Legislative Update 

Governor’s Final Legislative Actions

September 30 marked the deadline for Governor Gavin Newsom to act on all pending legislation. Of the 2,230 bills introduced in 2026, together with several hundred two-year bills carried over from 2025, 1,160 reached the Governor’s desk. The Governor signed 1,040 of those bills into law and vetoed 120, reflecting a signature rate of approximately 90 percent and a veto rate of approximately 10 percent—considerably lower than his average veto rate of 13.5 percent over the course of his tenure. Notably, the Legislature has not overridden a gubernatorial veto since 1980. All chaptered bills go into effect on January 1, 2027, unless stated otherwise.

On September 30, the Governor signed the final bill of his tenure atop the Golden Gate Bridge and issued an accompanying press release. The bill, SB 895 (Wiener), enacts the California Science and Health Research Bond Act, which, if approved by the voters at the March 7, 2028, election, would authorize the issuance of $7.5 billion in bonds to finance grants and loans for research into a wide range of topics, including wildfire prevention, climate, water, behavioral health, and disease prevention, among others.

Over the course of his eight years in office, the Governor acted on a total of 7,803 bills, exercising his constitutional authority to sign or veto every measure presented to him. In each instance, the bill received a formal decision; none was left without action. Of the 7,803 bills, he signed 6,752 into law, representing 86.5 percent of the total, and vetoed 1,051, representing the remaining 13.5 percent.

The Legislature remains on Final Recess and will next convene on December 7 for a single-day Organizational Session, during which newly elected members will be sworn into office, before recessing until January 4, 2027. With the business of the 2025-26 session effectively concluded, the attention of most legislators has now officially shifted to the November 3 General Election.

Press Release on Artificial Intelligence (AI) Oversight

On September 18, Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order directing the Government Operations Agency, in consultation with the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), to deliver recommendations by November 16, 2026, on strengthening the state’s AI safety laws. The recommendations are to address onsite independent verification at frontier AI laboratories, independent review of company safety frameworks and risk assessments, an emergency “kill switch” for frontier models, and expanded definitions of the critical safety incidents that companies must report. The order also accelerates implementation of two bills the Governor signed in September: SB 813 (McNerney), which creates a framework for independent verification organizations to assess AI systems’ compliance with state law, and AB 1405 (Bauer-Kahan), which establishes a state registry of AI auditors. Both measures build upon SB 53 (Wiener, 2025), the Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act. In the accompanying press release, the Governor stated: “We’re not waiting to act. We’re going to speed up our work on substantial and responsible AI oversight before it’s too late.”

Bills of Interest Signed into Law (Chaptered) or Vetoed by the Governor

The Legislature closed the session by passing a seven-bill package aimed at California’s fast-growing data center industry, sending all seven measures to the Governor.

• AB 1383 (McKinnor) Public employees’ retirement benefits.
  • This bill makes prospective changes to the Public Employees Pension Reform Act (PEPRA) of 2013. Specifically, the bill:
    • Increases the pensionable compensation cap for all PEPRA employees;
    • Reduces the retirement age for public safety (fire and police) from 57 to 55;
    • Adds a 4th safety tier that is 3% @ 55, subject to bargaining;
    • Allows local agencies to adjust their local formula.
  • Status: Vetoed
• AB 2346 (Wilson) Vehicles: electric bicycles and speed limits.
  • This bill sets speed limits for e-bikes and bicycle paths, requires certain disclosures when selling an e-bike, and requires some e-bikes to have a speedometer and lights.
  • Status: Chaptered
• AB 1821 (Pacheco) California Public Records Act: agency response time.
  • This bill extends the deadlines for public agencies to provide an initial response to a California Public Records Act request by converting the current “calendar day” deadlines to a “business day” standard.
  • Status: Chaptered
• SB 1117 (Cervantes) Accessory dwelling units and junior accessory dwelling units.
  • This bill requires impact fees for ADUs to be calculated only on the portion of the unit exceeding 750 square feet, rather than on its total square footage, for up to two ADUs on a single lot.
  • Status: Chaptered
• SB 1014 (Grayson) Development projects: preliminary estimate of required improvements: onsite and offsite improvements.
  • This bill allows development proponents to request and receive additional information on offsite and onsite improvements at the preliminary application phase, and when processing post-entitlement permits.
  • Status: Chaptered

Looking Foward

• December 7, 2026: Legislature convenes for Organizational Session.
• January 1, 2027: All bills signed into law in 2026, unless otherwise stated, go into effect.
• January 4, 2027: Legislature convenes for the first year of the 2027-28 legislative session.