WHAT THIS BILL REGULATES · 1 REQUIREMENT TYPE
How Is This Bill Enforced
Verbatim statutory text on the left; plain-language analysis and a per-section checklist on the right. Numbered markers cross-link to the matching checklist row.
(a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply: (1) "Artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence"Artificial intelligence" means an engineered or machine-based system that varies in its level of autonomy and that can, for explicit or implicit objectives, infer from the input it receives how to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual environments.Civ. Code § 1714.48(a)(1)" means an engineered or machine-based system that varies in its level of autonomy and that can, for explicit or implicit objectives, infer from the input it receives how to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual environments. (2) "Clinical decision support systemClinical decision support system"Clinical decision support system" means a computerized system or tool that does both of the following: (A) Supports decisionmaking related to patient care based on algorithms, or models, based in clinical practice guidelines or that derive relationships from training data, including algorithms or models that are developed using unsupervised learning models. (B) Produces an output that results in a prediction, classification, recommendation, evaluation, or analysis.Civ. Code § 1714.48(a)(2)" means a computerized system or tool that does both of the following: (A) Supports decisionmaking related to patient care based on algorithms, or models, based in clinical practice guidelines or that derive relationships from training data, including algorithms or models that are developed using unsupervised learning models. (B) Produces an output that results in a prediction, classification, recommendation, evaluation, or analysis.
(b) 1 In an action against a defendant who developed, modified, selected, or deployed artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence"Artificial intelligence" means an engineered or machine-based system that varies in its level of autonomy and that can, for explicit or implicit objectives, infer from the input it receives how to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual environments.Civ. Code § 1714.48(a)(1) or a clinical decision support systemClinical decision support system"Clinical decision support system" means a computerized system or tool that does both of the following: (A) Supports decisionmaking related to patient care based on algorithms, or models, based in clinical practice guidelines or that derive relationships from training data, including algorithms or models that are developed using unsupervised learning models. (B) Produces an output that results in a prediction, classification, recommendation, evaluation, or analysis.Civ. Code § 1714.48(a)(2) that is alleged to have caused harm to the plaintiff, it shall not be a defense, and the defendant may not assert, that the failure of a licensed health care professional or other health care worker to override an output of the artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence"Artificial intelligence" means an engineered or machine-based system that varies in its level of autonomy and that can, for explicit or implicit objectives, infer from the input it receives how to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual environments.Civ. Code § 1714.48(a)(1) or clinical decision support systemClinical decision support system"Clinical decision support system" means a computerized system or tool that does both of the following: (A) Supports decisionmaking related to patient care based on algorithms, or models, based in clinical practice guidelines or that derive relationships from training data, including algorithms or models that are developed using unsupervised learning models. (B) Produces an output that results in a prediction, classification, recommendation, evaluation, or analysis.Civ. Code § 1714.48(a)(2) is a superseding cause severing the defendant's liability for the alleged harm.
(c) This section does not limit or preclude a defendant from presenting either of the following: (1) Any other affirmative defense, including evidence relevant to causation or foreseeability. (2) Other evidence relevant to the comparative fault of any other person or entity.
Section 1714.48 addresses tort liability allocation when AI or clinical decision support systems are used in healthcare. It prevents defendants who developed, modified, selected, or deployed such systems from asserting that a healthcare worker's failure to override the AI output constitutes a superseding cause that severs the defendant's liability. This ensures that developers and deployers of healthcare AI cannot shift liability onto the frontline worker who relied on the system's output.
The provision preserves all other affirmative defenses and comparative-fault arguments — it narrows only the specific superseding-cause defense tied to worker non-override. This provision works in tandem with the Labor Code protections in Section 3, which protect workers from retaliation for overriding or complying with AI outputs.
