Bill Text: CA AB2602 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Assembly Bill 2602

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Contracts against public policy: personal or professional services: digital replicas.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)

Status: (Passed) 2024-09-17 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 259, Statutes of 2024. [AB2602 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB2602-Introduced.html

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 2602

Introduced by Assembly Members Kalra, Bryan, and Friedman
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Haney)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members McKinnor and Schiavo)

February 14, 2024

An act to add Section 927 to the Labor Code, relating to employment.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2602, as introduced, Kalra. Contracts against public policy: personal or professional services: digital replicas.

Existing law prohibits an employer from requiring an employee or applicant for employment to agree, in writing, to any term or condition that is known by the employer to be illegal. Existing law provides that certain contractual agreements between an employer and employee are against public policy, including specified provisions affecting an employee’s membership in a labor organization and the protection of state law in employment. Under existing law, enforcement of state labor laws is generally committed to the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement within the Department of Industrial Relations, under the direction of the Labor Commissioner.

This bill would provide that a provision in an agreement between an individual and any other person for the performance of personal or professional services is contrary to public policy and deemed unconscionable if the provision meets specified conditions relating to the use of a digital replica of the voice or likeness of an individual in lieu of the work of the individual or to train a generative artificial intelligence system. The bill would provide that it shall apply retroactively. The bill would require any person who is currently under, or has entered into, an agreement with an individual performing personal or professional services containing such a provision, by February 1, 2025, to notify that individual in writing that the provision is unenforceable.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 927 is added to the Labor Code, to read:

927.

(a) A provision in an agreement between an individual and any other person for the performance of personal or professional services is contrary to public policy and is deemed unconscionable and subject to Section 1670.5 of the Civil Code if the provision meets all of the following conditions:

(1) The provision allows for the creation and use of a digital replica of the individual’s voice or likeness in place of work the individual would otherwise have performed in person or allows for the use of the individual’s voice and likeness to train a generative artificial intelligence system.

(2) The provision does not clearly define and detail all of the proposed uses of the digital replica or the generative artificial intelligence system.

(3) The individual was not represented in either of the following manners:

(A) Represented by legal counsel who negotiated on behalf of the individual licensing their digital replica rights and the licensing terms exist in a standalone written agreement.

(B) Represented by a labor union representing workers who do the proposed work and the terms of their collective bargaining agreement expressly covers uses of digital replicas and generative artificial intelligence systems.

(b) This section shall apply retroactively.

(c) Any person who is currently under, or has entered into, an agreement with an individual performing personal or professional services containing a provision as described in subdivision (a), by February 1, 2025, shall notify that individual in writing that the provision is unenforceable.