Bill Text: CA SB303 | 2025-2026 | Regular Session | Amended

California Senate Bill 303

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

Bill Title: Employment: bias mitigation training: unlawful discrimination.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Passed) 2025-10-01 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 216, Statutes of 2025. [SB303 Detail]

Download: California-2025-SB303-Amended.html

Amended IN Assembly July 02, 2025

Amended IN Senate May 01, 2025

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 303

Introduced by Senator Smallwood-Cuevas

February 10, 2025

An act to add Section ~~1163 to the Evidence~~ 12940.2 to the Government Code, relating to ~~evidence.~~ discrimination.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 303, as amended, Smallwood-Cuevas. ~~Evidence: exclusions.~~ Employment: bias mitigation training: unlawful discrimination.

Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, prohibits various forms of employment and housing discrimination, including various types of discrimination because of national origin. Existing law empowers the Civil Rights Department to investigate and prosecute complaints alleging unlawful practices.
This bill would provide that an employee’s assessment, testing, admission, or acknowledgment of their own personal bias that was made in good faith and solicited or required as part of a bias mitigation training does not constitute unlawful discrimination, as prescribed.
~~Existing law makes certain evidence inadmissible in civil, criminal, and administrative proceedings.~~
This bill would, in a civil action or a civil or administrative proceeding under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act brought against a public employee or employer, prohibit a plaintiff or complainant from introducing evidence of a public employee’s assessment, testing, admission, or acknowledgment of personal bias that was required or solicited as part of a bias mitigation training, as specified. The bill would not prohibit a plaintiff, complainant, or public employer from introducing, in an action under a civil anti-discrimination law, evidence of a public employee’s admission, acknowledgment, or commission of an act or conduct of harassment, discrimination, or retaliation that occurs during a bias mitigation training which is not evidence of a public employee’s assessment, testing, admission, or acknowledgment of personal bias.

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

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

SECTION 1.

Section 12940.2 is added to the Government Code, to read:

12940.2.
(a) Notwithstanding any other law, an employee’s assessment, testing, admission, or acknowledgment of their own personal bias that was made in good faith and solicited or required as part of a bias mitigation training does not, by itself, constitute unlawful discrimination.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to do both of the following:
(1) Encourage employers to conduct bias mitigation trainings.
(2) Affirm that conducting a bias mitigation training does not, by itself, constitute unlawful discrimination.
(c) (1) For purposes of this section, “bias mitigation training” means bias mitigation or bias elimination training, education, and activities provided by an employer for the purpose of educating employees on understanding, recognizing, or acknowledging the influence of conscious and unconscious thought processes and their associated impacts. Bias mitigation training shall include implementing specific strategies to mitigate the impact of employees’ personal biases.
(2) For purposes of paragraph (1), “specific strategies” includes, but is not limited to, assessing or testing for personal bias, analyzing bias assessments or tests, conducting bias training, conducting workshops, using toolkits, and tracking bias mitigation and elimination.

SECTION 1.Section 1163 is added to the Evidence Code, to read:
1163.
(a)In any civil action or civil or administrative proceeding against a public employer or public employee alleging discrimination, harassment, or retaliation under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (Part 2.8 (commencing with Section 12900) of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), any evidence of a public employee’s assessment, testing, or admission or acknowledgment of personal bias that was solicited or required as part of a bias mitigation training is not admissible by the plaintiff or complainant to prove that the public employer or public employee engaged in any discriminatory, harassing, or retaliatory act or conduct against the plaintiff or complainant.
~~(b)For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:~~
(1)“Bias mitigation training” means bias mitigation or bias elimination training, education, and activities provided by a public employer for the purpose of educating public employees on understanding, recognizing, or acknowledging the influence of conscious and unconscious thought processes and their associated impacts. Bias mitigation training includes implementing specific strategies to mitigate the impact of employees’ personal biases. Specific strategies can include assessing or testing for personal bias, analyzing bias assessments or tests, conducting bias training, conducting workshops, using toolkits, and tracking bias mitigation and elimination.
(2)“Personal bias” means a person’s thought process, attitude, or belief in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way that is considered to be partial.
(c)This section does not prevent a plaintiff, complainant, or public employer from introducing evidence of a public employee’s admission, acknowledgment, or commission of an act or conduct of harassment, discrimination, or retaliation under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (Part 2.8 (commencing with Section 12900) of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code) or any other civil anti-discrimination law, that occurs during a bias mitigation training and is not evidence of a public employee’s assessment, testing, admission, or acknowledgment of personal bias.