California bars AI-only firings as Newsom signs SB 947

California is now the first US state to bar employers from firing or disciplining workers based solely on an algorithm. Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 947, the "No Robo Bosses Act," on September 30, reversing the veto he issued on an earlier version of the same bill in October 2025. The law is reported to become operative on July 1, 2027.

The statute prevents California businesses from using "automated decision-making systems" as the sole mechanism for discipline or termination and restricts the use of AI as a "principal tool" in those calls. Employers that rely primarily on AI output must have a human reviewer corroborate the decision with additional inputs, which the bill lists as "managerial evaluations, peer reviews, and personnel files."

Workers also pick up procedural rights. Anyone fired or disciplined under a system that primarily used AI must be given written notice that AI was in the loop, a description of the employee data the system drew on, and a human point of contact who can explain the decision.

Newsom killed a near-identical bill last fall, writing then that it "proposes overly broad restrictions on how employers may use [automated decision systems] tools." The 2026 version is the second attempt, and the one he was willing to sign. It lands against a crowded state-regulation beat: 287 regulation-tagged stories have moved through our tracker in the last 90 days.