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Amended
IN
Senate
August 13, 2026 |
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Amended
IN
Senate
June 18, 2026 |
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Amended
IN
Senate
June 11, 2026 |
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Amended
IN
Assembly
April 23, 2026 |
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Amended
IN
Assembly
April 09, 2026 |
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Amended
IN
Assembly
March 18, 2026 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 2575
| Introduced by Assembly Member Ortega |
February 20, 2026 |
An act to add Section 1714.48 to the Civil Code, to add Section 1339.76 1339.78 to the Health and Safety Code, and to add Article 2.7 (commencing with Section 2820) to Chapter 2 of Division 3 of the Labor Code, relating to health care services.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2575, as amended, Ortega.
Health care services: artificial intelligence.
(1) Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health facilities and clinics by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law generally makes a violation of these provisions a crime. Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, establishes the Medical Board of California for the licensing, regulation, and discipline of physicians and surgeons. Existing law requires a health facility, clinic, physician’s office, or office of a group practice that uses generative artificial intelligence to generate written or verbal patient communications pertaining to patient clinical information, as defined, to ensure that those communications include both a disclaimer that indicates to the patient that a communication was generated by generative artificial intelligence, as specified, and clear instructions describing how a patient may contact a human health care
provider, employee, or other appropriate person.
This bill would require a health facility, clinic, physician’s office, or office of a group practice that uses or deploys a clinical decision support system, as defined, for patient care, on or before July 1, 2027, to make available, upon request from a licensed health care professional or other person using a clinical decision support system or viewing outputs from a clinical decision support system, an inventory of all clinical decision support systems currently in use or deployed for patient care. The bill would require a health facility, clinic, physician’s office, or office of a group practice that uses a clinical decision support system for patient care to make specified information about the clinical decision support system system,
upon request from a licensed health care professional or other person using a clinical decision support system or viewing outputs form a clinic from a clinical decision support system, including, among other things, a summary of how the clinical decision support system generates outputs. The bill would also require a health facility, clinic, physician’s office, or office of a group practice subject to these provisions to notify a licensed health care professional or other person whose duties include using a clinical decision support system or viewing outputs from a clinical decision support system system, upon being hired
and annually
annually, of their right to request the above-described information. By placing new requirements on health facilities and clinics, this bill would expand the scope of a crime and would impose a state-mandated local program.
(2) Existing law charges the Labor Commissioner with enforcement of various labor laws, including investigation of employee complaints.
This bill would declare it is the policy of the state that a worker providing direct patient care be free to use their professional judgment to make assessments and decisions within their scope of practice as appropriate for their patients. The bill would prohibit an employer from retaliating or discriminating against a worker providing patient care, as specified. The bill would authorize a worker who is subject to retaliation or discrimination in violation of these provisions to file a complaint with the Labor
Commissioner against an employer. The bill would require the Labor Commissioner to enforce these provisions, as specified.
(3) Existing law provides that everyone is responsible not only for the result of their willful acts, but also for an injury occasioned to another by their want of ordinary care or skill in the management of their property or person. Existing law prohibits a defendant who developed, modified, or used artificial intelligence, as defined, from asserting a defense that the artificial intelligence autonomously caused the harm to the plaintiff.
This bill would prohibit a defendant who developed, modified, selected, or deployed a clinical decision support system that is alleged to have harmed the plaintiff from asserting a defense that the failure of a licensed health care
professional or other health care worker to override an output of the clinical decision support system is a superseding cause severing the defendant’s liability for the alleged harm.
(4) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 1714.48 is added to the Civil Code, to read:1714.48.
(a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply:(1) “Artificial intelligence” means an engineered or machine-based system that varies in its level of autonomy and that can, for explicit or implicit objectives, infer from the input it receives how to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual environments.
(2) (A) “Automated decision system” means a computational process derived from machine learning, statistical modeling, data analytics, or artificial intelligence that issues simplified output, including a score, classification, or recommendation,
that is used to assist or replace human discretionary decisionmaking and materially impacts natural persons.
(B) “Automated decision system” does not include a spam email filter, firewall, antivirus software, identity and access management tools, calculator, database, dataset, or other compilation of data.
