Newsom Signs 'No Robo Bosses Act,' Making California the First State to Bar AI-Only Firings

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the No Robo Bosses Act, officially SB 947, on Wednesday, September 30. The law makes California the first state to bar employers from relying solely on artificial intelligence to fire or discipline an employee, according to CNBC.

The bill requires that if a company relies "primarily" on an automated decision-making system to terminate or discipline a worker, a human reviewer has to confirm that call using additional evidence: managerial evaluations, peer reviews, personnel files. Workers affected also get written notice that AI drove the decision, a description of what data the system used, and a human contact who can explain it.

This is the second run at the bill. Newsom vetoed a near-identical version in October 2025, writing at the time that it "proposes overly broad restrictions" on automated decision tools, according to AI Weekly. State Sen. Jerry McNerney, the Stockton Democrat who authored it, reintroduced a trimmed-down draft in February 2026 that dropped an advance-notice requirement and stripped out protections for gig workers. That change blunted opposition from Uber and Lyft, according to TechStrong AI. The law is reported to become operative July 1, 2027.

Two more bills, same day

Newsom didn't stop at firings. He also signed laws banning employers from using AI to predict a worker's emotional state through biometric data, and requiring written notice to workers when AI is responsible for mass layoffs, according to the Associated Press, carried by ABC News, and The Guardian.

He paired the signings with an executive order telling state agencies to keep calling the technology "artificial intelligence" rather than "super intelligence," a term Trump recently directed U.S. diplomats to use, per the AP report.

Who backed it, who didn't

Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO and lead sponsor of the push, called the signing proof that "when working people organize, we get results," in a statement reported by CNBC. McNerney told CNBC the goal is making sure "AI must remain a tool controlled by humans, not the other way around."

The bill drew an unusual cross-ideological nod. Republican gubernatorial nominee Steve Hilton praised it, arguing human accountability in management matters, according to TechStrong AI.

Business groups weren't on board. The Chamber of Progress argued the bill never clearly defines what counts as "primarily relying" on AI, warning that vague language could scare companies off tools that genuinely help, per TechStrong AI. That's a fair concern on its face. A standard that hinges on how much weight a human reviewer gave an algorithm's output is going to be hard to audit and harder to litigate, since there's no bright line in the statute for what counts as primary reliance versus a human simply checking a box. Whether California regulators or courts build a workable test before the law takes effect in mid-2027 is an open question.

The numbers behind the push

The public mood helps explain why this moved now. A July Gallup poll found 39% of Americans believe AI does more harm than good, up from 31% in 2025, according to TechStrong AI. Pew Research found 71% of Americans expect AI to cost people their jobs, per the same report. The OECD found 90% of U.S. managers say their firms have adopted at least one tool to instruct, monitor, or evaluate workers, more than anywhere else in the world, according to CNBC.

Those numbers sit next to an active lawsuit against Meta Platforms alleging its layoff algorithms targeted employees on medical or family leave. Meta denies the allegation and it remains unproven in court, per TechStrong AI.

The Trump fight keeps going

Newsom used the signing event to hammer Trump again for not passing federal AI rules, telling reporters "we have to do a lot more in the absence of federal leadership" and leaving open the possibility of a special legislative session, according to the AP. Trump said Tuesday, September 29, that top tech leaders had signed a voluntary accord to "self-police" AI development, a claim Newsom dismissed as insufficient.

The signing fell on Newsom's final day to act on bills before he terms out in January, and reporters pressed him on 2028 presidential ambitions. He hedged, telling the AP "that moment will arrive when it arrives."

The immediate open question is enforcement. SB 947 doesn't take effect until July 1, 2027, giving California's Labor Commissioner and the courts nearly a year to work out what "primarily relying" on AI actually means in practice, and giving employers that same window to restructure how automated tools factor into termination decisions before the law has teeth.