On 30 September 2026, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed 13 AI bills, including the first US state law requiring human oversight when employers use automated systems to discipline or dismiss workers (SB 947). A day later, the first provisions of Connecticut’s AI Responsibility and Transparency Act (Public Act 26-15) took effect.
Key points
- California SB 947 covers automated employment decision systems, and SB 951 requires AI-driven mass layoffs and terminations to be disclosed in notices.
- AB 1331 and AB 1883 limit workplace surveillance tools, and SB 1000, AB 2713, and SB 1159 strengthen California’s AI transparency rules.
- Other bills cover AI in healthcare decisions (AB 1979, SB 503), lawyers’ use of AI (SB 574), and digital replicas (SB 1111).
- From 1 October 2026, Connecticut requires disclosures for AI subscriptions and protects whistleblowers at frontier AI developers; chatbot disclosure duties follow from 1 January 2027 and employment AI duties by 1 October 2027.
Effective dates differ by bill, so check each one. Organisations employing staff in California or Connecticut, HR technology vendors, and AI providers serving those states should map where automated tools influence hiring, discipline, or dismissal, make sure a person reviews those decisions, and update worker notices. An ISO/IEC 42001 AI management system gives a useful structure for recording these controls.
Source: Office of the Governor of California; CT Mirror
This update is general information, not legal advice. If you would like help assessing the impact on your information security or privacy programme, contact us.