(3) “Clinical decision support system” means an automated decision system or generative artificial intelligence system whose outputs produce that produces a prediction, classification, recommendation, evaluation, or analysis that is
used to inform clinical decisionmaking with respect to the provision, timing, or course of patient care.
(4) “Generative artificial intelligence” has the same meaning as defined in Section 1339.75 of the Healthy and Safety Code.
(b) In an action against a defendant who developed, modified, selected, or deployed a clinical decision support system that is alleged to have caused harm to the plaintiff, it shall not be a defense, and the defendant may not assert, that the failure of a licensed health care professional or other health care worker to override an output of the clinical decision support system is a superseding cause severing the defendant’s liability for the alleged harm.
(c) This section
does not limit or preclude a defendant from presenting either of the following:
(1) Any other affirmative defense, including evidence relevant to causation or foreseeability.
(2) Other evidence relevant to the comparative fault of any other person or entity.
(3) Evidence that the defendant took reasonable precautions to prevent harm, including providing clear and conspicuous disclosures and disclaimers regarding the intended use, scope, known risks, and limitations of the system to the health facility, clinic, physician’s office, or office of a group practice.
(d) This section does not apply to an action described in Section 340.5
of the Code of Civil Procedure against a person licensed or certified pursuant to Division 2 (commencing with Section 500) of the Business and Professions Code or licensed pursuant to the Osteopathic Initiative Act or the Chiropractic Initiative Act.
SEC. 2.
Section 1339.78 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:1339.78.
(a) On or before July 1, 2027, a health facility, clinic, physician’s office, or office of a group practice that uses or deploys a clinical decision support system for patient care shall make available, upon request from a licensed health care professional or other person using a clinical decision support system or viewing outputs from a clinical decision support system, an inventory of all clinical decision support systems currently in use or deployed for patient care. This list shall be updated at least annually.(b) A health facility, clinic, physician’s office, or office of a group practice that uses or deploys a clinical decision support system for patient care shall make available, upon request from a licensed health care professional or other person using a clinical decision support system or viewing outputs from a clinical decision support system, information about the clinical decision support system. Information required by this subdivision shall include all of the following:
(1) A summary of the clinical decision support system, including developer and description of the output produced by the system.
(2) Intended use of the clinical decision support system, including intended patient population, intended users, and intended
role in supporting clinical decisionmaking.
(3) Cautioned out-of-scope use of the clinical decision support system, including known risks and limitations.
(4) Summary of how the clinical decision support system generates outputs.
(5) Summary of the training set or clinical research underlying recommendations, including demographic representativeness and known biases based on protected characteristics.
(6) Summary of the validation process.
(7) Summary of qualitative measures of performance.
(8) A link to the Certified
Health IT Product List produced by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
(c) A health facility, clinic, physician’s office, or office of a group practice that uses or deploys a clinical decision support system for patient care shall notify a licensed health care professional or other person whose duties include using a clinical decision support system or viewing outputs from a clinical decision support system, upon hire and annually, of their right to request the inventory of all clinical decision support systems currently in use or deployed for patient care.
(d) (1) A violation of this section by a licensed health facility is subject to the enforcement
mechanisms described in Sections 1280 and 1280.3.
(2) A violation of this section by a licensed clinic is subject to the enforcement mechanisms described in Section 1229.
(3) A violation of this section by a physician is subject to the jurisdiction of the Medical Board of California or the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, as appropriate.
(e) For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply:
(1) “Artificial intelligence” has the same meaning as in Section 1339.75.
(2) (A) “Automated decision system” means a computational process
derived from machine learning, statistical modeling, data analytics, or artificial intelligence that issues simplified output, including a score, classification, or recommendation, that is used to assist or replace human discretionary decisionmaking and materially impacts natural persons.
(B) “Automated decision system” does not include a spam email filter, firewall, antivirus software, identity and access management tools, calculator, database, dataset, or other compilation of data.
(3) “Clinic” has the same meaning as defined in Section 1200.
(4) “Clinical decision support system” means an automated decision system or generative artificial intelligence system whose outputs produce
that produces a prediction, classification, recommendation, evaluation, or analysis that is used to inform clinical decisionmaking with respect to the provision, timing, or course of patient care.
