The most populous U.S. state, a major tech and policy hub whose legislature has passed laws regulating AI, social media feeds, and data centers.
Gavin Newsom signed seven bills on Monday that end blanket environmental exemptions and push grid upgrade costs onto operators, in a quarter when US developers saw 45 projects worth an estimated $68 billion blocked or delayed.
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The House adjourned on September 17 and does not return until after the November midterms. For anyone budgeting AI compliance, that leaves California-style state statutes and the EU AI Act as the rules that bind.
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The package Gavin Newsom signed also extends mail-ballot drop-off hours and creates penalties for undisclosed paid political posts. The provision that reaches private parties in California is the disclosure one.
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California's new 13-bill minors package allows damages of up to $1 million for each child a large social platform is found to have harmed. Matching Meta's $18 billion settlement would take 18,000 of them.
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Gavin Newsom signed a package on Thursday that bans autoplay and history-based feeds for under-16s and requires companion chatbots to alert parents when a young user shows distress. Penalties are counted per child.
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Signed on June 29, 2026 and effective January 1, 2027, the law moves prewritten software into sales tax at 7.25% to 10.75% while leaving IaaS and PaaS outside the base, pricing a wedge between renting software and renting a machine.
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The 6-3 dismissal turned on who may sue, not on whether the order is lawful. The federally built voter lists survive, scheduled to reach states 60 days before an election.
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Washington's 9.9%, Maine's 2% and California's proposed 5% one-time billionaire levy give residency modelling real inputs. The retroactive start dates mean the window to react has already closed.
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An MIT Technology Review essay argues both framings end at the same place: nobody at the company is responsible. That is the test product and legal teams should apply to their own agent risk copy.
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