Cost Drivers 2025

SB 7 (McNerney; D-Pleasanton) Restricts Use of Automated Decision Systems in Employment: Imposes impractical requirements on employers of every size related to automated decision systems, which will discourage the use of such tools and subject employers to costly litigation and onerous new compliance procedures, thereby driving up costs and ultimately impacting consumer prices.

SB 222 (Wiener; D-San Francisco) Climate-Related Disaster Liability: Sets a troubling precedent of singling out a small, targeted group of companies and makes them jointly, severally, and strictly liable for virtually all damages suffered as a result of climate-related disasters regardless of cause or fault.

SB 259 (Wahab; D-Hayward) Online Pricing: Prohibits businesses from using any input data to create prices or discounts. Forces companies to overhaul their pricing models and strategies at significant cost, to the detriment of both the businesses themselves and their consumers. This threatens not only the profitability of businesses, but also potentially reduces the availability of discounts and personalized deals for consumers.

SB 295 (Hurtado; D-Bakersfield) Pricing Algorithms: Prohibits a person from using or distributing pricing algorithms that use, incorporate, or were trained on “nonpublic competitor data.” Exposes businesses to significant uncertainty and aggressive liability and creates a chilling effect on the use of this technology by imposing significant cost on all businesses using technological tools.

SB 310 (Wiener; D-San Francisco) Expands Private Right of Action for Penalties: Creates a new private right of action for wage and hour penalties that will be manipulated by trial attorneys, undermining the 2024 Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) reform, which sought to reduce avenues for litigation abuse and overall costs on employers.

SB 384 (Wahab; D-Hayward) Prohibition on Using Information to Set Competitive Pricing: Effectively banning the use of technology to help set prices or help manage supply levels. Will make it harder for businesses to offer discounts and competitive pricing to their customers.

SB 464 (Smallwood-Cuevas; D-Los Angeles) Publication of Pay Data: Encourages litigation against employers based on the publication of broad, unreliable data collected by the state, which will unnecessarily drive up costs.

SB 573 (Smallwood-Cuevas; D-Los Angeles) Corporate Tax Increase: More than doubles California’s corporate tax rate (to as much as 22.5%) for targeted employers, decreasing California’s business competitiveness and increasing employer costs. (Note: Cost Driver status and opposition removed April 3, 2025 due to amendments changing bill to a different subject. CalChamber neutral.)

SB 601 (Allen; D-Santa Monica) Punitive and Onerous Water Quality Permitting Requirements: Creates duplicative permitting obligations and dramatic legal liability requirements for businesses, agriculture, and water and wastewater utilities by granting the water boards broad authority to impose permitting requirements without considering economic impacts or the critical need for housing and recycled water projects.

SB 632 (Arreguín; D-Berkeley) Expands Costly Presumption of Injury: Significantly increases workers’ compensation costs for public and private hospitals by presuming certain diseases and injuries are caused by the workplace and establishes an extremely concerning precedent for expanding presumptions into the private sector. Has been tried nine times before and failed every time.

SB 682 (Allen; D-Santa Monica) De Facto PFAS Ban: Creates a de facto ban on the use of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in all commercial and consumer products, unless the Department of Toxic Substances Control is petitioned and makes an affirmative determination that the PFAS in a particular product is an unavoidable use. Because of the breadth and scope of PFAS use, including in aerospace, lithium-ion batteries, medical devices, automotive and semiconductors, to name a few, the regulatory program established is unworkable and ultimately will lead to a ban on critically important products or otherwise make certain products less safe, and ultimately drive up prices for consumers.

SB 684 (Menjivar; D-San Fernando Valley) Climate Superfund: Imposes retroactive financial liability on companies for lawful greenhouse gas emissions dating back to 1990, sending the message that even strict adherence to the state’s compliance programs is not enough to avoid retroactive penalties down the road.

SB 763 (Hurtado; D-Bakersfield) Vast Expansion of State Antitrust Penalties: Raises penalties under California’s antitrust law, the Cartwright Act, from $1 million to $100 million, and individual penalties from $250,000 to $1 million, with no demonstrated need for reform or adjustment, thereby increasing liability and costs on businesses.

SB 766 (Allen; D-Santa Monica) Legal Liability for Car Dealers: Dramatically increases legal liability to car dealers, leading to a flood of new lawsuits and increased costs for buying or leasing cars for consumers.

AB 298 (Bonta; D-Alameda) Prohibits Cost Sharing: Increases premiums for California’s employers and employees by restricting insurers from imposing a deductible, coinsurance, or copayment for in-network health care services provided to an enrollee under 21 years of age.

AB 405 (Addis; D-Morro Bay) New Climate Disclosure Requirements: Imposes costly, duplicative, and misaligned regulatory requirements on apparel companies that will increase clothing prices and worsen affordability for Californians. Dramatically expands existing disclosure rules under SB 253 (2023), for which rulemaking hasn’t even begun yet.

AB 858 (Lee; D-San Jose) Onerous Return to Work Mandate: Unnecessarily transforms prior COVID-19 specific law that created an onerous and stringent process for specific employers to return employees to the workforce for specified industries into a new mandate that applies to any natural disaster.

AB 1018 (Bauer-Kahan; D-Orinda) Impact Assessments of Automated Decision Systems: Limits use of automated decision systems (ADS), including by small businesses, which will lead to significant liability and increased costs that will ultimately be borne by consumers. It would also hinder many beneficial uses of ADS, including but not limited to: enabling faster approvals and expanded access to credit and enhancing real-time fraud detection.

AB 1221 (Bryan; D-Los Angeles) Restricts Use of Data in Employment: Imposes impractical requirements on employers of every size relating to any worker data collected by a workplace surveillance tool, which is defined so broadly that it would impact everything from security footage to emails. These requirements will drive up costs and impact consumer prices.

AB 1234 (Ortega; D-San Leandro) Creates New Penalty and Revises Wage Claim Procedures: Imposes new, automatic 30% penalty on all orders issued by the Labor Commissioner, which penalizes employers that exercise their due process rights and also makes other burdensome changes to the existing claims process.

AB 1243 (Addis; D-Morro Bay) Climate Superfund: Imposes retroactive financial liability on companies for lawful greenhouse gas emissions dating back to 1990, sending the message that even strict adherence to the state’s compliance programs is not enough to avoid retroactive penalties down the road.

AB 1331 (Elhawary; D-Los Angeles) Restricts Workplace Safety and Security Tools: Undermines workplace safety in every California workplace by effectively prohibiting the use of any surveillance technology in the workplace, including security cameras, cybersecurity systems, and anti-theft devices.