Bill Full Text
Home
-
Bills
-
Bill
-
Authors
-
Dates
-
Locations
-
Analyses
-
Organizations
<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<ns0:MeasureDoc xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:ns0="http://lc.ca.gov/legalservices/schemas/caml.1#" xmlns:ns3="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" version="1.0" xsi:schemaLocation="http://lc.ca.gov/legalservices/schemas/caml.1# xca.1.xsd">
<ns0:Description>
<ns0:Id>20250SB__114298AMD</ns0:Id>
<ns0:VersionNum>98</ns0:VersionNum>
<ns0:History>
<ns0:Action>
<ns0:ActionText>INTRODUCED</ns0:ActionText>
<ns0:ActionDate>2026-02-18</ns0:ActionDate>
</ns0:Action>
<ns0:Action>
<ns0:ActionText>AMENDED_SENATE</ns0:ActionText>
<ns0:ActionDate>2026-03-23</ns0:ActionDate>
</ns0:Action>
</ns0:History>
<ns0:LegislativeInfo>
<ns0:SessionYear>2025</ns0:SessionYear>
<ns0:SessionNum>0</ns0:SessionNum>
<ns0:MeasureType>SB</ns0:MeasureType>
<ns0:MeasureNum>1142</ns0:MeasureNum>
<ns0:MeasureState>AMD</ns0:MeasureState>
</ns0:LegislativeInfo>
<ns0:AuthorText authorType="LEAD_AUTHOR">Introduced by Senator Becker</ns0:AuthorText>
<ns0:Authors>
<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>LEAD_AUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Becker</ns0:Name>
</ns0:Legislator>
</ns0:Authors>
<ns0:Title> An act to add Chapter 22.6.1 (commencing with Section 22650) to Division 8 of the Business and Professions Code, and to add Section 3344.2 to the Civil Code, relating to personal rights. </ns0:Title>
<ns0:RelatingClause>personal rights</ns0:RelatingClause>
<ns0:GeneralSubject>
<ns0:Subject>Digital Dignity Act.</ns0:Subject>
</ns0:GeneralSubject>
<ns0:DigestText>
<html:p>Existing law prohibits the false impersonation of another person in either their personal or official capacity with the intent to steal or defraud, as specified. Existing law protects all people from defamation, including libel and slander, as provided. Existing law makes any person who knowingly uses another’s name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness for commercial purposes, as specified, without that person’s prior consent liable for damages, as specified. Existing law provides that a party seeking relief pursuant to those provisions may also seek an injunction or temporary restraining order according to specified procedures.</html:p>
<html:p>This bill would enact the Digital Dignity Act. The act would subject to specified liability a person who, by distributing content with actual knowledge that the content includes the use of a digital replica, violates criminal provisions in which false impersonation of another is a required element, as prescribed, or is found liable for defamation in a civil
action, as provided.</html:p>
<html:p>The Digital Dignity Act would require a product, service, internet website, or application that is both a generative AI tool and a large online platform that allows users to create a digital replica of other individuals to implement and maintain a mechanism by which users can revoke access to their digital replica created by other people using the large online platform’s generative AI tool at any time, as prescribed. The act would authorize a city attorney or the Attorney General to bring a civil action to enforce these provisions and to seek a specified civil penalty and injunctive relief. The act would require a generative AI tool provider to maintain, for no less than 90 days, records sufficient to allow compliance with a court order issued pursuant to a civil action by the city attorney or Attorney General, as prescribed.</html:p>
</ns0:DigestText>
<ns0:DigestKey>
<ns0:VoteRequired>MAJORITY</ns0:VoteRequired>
<ns0:Appropriation>NO</ns0:Appropriation>
<ns0:FiscalCommittee>YES</ns0:FiscalCommittee>
<ns0:LocalProgram>NO</ns0:LocalProgram>
</ns0:DigestKey>
<ns0:MeasureIndicators>
<ns0:ImmediateEffect>NO</ns0:ImmediateEffect>
<ns0:ImmediateEffectFlags>
<ns0:Urgency>NO</ns0:Urgency>
<ns0:TaxLevy>NO</ns0:TaxLevy>
<ns0:Election>NO</ns0:Election>
