Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee
Event Log
SB53 — The chair opens the hearing on SB 53, noting it has been referred back to committee after substantial Assembly floor amendments. The discussion explains that the bill incorporates elements from a working group report and has been narrowed so its requirements apply to models trained above 10^26 FLOPs. It also describes disclosure obligations for frontier models, including basic high-level safety details even for companies below the $500 million revenue threshold. The speaker concludes that SB 53 is intended to help address AI risks while preserving the benefits of the technology.
SB53 — The speaker explains that the bill’s strongest requirements apply to large companies with annual revenue of $500 million or more.
SB53 — The speaker says the bill focuses on transparency and safety commitments for the limited number of labs training massive models.
SB53 — The speaker characterizes the bill as light-touch and aimed at transparency and protocols, including for actors under the revenue threshold.
SB53 — The speaker explains the bill tries not to impose the same obligations on startups as on large companies like Google, Meta, or OpenAI.
SB53 — The speaker says smaller entities will have simplified obligations, while the bill will cover the large models created by large labs.
SB53 — The speaker explains the bill applies to entities doing business in California, not just California-based companies.
SB53 — The speaker argues the bill will send a strong national signal and references whistleblower protections as part of the response to concerns.
SB53 — The speaker says whistleblower protections would cover activities posing a specific and substantial danger to public health or safety from catastrophic risk.
SB53 — The committee begins the roll call on SB 53 with a do-pass motion.
SB53 — The bill passes the committee 12 to 1 and will be heard again on the floor.
Rebecca Bauer-Kahan — Called present during roll call.
Rebecca Bauer-Kahan — Addressed as Chair.
Rebecca Bauer-Kahan — During the roll call, Rebecca Bauer-Kahan is called and records an aye vote; the Chair is called first and also votes aye.
Isaac Bryan — Called present during roll call.
Isaac Bryan — Member Bryan is called during the roll call.
Carl DeMaio — Called present during roll call.
Carl DeMaio — Member DeMaio votes no.
Jacqui Irwin — Jacqui Irwin was called present during roll call and acknowledged with 'here.'
Jacqui Irwin — Member Irwin votes aye.
Josh Lowenthal — Josh Lowenthal was called present during roll call.
Josh Lowenthal — Member Lowenthal votes aye.
Alexandra Macedo — Alexandra Macedo was called present during roll call and responded 'here,' confirming her attendance.
Alexandra Macedo — Alexandra Macedo raised concerns that the bill, while trying to protect important technology growth, might inadvertently stifle innovation, emphasizing the need to carefully balance those goals.
Alexandra Macedo — The speaker references the Vice Chair's question about whistleblower protections.
Alexandra Macedo — Vice Chair Macedo is recorded as not voting.
Tina McKinnor — Tina McKinnor was called present during roll call and responded 'here.'
Tina McKinnor — Member McKinnor votes aye.
Liz Ortega — Called present during roll call.
Liz Ortega — Member Ortega votes aye.
Gail Pellerin — Called present during roll call.
Gail Pellerin — Member Pellerin votes aye.
Cottie Petrie-Norris — Called present during roll call.
Cottie Petrie-Norris — Member Petrie-Norris votes aye.
Buffy Wicks — Called present during roll call.
Buffy Wicks — Member Wicks votes aye.
Lori Wilson — Called present during roll call.
Lori Wilson — Member Wilson votes aye.
SB1047 — The speaker refers to Senate Bill 1047 as their prior AI safety bill from last year, explaining that it focused on AI safety and large language models and noting that it was vetoed.
SB1047 — Referenced as the prior bill with a similar technical threshold.
Adam Billen — Adam Billen of Encode AI testified in support of SB 53, arguing that California urgently needs AI legislation. He said the bill would be the first to hold companies accountable to their public commitments on safety testing and transparency, described the negotiations and amendments that shaped the final version, and framed SB 53 as an important step that balances safety with innovation.
Terry Oli — Terry Oli, Director of Economic Security California Action and a co-sponsor of the bill, testified in support of CalCompute. He explained that the proposal would create a publicly owned compute cloud and argued that access to compute is essential for AI innovation. He pointed to the limited chip access at Stanford compared with Microsoft’s massive chip resources to illustrate why public investment is needed, cited California’s research legacy and New York’s Empire AI as supportive examples, and said CalCompute had broad support and was recommended in the Little Hoover Commission’s AI report.
Dr. Subers — Spoke on behalf of the Secure AI Project to co-sponsor and support the bill.
Emily Pappas / Nima Pappas and associates — Testified on behalf of Anthropic in support of the bill.
Megan Supers — Testified on behalf of Omidyar Network in support of the bill.
Ronak Dalami — Testified for CalChamber in an opposed-unless-amended position and thanked the author and committee.
Robert Boykin — Testified for TechNet and referenced comments aligned with CalChamber.
Amy Padraud — Amy Padraud testified on behalf of the Computer and Communications Industry Association and stated that her organization echoed the comments and support expressed by TechNet and the California Chamber of Commerce.
Alicia Priage — Testified on behalf of the Chamber of Progress and aligned comments with fellow associations.
Joe Patterson — The speaker addresses Mr. Patterson by name while asking about safeguards and extraterritorial application of California law.