Fabio
110 lines
9.0 KiB
Markdown
110 lines
9.0 KiB
Markdown
---
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type: "Bill"
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title: "Deepfake pornography."
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description: "Existing law grants to a depicted individual a cause of action against a person who creates and intentionally discloses sexually explicit material if the person knows, or reasonably should have known, that the depicted individual in that material did not consent to its creation or disclosure or who intentionally discloses sexually explicit material that the person did not create if the person knows the depicted individual in that material did not consent to the creation of the sexually explicit material. Existing law defines \"sexually explicit material\" for purposes of that provision to mean any portion of an audiovisual work that shows the depicted individual performing in the nude or appearing to engage in, or being subjected to, sexual conduct and defines \"depicted individual\" to mean an individual who appears, as a result of digitization, to be giving a performance the individual did not actually perform or to be performing in an altered depiction. Existing law authorizes a plaintiff to recover, among other relief, statutory damages of not less than $1,500 but not more than $30,000, or $150,000 for a malicious violation, as prescribed."
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jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
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legislature: "California Legislature"
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session: "20252026"
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identifier: "AB 621"
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citation: "California AB 621 (20252026)"
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classification: ["bill"]
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subjects: ["Deepfakepornography"]
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status: "enacted"
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primary_sponsors: ["Bauer-Kahan"]
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version_count: 8
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action_count: 29
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vote_count: 9
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first_action: "2025-02-13"
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last_action: "2025-10-13"
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source: "openstates"
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source_identifier: "ocd-bill/579ab9df-425c-460b-a4f8-73358fff36fe"
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source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB621"
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source_hash: "6846eafb90ce72ac81fabfe74f72818481a6c03c4757dac0854308c27060dd25"
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vintage: "2026-07-01"
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source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
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retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
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confidence: "reported"
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tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
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---
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# California AB 621 (20252026) — Deepfake pornography.
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Existing law grants to a depicted individual a cause of action against a person who creates and intentionally discloses sexually explicit material if the person knows, or reasonably should have known, that the depicted individual in that material did not consent to its creation or disclosure or who intentionally discloses sexually explicit material that the person did not create if the person knows the depicted individual in that material did not consent to the creation of the sexually explicit material. Existing law defines "sexually explicit material" for purposes of that provision to mean any portion of an audiovisual work that shows the depicted individual performing in the nude or appearing to engage in, or being subjected to, sexual conduct and defines "depicted individual" to mean an individual who appears, as a result of digitization, to be giving a performance the individual did not actually perform or to be performing in an altered depiction. Existing law authorizes a plaintiff to recover, among other relief, statutory damages of not less than $1,500 but not more than $30,000, or $150,000 for a malicious violation, as prescribed.
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## Version chain
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The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
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1. **02/13/25 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB621&version=20250AB62199INT)
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2. **03/24/25 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB621&version=20250AB62198AMD)
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3. **04/09/25 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB621&version=20250AB62197AMD)
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4. **07/03/25 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB621&version=20250AB62196AMD)
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5. **09/05/25 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB621&version=20250AB62195AMD)
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6. **10/13/25 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB621&version=20250AB62193CHP)
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7. **AB621** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB621)
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8. **09/12/25 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB621&version=20250AB62194ENR)
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## Votes
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- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **13–0** (pass) · upper
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- 3rd Reading AB621 Bauer-Kahan et al. By Ashby — **40–0** (pass) · upper
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- AB 621 Bauer-Kahan Assembly Third Reading — **78–0** (pass) · lower
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- AB 621 Bauer-Kahan Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **79–0** (pass) · lower
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- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **15–0** (pass) · lower
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- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
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- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
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- Do pass. — **14–0** (pass) · lower
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- Do pass as amended, and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **12–0** (pass) · lower
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## Sponsors
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- Bauer-Kahan — primary (person)
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- Alanis — coauthor (person)
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- Berman — author (person)
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- Bryan — coauthor (person)
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- Dixon — coauthor (person)
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- Irwin — coauthor (person)
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- Lowenthal — coauthor (person)
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- Ortega — coauthor (person)
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- Pellerin — coauthor (person)
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- Wicks — coauthor (person)
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## Timeline
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The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
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- **2025-02-13** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
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- **2025-02-14** From printer. May be heard in committee March 16.
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- **2025-03-03** Referred to Coms. on JUD. and P. & C.P. `referral-committee`
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- **2025-03-06** Re-referred to Coms. on P. & C.P. and JUD. pursuant to Assembly Rule 96. `referral-committee`
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- **2025-03-20** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (March 18). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
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- **2025-03-24** Read second time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
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- **2025-03-25** Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
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- **2025-04-08** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (April 8). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
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- **2025-04-09** Read second time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
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- **2025-04-10** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
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- **2025-04-23** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
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- **2025-05-23** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (May 23). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
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- **2025-05-27** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
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- **2025-06-02** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 1841.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
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- **2025-06-03** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
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- **2025-06-11** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
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- **2025-07-03** 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`
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- **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`
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- **2025-08-18** In committee: Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
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- **2025-08-29** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 29). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
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- **2025-08-29** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
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- **2025-09-05** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
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- **2025-09-08** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
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- **2025-09-09** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2656.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
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- **2025-09-09** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
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- **2025-09-10** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 3225.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
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- **2025-09-22** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
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- **2025-10-13** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
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- **2025-10-13** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 673, Statutes of 2025. `became-law`
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## Source
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OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/579ab9df-425c-460b-a4f8-73358fff36fe`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).
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