(a) 2 A health facilityHealth facility"Health facility" has the same meaning as defined in Section 1250.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(5), clinicClinic"Clinic" has the same meaning as defined in Section 1200.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(2), physician's officePhysician's office"Physician's office" has the same meaning as defined in Section 1339.75.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(8), or office of a group practiceOffice of a group practice"Office of a group practice" has the same meaning as defined in Section 1339.75.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(6) that uses or deploys a covered toolCovered tool"Covered tool" means artificial intelligence or a clinical decision support system.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(4) for patient care shall disclose required information, described in subdivision (b), to any licensed health care professional or other person using a covered toolCovered tool"Covered tool" means artificial intelligence or a clinical decision support system.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(4) or viewing outputs from a covered toolCovered tool"Covered tool" means artificial intelligence or a clinical decision support system.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(4).
(b)(1)–(10) 2 Required information under subdivision (a) shall include all of the following: (1) Details on the covered toolCovered tool"Covered tool" means artificial intelligence or a clinical decision support system.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(4), including developer, funding source, any foundation model used, and description of output. (2) Intended use of the covered toolCovered tool"Covered tool" means artificial intelligence or a clinical decision support system.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(4), including intended patient population, intended users, and intended decisionmaking role. (3) Cautioned out-of-scope use of the covered toolCovered tool"Covered tool" means artificial intelligence or a clinical decision support system.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(4), including known risks and limitations. (4) List of the inputs into the covered toolCovered tool"Covered tool" means artificial intelligence or a clinical decision support system.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(4). (5) Description of how the covered toolCovered tool"Covered tool" means artificial intelligence or a clinical decision support system.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(4) generates outputs. (6) Development details of the covered toolCovered tool"Covered tool" means artificial intelligence or a clinical decision support system.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(4), including, but not limited to, all of the following: (A) Description of the training set or clinical research underlying recommendations, including demographic representativeness and known biases based on protected characteristics. (B) Description of the relevance of training data to deployed setting. (C) Process used to ensure fairness in development of the intervention. (7) Description of the validation process. (8) Qualitative measures of performance. (9) Description of ongoing maintenance of intervention implementation and use. (10) Description of updates and continued validation or fairness assessment process.
(b)(11) 3 Notice that health care entities and developers are liable for harm that results from the use of artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence"Artificial intelligence" means an engineered or machine-based system that varies in its level of autonomy and that can, for explicit or implicit objectives, infer from the input it receives how to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual environments.Civ. Code § 1714.48(a)(1) in patient care.
(b)(12) 4 Notice that a worker providing direct patient care is permitted to override the output of a covered toolCovered tool"Covered tool" means artificial intelligence or a clinical decision support system.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(4) if, in the judgment of the worker acting in their scope of practice, such an override is appropriate for the patient, or as necessary to comply with applicable law, including civil rights law.
(c)(1)–(3) 2 A disclosure made pursuant to this section shall be provided at the time the licensed health care professional or other person uses the covered toolCovered tool"Covered tool" means artificial intelligence or a clinical decision support system.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(4) or views any recommendation or output generated by the covered toolCovered tool"Covered tool" means artificial intelligence or a clinical decision support system.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(4). (2) The disclosure shall be provided in plain language to, and linked in the health record of, any patient whose care was affected by the output of the covered toolCovered tool"Covered tool" means artificial intelligence or a clinical decision support system.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(4) or whose health information was used as an input to the covered toolCovered tool"Covered tool" means artificial intelligence or a clinical decision support system.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(4). (3) The disclosure shall be provided with ample time for the licensed health care professional or other person to review and make reasoned decisions based on their professional judgment on whether and how to use the covered toolCovered tool"Covered tool" means artificial intelligence or a clinical decision support system.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(4).
(d) A violation of this section by a licensed health facilityHealth facility"Health facility" has the same meaning as defined in Section 1250.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(5) is subject to the enforcement mechanisms described in Article 4 (commencing with Section 1290) of Chapter 2. (2) A violation of this section by a licensed clinicClinic"Clinic" has the same meaning as defined in Section 1200.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(2) is subject to the enforcement mechanisms described in Article 4 (commencing with Section 1235) of Chapter 1. (3) A violation of this section by a physician is subject to the jurisdiction of the Medical Board of California or the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, as appropriate. (4) A violation of this section constitutes "unfair competition" as defined in Section 17200 of the Business and Professions Code and is punishable as prescribed in Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 17200) of Part 2 of Division 7 of the Business and Professions Code.
