Today, Senator Thomas J. Umberg (D-Santa Ana), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced that Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 884, the Protect Our Polls Act. The new law takes effect immediately, establishing safeguards against voter intimidation and arrests by federal agents, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), at polling places ahead of the November general election.

On Friday, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1418 by Senator Sabrina Cervantes (D-Riverside), a bill that directly improves defenses against election interference in California. SB 1418 builds on Senate Bill 73, which the Governor signed into law earlier this year, by extending many of the chain-of-custody protections for voted ballots in that bill to other forms of election records. To provide these protections for the November midterm elections, SB 1418 includes an urgency clause that allows its provisions to take effect immediately. California Attorney General Rob Bonta sponsored the bill.

The California Voting Rights Act of 2026 (CVRA 2026), authored by Senator Sabrina Cervantes (D-Riverside), was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom yesterday. CVRA 2026, which includes Senate Bills 1164 and 1360, provides stronger protections against vote dilution and voter suppression and expands language access assistance to more limited-English proficient (LEP) voters. CVRA 2026, a long-needed update to the California Voting Rights Act of 2001, also strengthens defenses against other forms of voter discrimination that Section 2 of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibited before the unfortunate U.S. Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais.

Senator Jesse Arreguin celebrates the approval of vital funding after campaigning to convert the former horse racetrack into a regional park

Senator Wiener authored legislation requiring kill switches in 2024 and worked with the Governor to pass SB 53, the nation’s first AI safety law, in 2025.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Governor Newsom issued an executive order to strengthen the state’s response to recent rogue AI attacks, including the Hugging Face attack. The executive order advances, among other things, a proposal to require AI companies to build “kill switches,” or emergency shutdowns, into advanced AI models in case something goes wrong.

SACRAMENTO – Thousands of licensed mental health professionals have signed a letter (attached) urging Governor Gavin Newsom to sign Senate Bill (SB) 903, authored by Senator Steve Padilla. This bill would protect individuals seeking therapy or psychotherapy services by prohibiting the advertisement of AI chatbots as “therapy” and setting common sense guardrails for AI use in mental health treatment. SB 903 passed the Senate unanimously and the Assembly with bipartisan support by a vote of 71 to 4 and now awaits Governor Newsom’s signature into law.

Sacramento, California — (September 16, 2026) — Governor Gavin Newsom has signed SB 1322, authored by State Senator Laura Richardson (D South Bay), into law, marking a significant expansion of California’s tribal housing grant program and opening new pathways for sovereign tribal nations to secure critical housing resources.

SACRAMENTO, CA — California State Senator Dave Cortese (D-San José) announced that Governor Newsom has signed Senate Bill 1392, also known as “Jay Leno’s Law,” into law. The measure will now protect classic car owners and collector vehicles from unnecessary smog inspections while preserving California’s commitment to clean air. 

“The whistleblower report shows the depths that the federal government is willing to descend into in their efforts to dismantle our democracy piece by piece—now by impersonating members of the public to access voter information, likely in violation of state laws. California will not allow our sacred right to vote to be attacked this way, and to that end, I will introduce legislation when the Legislature reconvenes in December to address this flagrant violation of our democracy.”

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Senate Bill 1276, the End Child Exploitation Act, authored by Senator Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park), legislation to protect children from sexual exploitation by clarifying that it is a crime to knowingly watch a livestream of a sexually exploited minor. SB 1276 closes a loophole that allowed predators to evade accountability for knowingly viewing the sexual exploitation of children through livestreaming platforms.