<ns0:UsualCurrentExpenses>NO</ns0:UsualCurrentExpenses>
<ns0:BudgetBill>NO</ns0:BudgetBill>
<ns0:Prop25TrailerBill>NO</ns0:Prop25TrailerBill>
</ns0:ImmediateEffectFlags>
</ns0:MeasureIndicators>
</ns0:Description>
<ns0:Bill id="bill">
<ns0:Preamble>The people of the State of California do enact as follows:</ns0:Preamble>
<ns0:BillSection id="id_EA7D67C9-B638-4372-9127-32F894F245A0">
<ns0:Num>SECTION 1.</ns0:Num>
<ns0:Content>
<html:p>This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the Digital Dignity Act.</html:p>
</ns0:Content>
</ns0:BillSection>
<ns0:BillSection id="id_6094AC44-FEEE-438D-B7A1-F12915F3DA35">
<ns0:Num>SEC. 2.</ns0:Num>
<ns0:Content>
<html:p>
(a)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The Legislature finds and declares the following:
</html:p>
<html:p>
(1)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The rapid advancement and widespread availability of generative artificial intelligence technologies have enabled the creation of highly realistic, computer-generated depictions of an individual’s voice and likeness, hereinafter referred to as “digital replicas.”
</html:p>
<html:p>
(2)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
While these technologies offer significant benefits in fields such as entertainment, accessibility, and personal expression, they also create unprecedented opportunities for misuse that can inflict severe personal, reputational, and economic harm upon the residents
of this state.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(3)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Documented harms include the use of digital replicas to create nonconsensual intimate imagery, to perpetrate financial fraud against individuals and businesses, to create false endorsements, to defame and harass individuals, and to deceive the public through fraudulent impersonation. The economic cost of such fraud to businesses averages hundreds of thousands of dollars per incident.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(4)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Every individual possesses a right to control the use of their own identity, which is a matter of both personal dignity and economic value. The unauthorized appropriation of this identity through a digital replica constitutes a significant harm that current laws may not adequately address.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(5)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
It is the
intent of the Legislature to provide the residents of this state with clear and robust legal tools to protect themselves from the unauthorized and harmful use of their digital likeness and voice.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(b)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The purpose of this act is to establish a balanced framework that does all of the following:
</html:p>
<html:p>
(1)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Protects the rights of individuals to control the use of their identity in the form of a digital replica.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(2)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Provides effective civil remedies for individuals harmed by the unauthorized use of their digital replica.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(3)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Imposes reasonable obligations on the providers of generative artificial intelligence tools to promote transparency and prevent misuse.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(4)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Establishes criminal penalties for the most egregious forms of misuse, particularly the creation of nonconsensual intimate imagery.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(5)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Safeguards the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression by providing clear exemptions for news reporting, commentary, parody, satire, and other expressive works.
