--- title: "Newsom Signs Limits on Workplace AI but Passes Over Labor’s Health Care Bills" description: "The laws limit firing, discipline and surveillance by AI, though two union-backed health care bills were unsigned at the deadline." author: "rews desk" published: 2026-10-01T00:15:00Z modified: 2026-10-01T00:57:58Z url: https://rews.cc/a/newsom-signs-limits-on-workplace-ai-but-passes-over-labor-s--95182b language: en tags: ["ai", "labor", "regulation", "newsom", "unions", "us"] publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)" --- # Newsom Signs Limits on Workplace AI but Passes Over Labor’s Health Care Bills *The laws limit firing, discipline and surveillance by AI, though two union-backed health care bills were unsigned at the deadline.* By rews desk · October 1, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/newsom-signs-limits-on-workplace-ai-but-passes-over-labor-s--95182b ## In brief - Gov. Gavin Newsom signed California laws limiting AI in firing, discipline and workplace surveillance - One law makes health care professionals, not AI, the final decision-makers on patient care - The firing bill lost an appeals process, the right to sue and coverage for contractors during the session - Two union-backed health care bills went unannounced with the signing deadline at day’s end - Labor leaders have tied the bills to their support for Newsom’s expected 2028 presidential run Gov. Gavin Newsom of California on Tuesday signed a package of laws restricting how artificial intelligence can be used to fire, discipline and surveil workers, acting on the final day to sign bills from his last scheduled legislative session. The new laws limit the use of AI in terminating or disciplining employees, require that health care professionals, rather than software, have the final say in patient care, and bar employers from predicting a worker’s emotional state, collecting brain data or running AI-powered surveillance in bathrooms. Most of the workers they cover have no union contract with which to bargain over the technology. Mr. Newsom passed over several other AI-related bills labor leaders had pushed for, including two for health care workers: one to bar companies from replacing mental health workers with AI and another protecting health care workers from retaliation for refusing an AI-generated recommendation. Nine bills cosponsored by the California Labor Federation, the Communication Workers of America, the Teamsters or the California Nurses Association reached his desk this year. He had until the end of the day to act on the rest. “We’re glad Governor Newsom is catching up with the overwhelming sentiment of the American people on AI and starting to lead on this issue,” Lorena Gonzalez, the labor federation’s president, told CalMatters in a written statement. “We still have work to do, especially to regulate AI in healthcare and demand human oversight of these technologies.” Sandy Reding, the president of the California Nurses Association, called it “a historic day in California” in a statement shared with CalMatters. Nicolle Pillion, who answers patient phone calls at Kaiser Permanente, said a tool that scores empathy and emotion had gotten in the way of her work because her voice is hoarse, leaving her feeling discriminated against. “It’s a big win for us and a step in the right direction,” she said. “I wish he would have signed this sooner.” The bill curbing AI in firing and discipline was weakened as it moved through the Legislature, losing an appeals process for workers and the right to sue an employer into compliance, and it no longer covers contractors. “It should be a stronger bill,” Ms. Gonzalez said, “but we absolutely believe the American people believe, Californians believe, that an individual should not have the indignity of being fired or disciplined by a robot, by an algorithm, without human oversight.” Labor’s pressure on Mr. Newsom dates to February, when the AFL-CIO, the state federation and union leaders from several states objected to his veto, a year earlier, of a predecessor to the firing bill. In a letter this month, the AFL-CIO’s president, Liz Shuler, called the bills “a floor to protect workers from the worst abuse of AI in the workplace.” Union leaders have tied the package to their support for his expected 2028 presidential run, and Mr. Newsom traveled this month to South Carolina, which holds the first 2028 Democratic primary. The AFL-CIO’s national leadership, which decides endorsements, could not immediately be reached for comment. A Pew Research Center poll found fear of losing a job to AI is the leading reason Americans give for concern about the technology, and a Pew survey in June found that a majority of adults under 30 are, for the first time, more concerned than excited about AI’s future. About half of Californians say AI is used extensively or moderately in their workplace, and two in three want government policies protecting them from job loss, according to a Carnegie Endowment survey this spring. More than 70 percent of Americans approve of unions, Gallup found this month, a level not seen since the 1960s, though elections to win union recognition fell 30 percent last year. The signings extend a month of AI action since the legislative session ended, including curbs on data centers’ utility costs and environmental harms, more than a dozen bills to shield children from technology and two bills to expand monitoring of AI models. Mr. Newsom has swung between regulating in the name of safety and blocking bills in the name of innovation. In 2024 he vetoed mandatory catastrophic-risk testing of major AI models. This year he partly reversed course, ordering state employees to study AI-driven job loss and fast-tracking independent verification of claims about AI models, while exploring an emergency “kill switch.” At a rally in San Francisco this month, Ms. Gonzalez laid out labor’s next demands: a ban on forcing workers to train the AI systems that replace them, limits on surveillance-based pricing and a requirement that a human operator ride in autonomous big rigs.