The watchtower for Faith, Family, and Freedom Legislation

California AB1803: Employment: sexual harassment training and education: anti-hate speech training.

☆ Watch
  1. Introduced
  2. Passed Assembly
  3. Passed Senate
  4. To Governor
  5. Became Law

These editorial notes need review against the latest available bill text.

Overview

Beginning in 2028, adds anti-hate speech content to California's existing employer training requirements. Training that already covers unlawful harassment and abusive conduct based on protected characteristics can satisfy the requirement.

Law Today

California law currently requires employers with 5 or more employees to provide sexual harassment training to supervisory employees (2 hours) and nonsupervisory employees (1 hour) at least once every 2 years, and to include prevention of abusive conduct as a component. The training must also cover harassment based on gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation.

If Passed

Beginning January 1, 2028, covered employers must include anti-hate speech guidance in existing workplace training. The guidance addresses recognizing, reporting, and confronting speech that vilifies, humiliates, or incites hatred based on protected characteristics. Training covering unlawful harassment and abusive conduct based on those characteristics satisfies the new requirement; the bill does not add a separate training-hour requirement.

Should I support this?

The bill text has changed since F3’s review. An updated assessment is pending.

F3 editorial assessment — faith, family, and freedom. This is F3’s policy judgment; verify the provisions in the official bill text.

Likely supporters & opponents

Likely support

  • Civil-rights advocacy organizations — Anti-hate speech training helps create safer, more inclusive workplaces by equipping employees to identify and address discriminatory speech before it escalates to harassment or violence.
  • Workplace safety advocates — Training on hate speech recognition and reporting improves workplace culture and reduces hostile environments that harm employee well-being and productivity.

Likely opposition

  • Religious-liberty advocacy organizations and Christian employers — Mandatory anti-hate speech training may prohibit or penalize employees and employers from expressing religious or traditional viewpoints on topics like gender and sexuality, infringing on free speech and conscience rights.
  • Small business associations — Employers already bear significant compliance costs for training; adding new mandated content increases administrative burden and potential legal liability for interpretation disputes.

Editorially reviewed typical positions based on the bill’s substance — general stakeholder categories, not confirmed endorsements.

💬 Chat about this bill ↗Official bill text ↗View on LegiScan ↗

Official summary

An act to amend Section 12950.1 of the Government Code, relating to employment.

Sponsors

  • Josh Lowenthal (D)
  • Rick Zbur (D)
  • Corey Jackson (D)
  • Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D)
  • Chris Ward (D)

Status timeline

  1. 2026-09-27Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 547, Statutes of 2026.
  2. 2026-09-27Approved by the Governor.
  3. 2026-09-03Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
  4. 2026-08-26Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 60. Noes 11. Page 6596.).A
  5. 2026-08-25In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.A
  6. 2026-08-25Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 30. Noes 7.).S
  7. 2026-08-17Read second time. Ordered to third reading.S
  8. 2026-08-13Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading.S
  9. 2026-08-13From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 13).S
  10. 2026-08-03In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file.S
  11. 2026-07-01From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 1.) (June 30). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.S
  12. 2026-06-17From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on JUD.S
  13. 2026-06-10From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 4. Noes 0.) (June 10). Re-referred to Com. on JUD.S
  14. 2026-05-13Referred to Coms. on L., P.E. & R. and JUD.S
  15. 2026-05-05In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.S
  16. 2026-05-04Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 57. Noes 10. Page 4905.)A
  17. 2026-04-23Read second time. Ordered to third reading.A
  18. 2026-04-22From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 9. Noes 2.) (April 22).A
  19. 2026-04-13Re-referred to Com. on APPR.A
  20. 2026-04-09Read second time and amended.A
  21. 2026-04-08From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 2.) (April 7).A
  22. 2026-03-19From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (March 18). Re-referred to Com. on JUD.A
  23. 2026-02-23Referred to Coms. on L. & E. and JUD.A
  24. 2026-02-11From printer. May be heard in committee March 13.A
  25. 2026-02-10Read first time. To print.A

H = House · S = Senate · A = Assembly