SB 1119 — Companion chatbots: children’s safety.

Summary

Companion chatbots: children’s safety.

Bill Text

• Chaptered 09/10/26 - Chaptered html September 10, 2026
• Enrolled 09/08/26 - Enrolled html September 08, 2026
• Amended 08/28/26 - Amended Assembly Current pdf August 28, 2026
• Amended 08/17/26 - Amended Assembly html August 17, 2026
• Amended 06/25/26 - Amended Assembly pdf June 25, 2026
• Amended 04/28/26 - Amended Senate pdf April 28, 2026
• Amended 03/25/26 - Amended Senate pdf March 25, 2026
• Introduced 02/17/26 - Introduced pdf February 17, 2026
• SB1119 View text html

AI-generated reading aid from the bill's amendatory text — verify against the official bill.

This bill amends 1 section(s) of the California codes: Section 22602 of the Business and Professions Code.

• Section 22602 of the Business and Professions Code

  SEC. 2.Chapter 22.6.1 (commencing with Section 22610) is added to Division 8 of the Business and Professions Code, to read: 22610. for compliance with this chapter auditor. (h)“Custom system prompt instruction” means a user-supplied instruction intended to govern model behavior that persists across multiple turns of a conversation or across sessions.(i) (j) (k) employer that makes employees (l) (m) (n) use of information or analysis from conversations or usage sessions. (o) (p)“Qualified researcher” means an individual or organization that is or does any of the following:(1)Is affiliated with an academic institution, nonprofit research organization, or independent research entity or is otherwise able to demonstrate relevant professional expertise.(2)Demonstrates a legitimate research purpose that is in the public interest and directly related to understanding, identifying, or mitigating risks to child safety or well-being arising from companion chatbots.(3)Commits to conducting research in accordance with applicable ethical standards and is capable of complying with applicable confidentiality, security, and data protection requirements.(q) 22610.5.An operator has a duty to ensure that a companion chatbot does not pose an unreasonable risk of a covered harm to a minor. 22611. one Verify verify 22612 22613 22612 22612.On or before July 1, 2027, and subsequently thereafter before (a) (1) (2) (A) (B) evaluation transparency report (C) child safety policy that provides a both of the following: (1)How the operator complies with the age verification requirements of Section 22611.(2)How the operator approaches mitigating any risk of reasonably foreseeable physical or financial harm resulting from the use of the operator’s companion chatbot. 22611, 22613. (B) default notifications within 12 hours the operator knows or should know that the child’s account engaged in conversations related to suicide or self-harm and to the child user that the parent is being notified. memory and prevent the companion chatbot from processing any personal information about the child. (II)This clause does not apply to the extent that persistent conversational memory or processing personal information is strictly necessary to ensure the child’s safety. (v)Prohibit the child user from inputting custom system prompt instructions, including personal preferences. measures, including, but not limited to, model training, system prompt instructions, real-time prompt modification interventions, or other substantially equivalent or more effective measures, that (A) (i) (ii) (B) (C) (D) (E) (F) (G) (H) (I)(i) 22613. (ii) paragraph (J) (K) with, or level of understanding of, (L) continued (M)Expressing an emotional attachment to the child.(N) (O)Helping (P) support July 1, 2027, (A) risk and to access high-level summaries of other substantiated reports made through that reporting mechanism. (B)The reporting mechanism shall be updated annually to publicly display the number of reports sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children during the preceding calendar year. 22612.5.(a)An operator shall preserve, in a usable and exportable form, any record of a conversation between a child user and the companion chatbot for as long as the companion chatbot is deployed plus 10 years.(b) knows, or has reason to know, self-harm, including if the indicate a risk of self-harm followed by cessation of account activity, within 12 hours, (1)Review the child’s conversation records.(2)Notify a parent or guardian of the child user, if possible, and report it to local authorities and the Attorney General. (c) section. 22613.An operator shall not do any of the following:(a)(1)Target advertising at a child user using data about the child in conversational chats with the child.(2)Advertising that does not use data about the child user may be used in a conversational chat if it is clearly and conspicuously labeled as an advertisement.(b)Sell, share, or use the personal informati → SEC. 2. Chapter 11.6 (commencing with Section 21810) is added to Division 8 of the Business and Professions Code, to read: 21810. This chapter shall be known as “Adam’s Law.” 21810.5. third-party auditor to assess internal controls, processes, and systems implemented for a companion chatbot that are necessary for compliance with this chapter. child’s (h) (i) (j) (A) (B) Except for Section 21811, subdivision (b) of Section 21812, and Section 21816, “operator” applies only to an operator who allows child users once age has been determined pursuant to Section 21811. entity when making employees, contractors, or other personnel (k) (l) (m) (1) incorporation of conversations for use in future conversations. (2) “Persistent conversational memory” does not include the use of information necessary to ensure the child’s safety, identify a user, enable user preferences, including, but not limited to, educational settings, or maintain device configuration. (n) (o) (p) “Trade secret” has the meaning defined in Section 3426.1 of the Civil Code. 21811. either Determine determine 21812 21813 21812 21812. (a) Before (1) with respect to child users (A) (B) (i) (ii) risk assessment (iii) (2) A single risk assessment may be completed for a comparable set of companion chatbots.(3) A risk assessment conducted for the purposes of compliance with another law may be used to comply with this section if the risk assessment has a substantially similar scope and effect.(4) Take and document measures that reasonably mitigate any child safety risk identified in the risk assessment. the operator shall how the operator complies with the age assurance requirements of Section 21811. the operator shall 21811, 21813. the operator shall (B) If the operator determines there is a credible and imminent threat that a child user will engage in suicide or self-harm, the operator shall take at least one of the following actions: (i) the operator shall provide a notification as soon as practicable that notification does not risk a threat of serious harm to the child. The operator shall also provide notice to the child user that the parent is being notified. (ii) Deploy a mechanism by which the child user is provided streamlined access to connect directly with the 988 or equivalent crisis helpline or can be connected to a crisis helpline provider directly through the child user’s device. memory. (II) With respect to a child user who is 16 years of age or older, both of the following apply:(ia) Storing past conversations that a child can elect to continue in the future is not considered persistent conversational memory if the stored conversations are not used to construct durable profiles of the child user.(ib) Persistent conversational memory shall not be provided by default to a child user unless the operator implements controls that provide effective guardrails against the risk of degradation of the operator’s child safety measures, including controls that prevent persistent conversational memory from being used to reinforce, recall, or extend prior interactions on topics the operator has identified as posing elevated risk to child users or research-backed technical controls, including limits on multiturn conversations. (A) measures to (i) (I) (II) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) (vii) capable of emotion, (viii) (ix) (I) 21813. (II) clause (x) (xi) a level of understanding of the child based on with (xii) (xiii) (xiv) Encouraging or instructing to (B) resources January 1, 2028, risk. (e) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2027. 21812.5. (a) has provided notice pursuant to subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (d) of Section 21812 or knows self-harm based on the with the companion chatbot, as soon as practicable, (1) If an operator has not yet provided notice pursuant to subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (d) of Section 21812, notify a parent of the child user, if practicable.(2) Preserve in a usable and exportable form any record of a conve

