California lawmakers passed a bill requiring 45 days' notice before an employer deploys generative AI into a union job

AB 2656, introduced by Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, requires public employers to give written notice to recognized employee organizations at least 45 days before deploying generative AI to perform work within job classifications those unions represent. The bill passed the Assembly 72-2 on May 26, cleared the Senate 39-0 on August 24, and got Assembly concurrence in the Senate's amendments 74-2 on August 25 -- all confirmed directly from the Legislature's own bill-history record. It was enrolled on August 27 and, as of this writing, has not yet been signed or vetoed by Governor Newsom.

What the notice requirement actually covers

The obligation applies specifically to public-sector employers and specifically to generative AI deployed into work currently performed by a represented job classification -- not a blanket AI-disclosure rule, and not one that reaches private employers. It doesn't require bargaining or a right to block the deployment, only a 45-day notice window before it happens, using the same generative-AI definitions already codified elsewhere in California's Government Code.

A different kind of AI compliance clock

Every AI-transparency law this site has covered so far -- California's own SB 942, the EU AI Act's labeling rules -- is aimed at the end user of generated content. AB 2656 is aimed at the workforce whose job is changing, which is a different constituency and a different kind of notice. For a public agency planning to roll out an agent into a role a union represents, that 45-day window is a real, calendarable cost: not a line item on an invoice, but exactly the kind of compliance overhead a spend/value framework for AI deployment has to account for alongside the API bill.