A Bay Area lawmaker wants to ban companies from charging prices based on information stored on customers’ phones, laptops or other hardware devices. The bill, which sits before the Assembly after advancing through the Senate in May, is one of the 30 measures the Legislature introduced this year to regulate artificial intelligence technology, writes CalMatters’ Maya C. Miller.
Sen. Aisha Wahab’s proposal would curb AI-powered price discrimination by prohibiting companies from using AI to increase prices based on, say, how much battery life is remaining on a phone, what apps are installed on the device and more.
The Fremont Democrat cites a report by the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog that said that ride-hailing apps charged higher prices to riders whose phone batteries were low. A ProPublica report also found that the test prep company Princeton Review charged higher prices for online SAT tutoring to customers who lived in zip codes where there was a high percentage of Asian residents.
- Wahab, during an Assembly committee hearing in July: “Our devices are being weaponized against us in order for large corporations to increase profits, and it has to stop.”
But the ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft have denied unfairly manipulating prices. Other business groups, including the California Chamber of Commerce, and some Republican legislators, also oppose the measure.
- Assemblymember Diane Dixon, a Newport Beach Republican, at the committee hearing: “This overregulation is impeding how we do business and how people want to do business. I just believe that the market resolves these issues.”
Other happenings at the state Capitol: Gov. Gavin Newsom revealed more details last week about a potential plan to redraw California’s congressional maps to counteract Texas’ current redistricting efforts.
At the urging of President Donald Trump’s advisers, Texas Republicans are attempting to redistrict so that the GOP can maintain its control of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2026’s midterm elections.
To help shift the balance of power in the House while sidestepping California’s requirement to bring in an independent commission for redistricting, Newsom is considering calling a special election in November to allow voters to approve an alternative map that would implement more Democratic-leaning districts. Read more from CalMatters’ Alexei Koseff.
CalMatters events: On Sept. 17 CalMatters’ Alejandro Lazo will hold a panel to discuss how California can overcome its clean energy challenges as Trump and congressional Republicans work to dismantle key climate policies. Register here to attend in person at Manny’s in San Francisco or virtually.
Other Stories You Should Know
Look up CA police misconduct records 🔍
Starting today the public can access a first-of-its-kind database that allows users to search documents and other police-misconduct records from nearly 700 California law enforcement agencies.
Until now, these were only available by filing specific requests to individual agencies. The database contains about 1.5 million pages of records from 12,000 officer-misconduct and use-of-force cases. It does not include crime scene photographs, audio recordings or videos.
- Tiffany Bailey, senior staff attorney at the ACLU Foundation of Southern California: “Critically, families who have lost loved ones in California will now have direct access to the information they need to seek meaningful accountability that has too often been denied.”
UC Berkeley and Stanford University created this tool over a span of seven years with the help of state funding. The database is being jointly published by CalMatters, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and KQED.
Learn more about the database and check it out here.
Trump suspends UCLA research grants
The Trump administration is freezing hundreds of science research grants at UCLA due to the U.S. Department of Justice’s findings that the public university did not do enough to stop antisemitism during last year’s pro-Palestine protests.
As CalMatters’ Mikhail Zinshteyn explains, nearly 500 National Institutes of Health grants and 300 National Science Foundation grants were suspended. These grants have received $225 million and $170 million, respectively, from the federal government to date, according to Mikhail’s analysis.
The Justice Department found that “Jewish and Israeli students at UCLA were subjected to severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive harassment” during the encampment protests. Unless UCLA agrees to a voluntary settlement by Aug. 5., Justice Department officials plan to file a complaint against UCLA in a federal court in September.
In a separate lawsuit, UCLA settled last week with several Jewish plaintiffs over claims that anti-Israel sentiment displayed at the encampments last year violated their religious rights. That settlement, totaling more than $6 million, was slammed by a lawyer representing five pro-Palestinian students and professors, two of whom are Jewish and participated in the encampment.
And lastly: CA challenges Trump’s executive order
Citing state laws requiring equal access to medical treatment, California is suing the Trump administration over the president’s executive order that threatens to withdraw federal funding from medical institutions that provide gender-affirming care to young patients. Find out more from CalMatters’ Ana B. Ibarra.
California Voices
A bill that would require cities to allow more housing near transit would save people money, reduce the risk of displacement and help the environment, writes Monica Rivera, a real estate sales manager and chairperson of the Gateway Cities chapter of Abundant Housing L.A.
Other things worth your time:
Federal Justice Department seeks voter and election information from at least 19 states, including CA // AP News
CA lawmakers face new challenges as social media becomes part of the job // The Sacramento Bee
In a deadly year for whales, CA considers statewide program to slow ships // KQED
She faced $500 daily HOA fines for an unapproved door. A new CA law saved her // Los Angeles Times
Electric vehicle sales in CA sputter // The San Diego Union-Tribune
Electric cars are two months away from being booted from CA carpool lanes // San Francisco Chronicle
Can SF be saved? // The Atlantic
As AI power needs surge, a Bay Area data center bets on hydrogen as a sustainable alternative // The Mercury News
LA city leaders are in high-stakes negotiations on Olympics costs // Los Angeles Times