In this section: California

Bill dossier · California 2025–26 session · session closed September 30, 2026
Current through · Last editorial review October 1, 2026 · Original snapshot September 18, 2026, 3:00 PM PT (archived below)

SB 903: Artificial intelligence: mental health and the practice of therapy

VETOED SEPTEMBER 30, 2026

Final status · recorded October 1, 2026

VETOED SEPTEMBER 30, 2026SB 903 was vetoed on September 30, 2026. It did not become law. The veto message is the controlling document; where it is posted as an image-only PDF, its stated reasons are reported once transcribed and read in full. Source: California 2026 Final Legislative Ledger · Current analysis: California’s Health-AI Experiment Is Now Law.

Published
September 1, 2026
Originally verified through
September 18, 2026, 3:00 PM PT
Final-status update
October 1, 2026
Current through
October 1, 2026

Archived snapshot — originally current through September 18, 2026, 3:00 PM PTPreserved as originally published. Superseded by the final status above; lifecycle language, deadlines and “pending” states in this section describe the record as it stood on that date, not the current state. The dossier body below (what the bill does, legislative history, analysis and “what happens next”) is the September record.

SENATE CONCURRENCE 40–0 · ENGROSSING/ENROLLING

Bill

SB 903 (2025-2026)

Internal identity

CA|2025-2026|SB903

Author

Senate author of record

Lifecycle

LEGISLATURE PASSED — PRESENTMENT NOT ESTABLISHED

Where it sits

Engrossing and enrolling

Last recorded action

August 31, 2026

Recorded vote

Senate concurrence 40–0, 31 August

Enrollment

ENGROSSING / ENROLLING

Governor

No action announced through 15 September 2026

Urgency

None recorded

Chapter

Not applicable

Verification

VERIFIED

Governor deadline

September 30, 2026

Verified

September 15, 2026

Latest recorded action

August 31, 2026. Senate concurred in Assembly amendments, 40–0; ordered to engrossing and enrolling. Senate concurrence 40–0, 31 August.

Concurrence. CONCURRED 31 AUGUST 2026 (40–0).

What the bill does

Would bar an artificial-intelligence system from providing or advertising psychotherapy or "therapy," and would set standards for licensed professionals’ use of AI in mental-health practice.

What it does not do

Legislative passage is complete; not law. No prohibition on AI systems providing or advertising therapy is operative today, and the operative definitions will be those of the enrolled text.

KPSGILL position

No position taken. The bill raises the boundary question the AI institute tracks: at what point does an AI tool begin performing a regulated healing-art function? The answer determines whether this is professional-practice regulation or product regulation.

Open verification items

Named here rather than answered with an assumption.

  • Enrollment and presentment entries
  • Governor action by 30 September

What happens next

Governor action deadline: September 30, 2026. That is the session-wide date this desk tracks, not a date computed from this bill’s own presentment: enrolment and presentment for this bill are not established on the record read here, and until they are, no per-bill clock can be stated. Every qualifying measure is tracked on the Governor’s Health Bill Desk; scheduled dates sit on the decision calendar.

Primary sources

Register: the record store · internal identity CA|2025-2026|SB903 · verification state VERIFIED · tracker: California Legislature 2026.

Bill dossier · revised 18 September 2026, 3:00 PM PT.

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