Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that establishes compliance requirements for entities that use AI as a substantial factor in making defined "consequential decisions," such as employee hiring or pay, educational assessment, access to financial services, and health care decisions in California.

Highlights:

• Requires a deployer or developer of an automated decision tool to perform an impact assessment on any automated decision (AI) tool before it is first deployed and then annually, that includes a statement on the purpose of the automated decision (AI) tool and its intended benefits, uses, and deployment contexts (Sec. 1-4).

• Requires a deployer or developer to provide the impact assessment to the California Privacy Protection Agency within 30 days of a request by the agency and would punish a violation of that provision with an administrative fine of not more than $10,000 to be recovered in an administrative enforcement action brought by the agency and exempt the impact assessment from the California Public Records Act (Sec. 1-4).

• Requires the California Privacy Protection Agency to by January 1, 2027, establish a staggered schedule that identifies when each state government deployer, as defined, is required to comply with specified deployer requirements for each deployed automated decision tool and require full compliance by January 1, 2031 (Sec. 1-4).

• Requires a state government deployer to by January 1, 2026, provide to the agency a list of automated decision tools initially deployed before January 1, 2025 (Sec. 1-4).

• Requires a deployer to before an automated decision tool making a consequential decision, as defined, or being a substantial factor, as defined, in making a consequential decision, notify any natural person that is subject to the consequential decision that an automated decision tool is being used and to provide that person with specified information (Sec. 1-4).

• Requires a deployer that has deployed an automated decision tool to make, or be a substantial factor in making, a consequential decision concerning a natural person, to provide to the natural person, among other things, an opportunity to correct any incorrect personal data (Sec. 1-4).

• Specifies that if a consequential decision is made solely based on the output of an automated decision tool, require a deployer to, if technically feasible, accommodate a natural person’s request to not be subject to the automated decision tool and to instead be subject to an alternative selection process or accommodation, as prescribed (Sec. 1-4).

• Prohibits a deployer from using an automated decision tool if an impact assessment identifies a reasonable risk of algorithmic discrimination, which the bill would define to mean the condition in which an automated decision tool contributes to unlawful discrimination, including differential treatment or impacts disfavoring people based on their actual or perceived (Sec. 1-4):

• Race;

• Color;

• Ethnicity;

• Sex;

• Religion;

• Age;

• National origin;

• Limited English proficiency;

• Disability or veteran status;

• Genetic information;

• Reproductive health; or 

• Any other classification protected by state or federal law, until that risk has been mitigated.

• Prohibits a developer from making available to potential deployers an automated decision tool until the risk of algorithmic discrimination has been mitigated (Sec. 1-4)

• Authorizes certain public attorneys, including the Attorney General, and the Civil Rights Department to bring a civil action against a deployer or developer for a violation of the bill and would authorize a court to award, only in an action for a violation involving algorithmic discrimination, a civil penalty of $25,000 per violation (Sec. 1-4).

• Requires a public attorney or the Civil Rights Department to, before commencing an action for injunctive relief, provide 45 days written notice to a deployer or developer of the alleged violations of the bill and would provide a deployer or developer a specified opportunity to cure those violations, if the deployer or developer provides the person who gave the notice an express written statement, under penalty of perjury, that the violation has been cured and that no further violations shall occur (Sec. 1-4).

Full Bill Text