(e) For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply: (1) "Artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence"Artificial intelligence" means an engineered or machine-based system that varies in its level of autonomy and that can, for explicit or implicit objectives, infer from the input it receives how to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual environments.Civ. Code § 1714.48(a)(1)" means an engineered or machine-based system that varies in its level of autonomy and that can, for explicit or implicit objectives, infer from the input it receives how to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual environments. (2) "ClinicClinic"Clinic" has the same meaning as defined in Section 1200.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(2)" has the same meaning as defined in Section 1200. (3) "Clinical decision support systemClinical decision support system"Clinical decision support system" means a computerized system or tool that does both of the following: (A) Supports decisionmaking related to patient care based on algorithms, or models, based in clinical practice guidelines or that derive relationships from training data, including algorithms or models that are developed using unsupervised learning models. (B) Produces an output that results in a prediction, classification, recommendation, evaluation, or analysis.Civ. Code § 1714.48(a)(2)" means a computerized system or tool that does both of the following: (A) Supports decisionmaking related to patient care based on algorithms, or models, based in clinical practice guidelines or that derive relationships from training data, including such algorithms or models that are developed using unsupervised learning models. (B) Produces an output that results in a prediction, classification, recommendation, evaluation, or analysis. (4) "Covered toolCovered tool"Covered tool" means artificial intelligence or a clinical decision support system.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(4)" means artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence"Artificial intelligence" means an engineered or machine-based system that varies in its level of autonomy and that can, for explicit or implicit objectives, infer from the input it receives how to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual environments.Civ. Code § 1714.48(a)(1) or a clinical decision support systemClinical decision support system"Clinical decision support system" means a computerized system or tool that does both of the following: (A) Supports decisionmaking related to patient care based on algorithms, or models, based in clinical practice guidelines or that derive relationships from training data, including algorithms or models that are developed using unsupervised learning models. (B) Produces an output that results in a prediction, classification, recommendation, evaluation, or analysis.Civ. Code § 1714.48(a)(2). (5) "Health facilityHealth facility"Health facility" has the same meaning as defined in Section 1250.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(5)" has the same meaning as defined in Section 1250. (6) "Office of a group practiceOffice of a group practice"Office of a group practice" has the same meaning as defined in Section 1339.75.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(6)" has the same meaning as defined in Section 1339.75. (7) "Patient clinical information" has the same meaning as defined in Section 1339.75. (8) "Physician's officePhysician's office"Physician's office" has the same meaning as defined in Section 1339.75.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(8)" has the same meaning as defined in Section 1339.75.
Section 1339.76 imposes detailed disclosure requirements on health facilities, clinics, physician's offices, and offices of group practices that use or deploy a covered tool (AI or clinical decision support system) for patient care. The disclosures must be made to licensed healthcare professionals and other persons who use the tool or view its outputs.
The required disclosures are extensive: developer identity, funding source, foundation model used, intended use and patient population, known risks and out-of-scope uses, input descriptions, output generation methodology, training data demographics and bias information, validation processes, performance measures, ongoing maintenance practices, and two critical notices — one about entity liability for AI-caused harm and one about workers' right to override AI outputs. Disclosures must be provided at the time of use, in plain language, linked in the patient health record, and with sufficient time for the professional to exercise reasoned judgment.
Enforcement runs through existing health facility and clinic licensing mechanisms, Medical Board jurisdiction for physicians, and the UCL (Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200) for all violators.
