California Passes Law to Block AI-Generated Fake Public Comments

California lawmakers have approved legislation designed to curb the use of artificial intelligence to manufacture fake public engagement with government agencies, a practice that has already influenced regulatory decisions in the state.

Senate Bill 1159, authored by Sen. Christopher Cabaldon (D-West Sacramento), makes it illegal to knowingly use AI to falsely represent that a real person engaged with a government agency. The bill also clarifies that agencies are not required to treat AI-generated comments, records requests, or other forms of civic participation as if they came from actual humans.

The legislation passed both chambers this month and now awaits Gov. Gavin Newsom's signature in September, according to the Los Angeles Times, which first reported the details.

What triggered the legislation

Cabaldon introduced the bill shortly after the Los Angeles Times reported on a February campaign that flooded the South Coast Air Quality Management District with 20,000 public comments opposing restrictions on gas-powered appliances. A public affairs consultant named Matt Klink took credit for the effort, saying he used a platform called CiviClick to generate the volume of opposition ahead of a critical vote.

Agency insiders told the Times that the deluge of emails likely influenced the air board's decision to reject proposed fees on new gas furnaces and water heaters that would have affected roughly 10 million appliances across the South Coast region. At least three people contacted by the district said they never submitted the comments attributed to them.

A similar campaign targeted the Bay Area Air Quality Management District through a platform called Speak4, which advertises AI-powered letter generation. Ten people contacted by the San Francisco Chronicle said they had not written letters bearing their names. "This was forged," one person said.

Both CiviClick and the business groups running these campaigns denied using AI, though the platforms openly market AI capabilities for other advocacy work.

How the law works

SB 1159 addresses a collision between emerging technology and longstanding civic participation laws. The California Public Records Act requires agencies to respond to records requests within 10 days, while the Brown Act and Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act guarantee the right to participate in public meetings and provide comment.

"The point of the bill is to say that these laws are about humans," Cabaldon said. "Just because it comes in the form that a human would write it, does not mean you have to treat each of these communications as if it's a human being."

The legislation authorizes agencies to use verification tools to detect AI-generated content. It does not prevent real people from using AI to improve their own letters, provided the volume and frequency of engagement remain consistent with ordinary human participation.

Vacaville vice mayor Michael Silva said his city has already been receiving AI-generated public records requests that slow responses to legitimate inquiries from residents.

Why it matters

The use of AI to fabricate grassroots support — known as astroturfing — represents a fundamental threat to democratic processes that depend on authentic public input. When regulators cannot distinguish between genuine constituent concerns and machine-generated campaigns, policy decisions become vulnerable to manipulation by well-funded interests. Dylan Plummer, deputy director of the Sierra Club's Clean Heat Campaign, called the practice an "existential threat to public participation in our democracy," noting that many AI campaigns have benefited the fossil fuel industry. While SB 1159 provides legal clarity, lawmakers acknowledged it is only a first step in addressing technology that will continue to outpace regulatory defenses.

CiviClick stated on its website that it supports SB 1159 and that its platform already complies with the proposed requirements.

The Los Angeles Times first reported the passage of the legislation and the campaigns that prompted it.