(5) “Generative artificial intelligence” has the same meaning as defined in Section 1339.75.
(6) “Health facility” has the same meaning as defined in Section 1250.
(7) “Office of a group practice” has the same meaning as defined in Section 1339.75.
(8) “Physician’s office” has the same meaning as defined in Section 1339.75.
(f) This section does not apply to the use of a clinical decision support system for documentation, communication, or other administrative tasks that do not involve the application of professional judgment by a licensed health care professional, including, but not limited to, automated messages to inform patients of their health records.
SEC. 3.
Article 2.7 (commencing with Section 2820) is added to Chapter 2 of Division 3 of the Labor Code, to read:Article 2.7. Health Information Technology: Worker Rights
2820.
For the purposes of this article, the following definitions shall apply:(a) “Artificial intelligence” means an engineered or machine-based system that varies in its level of autonomy and that can, for explicit or implicit objectives, infer from the input it receives how to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual environments.
(b) (1) “Automated decision system” means a computational process derived from machine learning, statistical modeling, data analytics, or artificial intelligence that issues simplified output, including a score, classification, or recommendation, that is used to
assist or replace human discretionary decisionmaking and materially impacts natural persons.
(2) “Automated decision system” does not include a spam email filter, firewall, antivirus software, identity and access management tools, calculator, database, dataset, or other compilation of data.
(c) “Clinical decision support system” means an automated decision system or generative artificial intelligence system whose outputs produce a predication, that produces a prediction, classification, recommendation, evaluation, or analysis that is used to
inform clinical decisionmaking with respect to the provision, timing, or course of patient care.
(d) “Generative artificial intelligence” has the same meaning as defined in Section 1339.75 of the Health and Safety Code.
2821.
(a) It is the public policy of the State of California that a worker providing direct patient care be free to use their professional judgment to make assessments and decisions within their scope of practice as appropriate for their patients.(b) (1) An employer shall not retaliate or discriminate against a worker providing direct patient care using their professional judgment to make an assessment or decision within their appropriate scope of practice based solely on the worker’s override of, or reliance on, the output of a clinical decision support system.
(2) This subdivision does not
affect a worker’s duty to meet the applicable standard of care, act within their scope of practice as outlined in Division 2 (commencing with Section 500) of the Business and Professions Code, or exercise independent professional judgment in providing direct patient care. do any of the following:
(A) Meet the applicable standard of care.
(B) Act within their scope of practice as outlined in Division 2 (commencing with Section 500) of the Business and Professions Code.
(C) Comply with Section
125.6 of the Business and Professions Code.
(D) Exercise independent professional judgment in providing direct patient care.
(E) Follow standard operating procedures or other policies established by the employer or by a California governmental department or agency.
(F) Comply with Section 70215 of Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations.
(G) Comply with the bylaws, rules, and regulations described in Section 70703 of Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations.
(3) (A) In enforcing this section, the Labor Commissioner shall determine whether an employer retaliated or discriminated against a worker in violation of paragraph (1). The Labor Commissioner may
consider evidence relevant to the reasons the employer took the action alleged to be retaliation or discrimination, including evidence supporting alternate reasons for the action, such as an alleged failure by the worker to satisfy a duty described in paragraph (2).
(B) This section does not require the Labor Commissioner to adjudicate or make a final determination of whether a worker met or failed to meet a duty described in paragraph (2). A determination under this section is not determinative of any legal action for professional negligence or malpractice or disciplinary action against a professional license. This section does not limit the authority of an appropriate licensing authority or a court under existing law.
(c) A worker who is subject to retaliation or discrimination in violation of this article has the right under this article
to file a complaint with the Labor Commissioner against an employer who retaliates or discriminates against the worker.
(d) The Labor Commissioner shall enforce this article, including investigating an alleged violation, ordering appropriate temporary relief to mitigate a violation or maintain the status quo pending the completion of a full investigation or hearing through the procedures set forth in Section 98, 98.3, 98.7, 98.74, or 1197.1, issuing a citation against an employer who violates this article, and filing a civil action. If a citation is issued, the procedures for issuing, contesting, and enforcing a judgment for a citation and civil penalty issued by the Labor Commissioner shall be the same as those set out in Section 98.74 or Section 1197.1, as applicable.