</html:p>
</ns0:Content>
</ns0:BillSection>
<ns0:BillSection id="id_3A5ABED3-F7BA-473F-9319-41D421084998">
<ns0:Num>SEC. 3.</ns0:Num>
<ns0:ActionLine action="IS_ADDED" ns3:href="urn:caml:codes:BPC:caml#xpointer(%2Fcaml%3ALawDoc%2Fcaml%3ACode%2Fcaml%3ALawHeading%5B%40type%3D'DIVISION'%20and%20caml%3ANum%3D'8.'%5D%2Fcaml%3ALawHeading%5B%40type%3D'CHAPTER'%20and%20caml%3ANum%3D'22.6.1.'%5D)" ns3:label="fractionType: LAW_SPREAD||commencingWith: 22650" ns3:type="locator">
Chapter 22.6.1 (commencing with Section 22650) is added to Division 8 of the
<ns0:DocName>Business and Professions Code</ns0:DocName>
, to read:
</ns0:ActionLine>
<ns0:Fragment>
<ns0:LawHeading id="id_35F56938-0A26-48DD-A621-006961FF59DD" type="CHAPTER">
<ns0:Num>22.6.1</ns0:Num>
<ns0:LawHeadingVersion id="id_95150E1B-9399-419D-9516-A1326A57A983">
<ns0:LawHeadingText>Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools: Digital Replicas</ns0:LawHeadingText>
</ns0:LawHeadingVersion>
<ns0:LawSection id="id_34B4A3E5-A90B-48CD-B1F4-6EAA9E537737">
<ns0:Num>22650.</ns0:Num>
<ns0:LawSectionVersion id="id_4C4E73FC-682D-474E-8F1F-A3789A890472">
<ns0:Content>
<html:p>For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions apply:</html:p>
<html:p>
(a)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Digital replica” has the same meaning as defined in Section 3344.1 of the Civil Code.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(b)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Generative artificial intelligence” or “generative AI” has the same meaning as defined in Section 3110 of the Civil Code.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(c)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Individual” means a natural person, whether living or deceased.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(d)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Large online platform” has the same meaning as defined in Section 22757.1.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(e)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Likeness” means an individual’s name, signature, photograph, image, or any other recognizable aspect of the individual’s physical appearance.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(f)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Nonconsensual intimate images” has the same meaning as “covered material” in Section 22670.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(g)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Provenance data” has the same meaning as defined in Section 22757.1.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(h)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Voice” means the actual or simulated sound of an individual’s voice that is recognizable as the voice of that individual.
</html:p>
</ns0:Content>
</ns0:LawSectionVersion>
</ns0:LawSection>
<ns0:LawSection id="id_81B74600-3E2D-44CD-84E9-3D75C95F8E30">
<ns0:Num>22651.</ns0:Num>
<ns0:LawSectionVersion id="id_3C01F940-CC8D-4A30-B57F-90882345971E">
<ns0:Content>
<html:p>
(a)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The terms of service for any generative AI tool shall explicitly prohibit users from creating content that violates the Digital Dignity Act, including the creation of nonconsensual intimate images.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(b)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
A generative AI tool provider shall maintain, for no less than 90 days, records sufficient to allow compliance with a court order issued pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (g), including records identifying any provenance data associated with a digital replica, provided that the records do not include the content of user communications.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(c)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
A product, service, internet website, or application that is
both a generative AI tool and a large online platform that allows users to create a digital replica of other individuals shall implement and maintain a mechanism by which users can revoke access to their digital replica, or remove any photograph, video, audio recording, or other digital rendering that includes their digital replica created by other people using the large online platform’s generative AI tool at any time, and shall allow users to remove videos containing their digital replica created by other people using the large online platform’s generative AI tool at any time. This subdivision does not require a product, service, internet website, or application that is both a large online platform and a generative AI tool that allows users to create a digital replica to provide access to content that is generated and stored exclusively on a user’s local device and that has not been transmitted
to the product’s, service’s, internet website’s, or application’s servers.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(d)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
A large online platform shall provide a clear, conspicuous, and easy-to-use mechanism for a user to report a digital replica that violates the Digital Dignity Act, regardless of whether or not the individual depicted is a user of the generative AI tool or large online platform.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(e)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
To prevent unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the administration of the reporting mechanisms required by subdivision (d), a large online platform shall maintain a reporting process that ensures within 48 hours of receiving a user report all of the following:
</html:p>
<html:p>
(1)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Reports of unauthorized digital replicas are reviewed.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(2)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
If the content violates the Digital Dignity Act, access to the content is removed or disabled.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(3)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The reporting party is provided with a confirmation of the removal or, if the content was not removed, a written explanation of the reason.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(f)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
A platform’s systemic failure to adhere to these timelines and process valid reports in good faith constitutes a violation of this section.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(g)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
(1)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
A city attorney or the Attorney General may bring a civil action to enforce this chapter and may seek a civil penalty not to exceed fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for each day a generative AI tool is provided to the public in violation of this chapter.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(2)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
A city attorney or the Attorney General may seek an injunction or temporary restraining order pursuant to Section 527 of the Code of Civil Procedure. If the court grants the applicant an order under subdivision (c) of Section 527 of the Code of Civil Procedure that requires the respondent to remove, recall, or otherwise cease the publication or distribution of the petitioner’s name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness, the respondent shall complete the removal or recall, or cease the publication or distribution, within two business days from the day the order is served, unless otherwise required by the order.
