Companion Chatbots: Children's Safety (SB 1119)

Summary

SB 1119, 'Adam's Law', named after Adam Raine, expands California's child-safety rules for companion chatbots, building on SB 243. It requires age assurance, risk assessments before a new or substantially modified companion chatbot is released, in-app crisis referrals and notice to a parent of a credible threat of self-harm, parent-controlled default settings such as time limits, reasonable measures against harmful outputs such as self-harm, sexually explicit or emotionally manipulative content, an incident reporting mechanism overseen by the Attorney General, limits on targeted advertising to children, and independent compliance audits reported to the Attorney General.

Safety topics

Status notes

Passed the Senate 39-0 on 19 May 2026 and, as amended, the Assembly 69-4 on 31 Aug 2026, when the Senate concurred 39-0 (Senator Padilla's release of 31 Aug 2026 gives the Assembly vote as 64-4). Approved by the Governor on 10 Sep 2026 as Chapter 190, Statutes of 2026 (Padilla; Wicks; Bauer-Kahan), in a 13-bill child online-safety package that also included SB 867 (toys: companion chatbots), AB 1709 (covered platforms: age restriction) and SB 1276 (crimes: sexual exploitation of a child). It amends Section 22602 of the Business and Professions Code and adds Chapter 11.6 (commencing with Section 21810) to Division 8 of that Code. It builds on SB 243 (2025), uses the age-bracket signal of AB 1043 (2025) and draws on provisions of AB 1064 (2025) on harmful outputs. It also gives families harmed by violations of its crisis-referral, parental-notice, default-protection and harmful-output provisions a private right of redress.

Sources

Open the official source https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/10/governor-newsom-signs-the-strongest-child-safety-chatbot-and-social-media-laws-in-the-nation/

Local copy

Verification

History

1. 2026-10-18notes: Passed the Legislature on 31 Aug 2026 (Senate 39-0, Assembly 64-4) and signed 10 → Passed the Senate 39-0 on 19 May 2026 and, as amended, the Assembly 69-4 on 31 A — votes corrected to the Senate's record (Senate 39-0 on 19 May 2026, Assembly 69-4 and Senate concurrence 39-0 on 31 Aug 2026; the release's 64-4 kept as a discrepancy); chapter, approval date and the Code sections the act amends and adds added; the rest unchanged2026-10-18-refresh-level-rule-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
2. 2026-10-18official_identifier: California Senate Bill 1119 (2025-2026 Regular Session) → Chapter 190, Statutes of 2026 (Senate Bill 1119) — 'California Senate Bill 1119 (2025-2026 Regular Session)' -> the citable chapter from the Senate's record, Chapter 190, Statutes of 20262026-10-18-refresh-level-rule-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
3. 2026-10-14related: [{"slug": "ca-sb-243", "id": "US-CA-06"}] → [{"slug": "ca-sb-243", "id": "US-CA-06"}, {"id": "US-CA-12", "slug": "california — two-way link to US-CA-12, US-CA-14 added in run 2026-10-14-discover-leads-2026-10-142026-10-14-discover-leads-2026-10-14 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
4. 2026-10-14notes: Signed 10 Sep 2026 (Padilla; Wicks; Bauer-Kahan) in a 13-bill child online-safet → Passed the Legislature on 31 Aug 2026 (Senate 39-0, Assembly 64-4) and signed 10 — Added the 31 Aug 2026 passage and votes, the bill's links to SB 243, AB 1043 and AB 1064, and the private right of redress. Package bills are given by their listed titles. Removed the remarks on the 'Adam's Law' mapping and the unconfirmed effective date (now settled or in verification.note).2026-10-14-refresh-ids-ca-on-01-coe-01-int-15-us-ca · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
5. 2026-10-14safety_topics: ["child safety", "evaluation & testing", "accountability & liability"] → ["child safety", "evaluation & testing", "accountability & liability", "incident — Added 'incident reporting': the bill requires 'an incident reporting mechanism, overseen by the Attorney General' (Padilla release).2026-10-14-refresh-ids-ca-on-01-coe-01-int-15-us-ca · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
6. 2026-10-14summary: Strengthens children's protections on companion chatbots. The Governor's release → SB 1119, 'Adam's Law', named after Adam Raine, expands California's child-safety — Rewritten from the stored author release, which names the bill 'Adam's Law (SB 1119)' and lists its requirements. This replaces the earlier source-attributed wording ('The Governor's release describes...').2026-10-14-refresh-ids-ca-on-01-coe-01-int-15-us-ca · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)

Related records

California SB 243 (companion chatbots) California (US) · In force

California SB 867 (AI chatbot toy moratorium) California (US) · Adopted, not yet in force

California AB 1064 (LEAD for Kids Act, vetoed) California (US) · Lapsed

Citation

California State Legislature; signed by Governor Gavin Newsom. Companion Chatbots: Children's Safety (SB 1119) [Chapter 190, Statutes of 2026 (Senate Bill 1119)]. 2026-09-10. https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/10/governor-newsom-signs-the-strongest-child-safety-chatbot-and-social-media-laws-in-the-nation/. Status: Adopted, not yet in force; verified 2026-10-18 (level A). Local copy archive/US-CA-08/2026-10-18/official.html retrieved 2026-10-18 06:50:54 UTC, SHA-256 bf5909120e440790dbf820b073a4a401c3049b89bc61022268b1da12c4343e6c. Every AI Policy Ever, version 1.18 (snapshot 2026-10-18), record US-CA-08.

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