  amended

Action History

1. September 09, 2026

   Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.

2. August 31, 2026

   Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 39. Noes 0.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.

3. August 31, 2026

   Unanimous consent granted to take up without reference to file.

4. August 31, 2026

   In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.

5. August 31, 2026

   Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate.

6. August 28, 2026

   Joint Rule 61(b)(16) suspended.

7. August 28, 2026

   Read third time and amended.

8. August 28, 2026

   Ordered to third reading.

9. August 17, 2026

   Ordered to third reading.

10. August 17, 2026

    Read third time and amended.

11. August 13, 2026

    Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

12. August 13, 2026

    From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 11. Noes 1.) (August 13).

13. August 13, 2026

    Assembly Rule 63 suspended.

14. August 05, 2026

    August 5 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file.

15. July 02, 2026

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 12. Noes 2.) (July 1). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

16. July 02, 2026

    Coauthors revised.

17. July 01, 2026

    July 1 hearing postponed by committee.

18. June 25, 2026

    From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P.

19. June 16, 2026

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on P. & C.P. (Ayes 10. Noes 1.) (June 16). Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P.

20. June 16, 2026

    Coauthors revised.

21. June 04, 2026

    Re-referred to Coms. on JUD. and P. & C.P. pursuant to Assembly Rule 96.

22. May 26, 2026

    Referred to Coms. on P. & C.P. and JUD.

23. May 20, 2026

    In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk.

24. May 19, 2026

    Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 4346.) Ordered to the Assembly.

25. May 14, 2026

    Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

26. May 14, 2026

    From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 0. Page 4265.) (May 14).

27. May 12, 2026

    Set for hearing May 14.

28. May 11, 2026

    May 11 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.

29. May 04, 2026

    Set for hearing May 11.

30. April 28, 2026

    Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

31. April 27, 2026

    From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 13. Noes 0. Page 3978.) (April 21).

32. April 20, 2026

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 3958.) (April 20). Re-referred to Com. on JUD.

33. April 14, 2026

    Set for hearing April 21 in JUD. pending receipt.

34. April 09, 2026

    Set for hearing April 20.

35. April 08, 2026

    Re-referred to Coms. on P., D.T., & C.P. and JUD.

36. March 25, 2026

    From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS.

37. February 26, 2026

    Referred to Com. on RLS.

38. February 18, 2026

    From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 20.

39. February 17, 2026

    Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

Sponsors

• Wicks · Cosponsor
• Bauer-Kahan · Cosponsor
• Kalra · Cosponsor
• Sanchez · Cosponsor
• Stephen C. Padilla · Primary
• Jesse Arreguín · Cosponsor
• Dave Cortese · Cosponsor
• Aisha Wahab · Cosponsor
• Bonnie Lowenthal · Cosponsor

Votes

Subjects