§ 2820 2820. For the purposes of this article, the following definitions shall apply: (a) "Artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence"Artificial intelligence" means an engineered or machine-based system that varies in its level of autonomy and that can, for explicit or implicit objectives, infer from the input it receives how to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual environments.Civ. Code § 1714.48(a)(1)" means an engineered or machine-based system that varies in its level of autonomy and that can, for explicit or implicit objectives, infer from the input it receives how to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual environments. (b) "Clinical decision support systemClinical decision support system"Clinical decision support system" means a computerized system or tool that does both of the following: (A) Supports decisionmaking related to patient care based on algorithms, or models, based in clinical practice guidelines or that derive relationships from training data, including algorithms or models that are developed using unsupervised learning models. (B) Produces an output that results in a prediction, classification, recommendation, evaluation, or analysis.Civ. Code § 1714.48(a)(2)" means a computerized system or tool that does both of the following: (A) Supports decisionmaking related to patient care based on algorithms, or models, based in clinical practice guidelines or that derive relationships from training data, including such algorithms or models that are developed using unsupervised learning models. (B) Produces an output that results in a prediction, classification, recommendation, evaluation, or analysis. (c) "TechnologyTechnology"Technology" means scientific hardware or software, including artificial intelligence and clinical decision support systems, used to achieve a medical or nursing care objective at a health facility.Lab. Code § 2820(c)" means scientific hardware or software, including artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence"Artificial intelligence" means an engineered or machine-based system that varies in its level of autonomy and that can, for explicit or implicit objectives, infer from the input it receives how to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual environments.Civ. Code § 1714.48(a)(1) and clinical decision support systemsClinical decision support system"Clinical decision support system" means a computerized system or tool that does both of the following: (A) Supports decisionmaking related to patient care based on algorithms, or models, based in clinical practice guidelines or that derive relationships from training data, including algorithms or models that are developed using unsupervised learning models. (B) Produces an output that results in a prediction, classification, recommendation, evaluation, or analysis.Civ. Code § 1714.48(a)(2), used to achieve a medical or nursing care objective at a health facilityHealth facility"Health facility" has the same meaning as defined in Section 1250.Health & Safety Code § 1339.76(e)(5).
§ 2821(a)–(b) 2821. (a) It is the public policy of the State of California that a worker providing direct patient care be free to use their professional judgment to make assessments and decisions within their scope of practice as appropriate for their patients. (b) It is the public policy of the State of California that a worker providing direct patient care should not be penalized for relying in good faith on technologyTechnology"Technology" means scientific hardware or software, including artificial intelligence and clinical decision support systems, used to achieve a medical or nursing care objective at a health facility.Lab. Code § 2820(c) that the licensed health care professional's employer has selected or approved for their use in patient care.
§ 2821(c) 5 An employer shall not use or deploy technologyTechnology"Technology" means scientific hardware or software, including artificial intelligence and clinical decision support systems, used to achieve a medical or nursing care objective at a health facility.Lab. Code § 2820(c) to replace or limit a worker's use of professional judgment in patient care.
§ 2821(d) 6 An employer shall not retaliate or discriminate against a worker providing direct patient care based on both of the following: (1) The worker's override of, or request to override, the output of technologyTechnology"Technology" means scientific hardware or software, including artificial intelligence and clinical decision support systems, used to achieve a medical or nursing care objective at a health facility.Lab. Code § 2820(c) if, in the judgment of the worker acting in their scope of practice, such an override is appropriate for the patient, or as necessary to comply with applicable law, including civil rights law. (2) The worker's compliance with the output of technologyTechnology"Technology" means scientific hardware or software, including artificial intelligence and clinical decision support systems, used to achieve a medical or nursing care objective at a health facility.Lab. Code § 2820(c) if the technologyTechnology"Technology" means scientific hardware or software, including artificial intelligence and clinical decision support systems, used to achieve a medical or nursing care objective at a health facility.Lab. Code § 2820(c) was provided or approved by the worker's employer for patient care.
§ 2821(e) A worker who is subject to retaliation or discrimination in violation of this article has the right under this article to file a complaint with the Labor Commissioner against an employer who retaliates or discriminates against the worker.
This article establishes worker protections for healthcare professionals interacting with AI and clinical decision support systems in patient care. It declares as state policy that workers providing direct patient care must be free to exercise professional judgment within their scope of practice, and that workers should not be penalized for good-faith reliance on employer-selected technology.
The operative provisions create two prohibitions on employers: (1) employers may not use or deploy technology to replace or limit a worker's use of professional judgment in patient care, and (2) employers may not retaliate or discriminate against workers who override AI outputs within their scope of practice or who comply with employer-approved technology. Workers subject to retaliation may file a complaint with the Labor Commissioner.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.
This is a standard California mandated-cost disclaimer providing that no state reimbursement to local agencies is required because the only costs arise from the creation, elimination, or modification of crimes or infractions.