Health care professions: deceptive terms or letters: artificial intelligence.
Existing law establishes various healing arts boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs that license and regulate various healing arts licensees. Existing laws, including, among others, the Medical Practice Act and the Dental Practice Act, make it a crime for a person who is not licensed as a specified health care professional to use certain words, letters, and phrases or any other terms that imply that they are authorized to practice that profession.
California AB 489 (20252026) — Health care professions: deceptive terms or letters: artificial intelligence.
Existing law establishes various healing arts boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs that license and regulate various healing arts licensees. Existing laws, including, among others, the Medical Practice Act and the Dental Practice Act, make it a crime for a person who is not licensed as a specified health care professional to use certain words, letters, and phrases or any other terms that imply that they are authorized to practice that profession.
Version chain
The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Privacy and Consumer Protection] — 17–0 (pass) · lower
Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — 13–0 (pass) · upper
Placed on suspense file — 7–0 (pass) · upper
Do pass. — 14–0 (pass) · lower
Special Consent AB489 Bonta et al. By Weber Pierson — 39–0 (pass) · upper
Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] — 10–0 (pass) · upper
Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — 14–0 (pass) · lower
AB 489 Bonta Concurrence in Senate Amendments — 79–0 (pass) · lower
AB 489 Bonta Assembly Third Reading — 79–0 (pass) · lower
Do pass — 7–0 (pass) · upper
Sponsors
Bonta — primary (person)
Addis — coauthor (person)
Ashby — coauthor (person)
Bains — coauthor (person)
Berman — coauthor (person)
Lowenthal — coauthor (person)
Pellerin — coauthor (person)
Weber Pierson — coauthor (person)
Wilson — coauthor (person)
Timeline
The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
2025-02-10 Read first time. To print. reading-1
2025-02-11 From printer. May be heard in committee March 13.
2025-03-17 Referred to Coms. on B. & P. and P. & C.P. referral-committee
2025-04-01 Coauthors revised.
2025-04-01 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on P. & C.P. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (April 1). Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P. committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee
2025-04-10 From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on P. & C.P. Read second time and amended. amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2
2025-04-21 Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P. referral-committee
2025-04-23 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (April 22). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee
2025-05-07 In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. referral-committee
2025-05-23 From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (May 23). committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
2025-05-27 Read second time. Ordered to third reading. reading-1, reading-2
2025-06-02 Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 1832.) passage, reading-1, reading-3
2025-06-03 In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. reading-1
2025-06-11 Referred to Coms. on B. P. & E.D. and JUD. referral-committee
2025-06-16 From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on B. P. & E.D. amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee
2025-06-23 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (June 23). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee
2025-07-08 From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on JUD. amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee
2025-07-16 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (July 15). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee
2025-08-18 In committee: Referred to suspense file. referral-committee
2025-08-29 From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 29). committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
2025-08-29 Read second time. Ordered to third reading. reading-1, reading-2
2025-09-02 Ordered to special consent calendar.
2025-09-04 Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2521.). passage, reading-1, reading-3
2025-09-04 In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
2025-09-08 Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 3026.). amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable
2025-09-15 Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
2025-10-11 Approved by the Governor. executive-signature
2025-10-11 Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 615, Statutes of 2025. became-law
Source
OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/88e9e41e-05ed-45e3-8045-898436112c0e. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).