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Committee advances bill limiting certain workplace surveillance and requiring human review
Summary
AB 12 21 passed from the committee after extended testimony from labor, privacy and business groups. The bill would ban some biometric and emotion‑recognition tools at work, require notice to workers, limit sharing of worker data, and require human corroboration before discipline based on algorithmic output.
AB 12 21, the workplace surveillance and worker‑data bill introduced by Assemblymember Bridal, cleared the Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee after a lengthy hearing with dozens of witnesses. The proposal would prohibit certain types of biometric surveillance in employment — including facial, gait and emotion recognition — restrict inference of protected characteristics, require notice to employees about monitoring tools, and mandate human corroboration before employers may use automated outputs for discipline.
Assemblymember Bridal said the bill preserves the benefits of technology while protecting worker privacy and safety. "We don't want to lose the humanity in the workplace as we're moving into an artificial age," Bridal said in closing remarks. Labor groups and unions were the most prominent supporters: Yvonne Fernandez of the California Labor Federation and Shane Guzman of the Teamsters explained that new, cheaper surveillance tools (for example, wearable badges and real‑time behavior analytics) can be invasive, misinterpret speech or accent, and disproportionately affect workers in safety‑sensitive jobs.
Privacy and consumer advocates argued the bill is narrowly tailored to limit unreliable and discriminatory systems and to keep workers informed and protected. The bill enacts data protections to prohibit selling or sharing worker data for other commercial uses, and would hold both employer and third‑party vendors liable for breaches or misuse of worker data.
Business groups voiced concerns. Representatives from the Security Industry Association, SHRM (the Society for Human Resource Management), Silicon Valley and trade groups said AB 12 21 as drafted is overly broad and would disrupt legitimate security, safety and operational applications — for example, biometric timekeeping, secure facility access, emergency sharing with first responders, and other low‑risk uses. Testimony from Hedy Holmes (SHRM) stressed operational burdens, especially for small and mid‑size employers, and argued the bill could deter use of tools that some employers say assist equitable hiring.
Committee members pressed both sides on boundaries: when surveillance is a security necessity, what constitutes a discriminatory inference, and how to preserve safety uses while banning discriminatory or highly intrusive applications. The author accepted committee amendments to narrow some provisions, and pledged to continue negotiations on carve‑outs for security and safety uses and on definitions of de‑identified/aggregate data.
The committee voted to pass AB 12 21 as amended to the Appropriations Committee. Supporters said the bill would create first‑in‑the‑nation protections for workers; opponents said the measure needs clearer technical help to avoid unintended operational consequences.
