AB 1405, authored in the Assembly and presented in the hearing as a Bauer Kehan measure, would require AI auditors who assess systems under state law to enroll with the Government Operations Agency and to meet transparency and basic ethical requirements before conducting assessments.

The bill’s sponsor argued the measure does not mandate audits of AI systems but instead creates accountability for auditors. Rob Ellerveld, CEO and co‑founder of the Transparency Coalition, told the panel that “businesses would not work without audited financial statements,” and that third‑party, registered auditors can provide the same kind of public confidence for AI systems. Ellerveld said AB 1405 is “a good first step” and urged a yes vote.

Laura Bennett, testifying for the California Chamber of Commerce, said the organization is “respectfully in strong opposition” to AB 1405 as drafted. Bennett told the committee the bill is “premature” because the AI‑auditing ecosystem lacks objective standards and professional frameworks to evaluate auditor quality; she warned a registry without clear standards “will promote inconsistent or questionable audit quality and will breed distrust.”

Assembly staff told the committee the author accepts committee amendments that (1) require auditors to provide documentation to support claims about the efficacy of their protocols and (2) clarify the bill does not interfere with existing auditing requirements. Legislative staff Slater Sharp was available to answer technical questions during the hearing.

The committee placed AB 1405 on call and later recorded a roll‑call result advancing the measure to the Appropriations Committee. The roll call recorded the motion as passed with 11 yes votes and 2 no votes.

Moving forward, supporters said the bill aligns with the governor’s recent Frontier AI Policy Report, which emphasizes third‑party risk assessment, while opponents urged lawmakers to first develop objective standards and professional oversight frameworks for AI auditors before creating a registry.