</html:p>
</ns0:Content>
</ns0:LawSectionVersion>
</ns0:LawSection>
</ns0:LawHeading>
</ns0:Fragment>
</ns0:BillSection>
<ns0:BillSection id="id_B3A36B9F-793B-4BA6-9E63-E954D5601211">
<ns0:Num>SEC. 4.</ns0:Num>
<ns0:ActionLine action="IS_ADDED" ns3:href="urn:caml:codes:CIV:caml#xpointer(%2Fcaml%3ALawDoc%2Fcaml%3ACode%2F%2Fcaml%3ALawSection%5Bcaml%3ANum%3D'3344.2'%5D)" ns3:label="fractionType: LAW_SECTION" ns3:type="locator">
Section 3344.2 is added to the
<ns0:DocName>Civil Code</ns0:DocName>
, to read:
</ns0:ActionLine>
<ns0:Fragment>
<ns0:LawSection id="id_24C03D90-0F40-4626-8BAA-3C6860A27E70">
<ns0:Num>3344.2.</ns0:Num>
<ns0:LawSectionVersion id="id_02112759-4E97-4112-8AB2-A83CB6CE3E26">
<ns0:Content>
<html:p>
(a)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Any person that, by distributing content with actual knowledge that the content includes the use of a digital replica, is found liable in a civil action for defamation or violates a provision of the Penal Code in which false impersonation of another is a required element, including, without limitation, Sections 528.5, 529, and 530 of the Penal Code,
shall also be liable for the greater of the following:
</html:p>
<html:p>
(1)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
In cases where an individual or entity negligently distributes, liquidated damages of one thousand dollars ($1,000) or actual damages for each violation.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(2)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
In cases where a violation was committed by an individual or entity with knowledge of, or reckless disregard for, the rights of the individual, the court may, in its discretion, award not less than five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each violation.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(b)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
In addition to the remedies available in subdivision (a), a party may seek an injunction or temporary restraining order pursuant to Section 527 of the Code of Civil Procedure. If the court grants the applicant an order under subdivision (c) of
Section 527 of the Code of Civil Procedure that requires the respondent to remove, recall, or otherwise cease the publication or distribution of the petitioner’s name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness, the respondent shall complete the removal or recall, or cease the publication or distribution, within two business days from the day the order is served, unless otherwise required by the order.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(c)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The prohibition under subdivision (a) shall apply until 70 years after the year of the imitated person’s death.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(d)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
(1)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The rights recognized under this section are property rights, freely transferable or descendible, in whole or in part, by contract, by means of a trust, or pursuant to Section 3344.1.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(2)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
This section shall not be construed to render invalid or unenforceable a contract entered into by a living person that assigned the rights, in whole or in part, to use the living person’s name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(e)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
For purposes of this section, a digital replica may be used without consent if the use of the digital replica meets the conditions of subdivision (j) of Section 3344.1 or any of the criteria of clause (ii) of subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 3344.1.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(f)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
This section shall apply to the adjudication of liability and the imposition of any damages or other remedies in cases in which the liability, damages, and other remedies arise from acts occurring directly in this state.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(g)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
(1)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The remedies provided for in this section are cumulative and shall be in addition to any others provided for by law.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(2)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Nothing in this section shall be construed to conflict with or preempt federal law or regulation. This section does not impose liability on a social media platform if that liability is prohibited by Section 230 of Title 47 of the United States Code.
</html:p>
</ns0:Content>
</ns0:LawSectionVersion>
</ns0:LawSection>
</ns0:Fragment>
</ns0:BillSection>
<ns0:BillSection id="id_4F718E84-A65F-4DFB-BF28-3195151986D1">
<ns0:Num>SEC. 5.</ns0:Num>
<ns0:Content>
<html:p>The provisions of this act are severable. If any provision of this act or its application is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application.</html:p>
</ns0:Content>
</ns0:BillSection>
</ns0:Bill>
</ns0:MeasureDoc>