Capitol Briefs: A hint of what’s on tap for 2026

AI, billionaires tax and CEQA reform initiatives enter circulation: California Secretary of State Shirley Weber announced that proponents of three new proposed ballot measure have been cleared to begin gathering signatures. The trio of initiatives would:

Require risk assessments and risk labels for artificial intelligence (AI) products likely to be used by children. The proponent of the measure, James P. Steyer, must collect signatures of 546,651 registered voters (five percent of the total votes cast for governor in the November 2022 general election) in order for the measure to become eligible for the ballot.

Impose a one-time tax of up to 5 percent on taxpayers and trusts with covered assets valued over $1 billion. The proponent of the measure, Suzanne Jimenez, must collect signatures of 874,641 registered voters (eight percent of the total votes cast for governor in the November 2022 general election) in order for the measure to become eligible for the ballot.

Amend the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to expedite environmental review of specified project categories (including most housing, transportation, water, health, and clean energy projects). The proponent of the measure, Kurt R. Oneto, must collect signatures of 546,651 registered voters (five percent of the total votes cast for governor in the November 2022 general election) in order for the measure to become eligible for the ballot.

Proponents have 180 days (until June 24^th, 2026) to gather the necessary signatures in order to be placed on the November 2026 ballot.

Limón announces new Senate leadership and committee posts: Newly-sworn in Senate pro Tem Monique Limón announced her choices Senate Democratic Leadership Team and committee membership assignments for the remainder of the 2025-2026 session. Key selections included Sen. Angelique Ashby (D-Sacramento) as Majority Leader, Sen. Sabrina Cervantes (D-Riverside) as the chair of the Appropriations Committee, Senator John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) as the chair of the Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, and Senator Thomas Umberg (D-Santa Ana) to continue chairing the Judiciary Committee. The full list of selections can be found here.

More AI battles: The attorneys general of 39 states as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands wrote to a baker’s dozen of tech companies this month decrying “sycophantic and delusional outputs” of AI chatbots and calling for “much stronger child-safety and operational safeguards” for the technology.

Absent from the letter was California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

“[Generative AI] has the potential to change how the world works in a positive way,” reads the letter, whose recipients included Apple, Microsoft, Google, OpenAI and Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. “But it also has caused – and has the potential to cause –serious harm, especially to vulnerable populations. We therefore insist you mitigate the harm caused by sycophantic and delusional outputs from your GenAI, and adopt additional safeguards to protect children. Failing to adequately implement additional safeguards may violate our respective laws.”

The letter refers to several “tragedies and real-world harms” that the attorneys general attribute to AI, including “the suicide of a 16-year-old California resident.”

“In many of these incidents, the GenAI products generated sycophantic and delusional outputs that either encouraged users’ delusions or assured users that they were not delusional,” the law enforcement officers write.

In late October, Bonta approved a restructuring of OpenAI, allowing it to convert from a nonprofit to a for-profit company. In a statement announcing the decision, Bonta only referenced child safety in passing.

“As the Attorney General, my top priority is, and will always be, protecting our kids,” he said. “We will be keeping a close eye on OpenAI to ensure ongoing adherence to its charitable mission and the protection of the safety of all Californians.”

Coming ballot box battles: The new year promises to be a busy one for SEIU United Healthcare Workers West, which will seek to put confrontational measures targeting the health care industry on the 2026 ballot despite cutting a deal to lay off dialysis service providers after that subsector didn’t oppose legislation to establish a $25 per hour minimum wage for California healthcare workers.

The union, led by President Dave Regan, has built a reputation for trying to use the initiative process to browbeat segments of the healthcare industry into unionizing,  although that’s not how Regan or union members would describe their tactics. They say their ballot measures serve the same purpose as the contracts the union negotiations for its members, to protect healthcare sector workers and their patients.

They submitted to the Attorney General proposed initiatives to limit the compensation of hospital executives and provide greater transparency into the funding of community clinics.

Union spokesperson Renée Saldana told Capitol Weekly that the purpose of both measures is to ensure that “every healthcare dollar possible goes towards patient care and services,” ensuring that nonprofit hospitals wisely use their tax exemptions, that community clinics appropriately spend their tax dollars and that access to care is prioritized over “multimillion-dollar salaries to executives.”

