Assembly committee advances suite of consumer‑tech bills on AI auditors, bots, privacy signals and more

The Assembly committee advanced a group of consumer and technology bills after extended testimony and debate, moving several measures on to later committees for further review.

Highlights and actions "at a glance"

- AB 1405 (Bauer‑Kahan): Creates a registry and baseline standards for AI auditors to be enrollable through the state’s GovOps portal and requires basic transparency and ethical standards for auditors used by government. The author said the bill does not itself require audits of any specific AI tool but would make it easier for future laws to use enrolled auditors. The committee passed AB 1405, as amended, to Appropriations; roll left open.

- AB 410 (Wilson): Updates California’s bot‑disclosure law to require that automated accounts disclose they are bots upfront, answer truthfully if asked whether they are bots, and not misrepresent themselves as human. The author said disclosures are intended to protect vulnerable users and to bring the statute’s coverage up to date with generative AI chatbots. The committee passed the bill as amended to Appropriations (vote 9–1).

- AB 566 (Lowenthal): Would require web browsers and (by regulation) mobile operating systems to include a one‑click global opt‑out signal for sale/sharing of personal information (global privacy control / opt‑out preference signal). Supporters called it a consumer‑empowerment…