AB 1609 changes covered customer service chatbot requirements
Oct 11, 2026 edition · GC-2026-0228 · Published 2026-10-11 · Version 3 · Final
AB 1609 regulates covered large businesses' customer-service chatbot disclosures and human-agent access. Its revenue, customer, and service definitions and explicit health care hospital-communication exemption are material; the response standards require good-faith efforts rather than an unconditional 15-minute connection guarantee.
What happened
California enacted AB 1609 on September 28 as Chapter 733. It covers private businesses with more than $500 million in national gross annual revenue serving California customers under its account-address definition. A covered chatbot must not be represented as human and needs a clear disclosure in the interaction medium when a reasonable person is likely to be misled. During defined regular business hours, available service platforms must offer a simple way to request a human agent. Good-faith efforts must provide connection within 15 minutes or a specific appointment within one business day, with a separate qualifying pharmacy callback route.
The act also sets good-faith initial and cumulative hold limits and specified telephone-number posting, while excepting email, contact-form, and voicemail requests from the 15-minute response rule and preserving existing channel choices. Hospital communications directly related to health care delivery, administration, coordination, or payment are expressly exempt, as are exclusive business lines, identified compliant utility services, and consumer reporting agencies. The service definition excludes the specified free-option offerings, and uncontrollable unforeseen or extraordinary emergencies excuse inability to comply. Public prosecutors enforce the chapter, with maximum $5,000 initial and $10,000 subsequent civil penalties; it creates no private action.
Scope and timing
- Authority status
- Final
- Applicability
- Potentially applicable
- Audience
- Health systems, Provider networks, Health-tech
- Jurisdiction
- California
- Recorded date
- 2027-01-01
- Date type
- effective
Why it matters
Patient-facing and health-tech support systems require a use-case scope review.
Recommended action
Assess business thresholds, service channels and exceptions; revise disclosures and human support routing for covered uses.
Sources
- AB1609 enacted final textOfficial · California Legislature · 2026-09-28 · Source review 2026-10-11
- California Constitution, Article IV section 8(c), official Assembly 2023–24 editionOfficial · California State Assembly · Source review 2026-10-14
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