“Both the Clinic Funding Accountability and Transparency Act and the Healthcare Executive Compensation Act have been very popular with voters and have already surpassed 25% of the signatures required to qualify for the November 2026 ballot in just a few weeks, reflecting strong support from Californians who want accountability in healthcare spending,” Saldana said in a statement. “We expect the same wildly positive response from voters in early 2026 when we start collecting signatures on the California Billionaire Tax Act.”

Community clinics and hospitals represent two-thirds of the healthcare industry subsectors that SEIU UHW has targeted with legislation and ballot measures. The third is dialysis service providers, with DaVita being the largest. But the union and dialysis service providers struck a deal last session over SB 525 by Sen. María Elena Durazo, D-Los Angeles.

In exchange for the dialysis subsector staying neutral on the bill, the union agreed to not put forth hostile legislation or ballot measures against their businesses until 2027.

Saldana didn’t comment on the deal between the union and the dialysis provides when given the chance. A representative of the dialysis providers declined to comment.

The union is also interested in trying to put the controversial billionaires’ tax on the ballot, which is sure to face heavy opposition.

“The California Billionaire Tax Act aims to address the significant shortfall in healthcare funding. California hasn’t experienced a cut in funding this significant before,” Saldana said in the statement. “And no one has a solution for it. This requires urgent action.”

Stopping drunk driving: While California made modest strides in 2025 to combat drunk driving – especially in light of a devastating, year-long investigation by CalMatters – it lags behind many other states in the use of a critical device proven to save lives, a situation the governor has vowed to address.

In October, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 366 by Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Irvine) to extend the state’s ignition interlock device program through 2032.

But the changes fall far short of what’s required in most other states.

According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data, drunk driving fatalities rose 42 percent in California from 2019 to 2023. That outpaced a nationwide increase of 22 percent over that period. Studies also have found that California cities account for more than half of the top 10 locations with the highest DUI rates in the U.S.

Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Bar Association support interlock devices as a proven means for reducing repeat DUI offenses by up to 70 percent. Yet California was prepared to let its interlock program lapse at the beginning of 2026 if not for Petrie-Norris’ bill.

The Assemblymember had sought to remove the sunset provision entirely as well as require that devices be assigned to everyone convicted of drunk driving in the state, not just repeat offenders. But in order to get the bill out, she agreed to amendments that eliminated the mandate for first-time offenders and only pushed back the sunset six years.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit devoted to reducing traffic deaths, 30 states have made the installation of an interlock device mandatory for all first-time and repeat DUI offenders. Another four states – Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wyoming – require it for first-time offenders if their blood-alcohol concentration exceeded 0.1 or 0.15 at the time of their arrest.

Under AB 366, “the court may require that a person convicted of a first offense” be required to install an interlock device, with the court directed to “give heightened consideration” to violators with a high blood-alcohol content.

Interlock critics knock the devices for the financial strain they put on offenders. They typically require both an installation fee and a monthly rental fee, which for some may raise the specter of debtors’ prisons that trapped delinquent borrowers in poverty.

On Sept. 13, Petrie-Norris published a letter in the Assembly Daily Journal saying that she intends to introduce legislation in 2026 to require all drunk drivers to install interlock devices  and that she has a commitment from the governor “to work through the details of expanding the program over the coming months.” Newsom acknowledge the deal in his signing message for AB 366, adding, “While this measure provides much-needed continuity today, it is ultimately directed towards establishing a lasting program that strengthens public safety and delivers safer roads for Californians.”

CA Supreme Court approves new Bar Exam standards: California’s high court approved new qualification standards for experts involved in developing the state Bar Exam. The court modified the original proposal to tighten the eligibility requirements for those responsible for question accuracy, content validation, and score setting.

Comings and goings: The 57 tribal member California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA) re-elected James Siva as chairman and Isaiah Vivanco as treasurer of the association’s executive committee. The selections came at CNIGA’s annual meeting in early December.

The Faculty Association of California Community Colleges (FACCC) announced Sarah Thompson as the organization’s new president. She began on December 19, 2025. Thompson replaces former president Oranit Limmaneeprasert.