California may soon regulate the use of high-risk automated decision systems (ADS) by California employers. The state’s legislature recently sent SB-7 to Governor Gavin Newsom.

What do you need to know?

It’s similar to the CCPA ADMT in that it:

• Requires employers to provide a pre-use notice (disclosure) to the employee.
• Also requires a disclosure regarding the ADS (BUT it has additional requirements, like listing key parameters known to disproportionately affect the output of the ADS; and the individuals, vendors or entities that created the ADS.
• Authorizes employees to get a copy of the most recent 12 months of the worker’s own data primarily used by an ADS to make a discipline, termination or deactivation decision.

It is different from CCPA in that it:

• Applies to ANY California employer that is subject to the Labor Code.
• If signed, will take effect much earlier than the CCPA ADMT regs (as early as 2026).
• Specifically requires an employer to maintain a list of all ADS currently in use.
• You cannot use the ADS for any purpose which is not disclosed in the notice (no carve out for “compatible purpose”).
• Outright requirement for human review of the ADS output (no exceptions).
• Requires a post-use notice if ADS is relied on to make a discipline, termination or deactivation decision (similar to FCRA Adverse notice decision).