen: yes
- Wiener: yes
- Cervantes: yes
- Umberg: yes
- Choi: no
Related bills
No related bills recorded for this bill.
Official source
Attribution
Data from openstates_api_sync, retrieved 2026-09-21T02:53:48.612860Z
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