SB 951 is a proposed California law requiring 90 days' advance notice (vs the federal WARN Act's 60 days) for mass layoffs where AI played a material role. It also applies at the employer level rather than per-site, closing the threshold-structuring loophole used by companies like PayPal.Source: California Legislature SB 951 text

Has California SB 951 passed yet?

As of 15 May 2026, SB 951 had not been enacted. It remained a bill under legislative consideration in California, while simultaneously facing potential federal preemption under the Trump administration's National Policy Framework.Source: California Legislature status / Lowdown U#9 reporting

Can the federal government block California's AI layoff notice law?

The Trump administration's National Policy Framework (20 March 2026) directs federal agencies to preempt state AI labour laws. The Attorney General's AI Task Force was established to challenge such laws but had not filed any litigation as of 15 May 2026. Preemption would be contested in the courts.Source: Trump NPF, 20 March 2026; AG AI Task Force formation, 9 January 2026

Background

California Senate Bill 951 (SB 951) is a proposed state law that would require employers to give at least 90 days' advance notice before conducting mass layoffs in which AI systems played a material role in the selection of affected workers or the decision to restructure. The bill was introduced under the Newsom administration as a legislative response to evidence that employers were structuring AI-driven workforce reductions in tranches designed to stay below the thresholds that trigger the federal WARN Act's 60-day notice requirement.

The federal WARN Act (29 USC §2102), enacted in 1988, requires employers to provide 60 days' notice before mass layoffs affecting a site with 50 or more workers, or affecting more than 500 workers in total. SB 951 extends this to 90 days, adds an AI-material-role trigger rather than relying solely on headcount thresholds, and applies the obligation at the employer level rather than the individual site level, closing the tranche-structuring loophole.

SB 951 has no direct federal equivalent and would, if enacted, apply only to employers with significant California operations. It sits within a broader legislative pattern of US states attempting to regulate AI's impact on employment in the absence of federal action, while simultaneously facing the Trump administration's National Policy Framework directive instructing federal agencies to preempt such state laws.

SB 951 is the most directly relevant proposed US law to the AI layoff wave of 2026. PayPal's phased 4,760-job reduction, structured to stay below WARN Act thresholds, was among the practices the bill's authors cited in its legislative findings.

The bill cleared the California Senate 28-9 on 20 May 2026 and advanced through Assembly committee in the week ending 6 June. Its Senate Labor Committee granted a 5-0 approval on 10 June, sending the bill to the full Assembly. Companion bill SB 947 (the No Robo Bosses Act) passed the Senate 29-9 on 19 May and also advanced through Assembly committee; AB 2545 (worker-impact data assessment) passed the Assembly on 21 May and is in Senate committee. The three bills together form California's most comprehensive legislative response to AI workforce displacement to date.

As of 10 June 2026, SB 951 remains unenacted. The Trump administration's National Policy Framework directive instructing federal agencies to preempt state AI labour laws means the bill faces both a passage challenge in the Assembly and a potential federal preemption challenge if enacted. The Attorney General's AI Task Force had not initiated litigation against any state AI labour law as of that date.