October 2, 2024: Governor Gavin Newsom Signs Five LADA-Sponsored Public Safety Bills Into Law

Gun safety bill protects victims of domestic violence, stalking, and elder abuse

Three AI bills prohibit sexually explicit deepfakes and AI child pornography

California's organized retail theft law is now permanent under LADA-sponsored bill

LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced today that California Governor Gavin Newsom signed five LADA-sponsored bills into law during the 2024 legislative session. The laws are designed to prevent gun violence in incidents of domestic violence, stalking, or elder abuse; expressly criminalize AI revenge porn and AI child pornography; and protect kids and adults from sexually explicit deepfakes on social media.

"As prosecutors, our office is aware of loopholes and shortcomings in law, and our legislative team has worked hard to help forward-thinking legislators who want to advance these important changes to public safety laws," said District Attorney Gascón. "LADA is consistently a leader in sponsoring legislation to meet the challenges of our time, and we are pleased that five new LADA-sponsored bills will go into effect to protect the public and crime victims throughout the state."

AB 2907 better protects victims of domestic violence, stalking, and elder abuse from gun violence by giving law enforcement, courts and prosecutors the tools needed to enforce criminal court orders prohibiting the subject of a 10-year protective order from possessing a firearm. AB 2907 was introduced by Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Hollywood) and passed unanimously with bipartisan support. Read LADA's AB 2907 sponsor letter.

"Victims of domestic violence, stalking and elder abuse deserve to be protected from gun violence and should not have to live in fear that their violent abuser possesses a gun," said District Attorney Gascón. "This law addresses a serious gap in domestic violence laws, which left victims in criminal court without the same urgently needed protections as victims granted civil restraining orders. We are honored to work with Assemblymember Rich Chavez Zbur on this significant legislation to protect vulnerable victims from gun violence and help save lives."

The Governor also signed into law three LADA-sponsored bills to protect Californians from digital harassment and other dangers posed by AI:

• SB 926 closes the state AI revenge porn loophole bycriminalizing the distribution of AI-generated sexually explicit images with the intent to cause serious emotional distress to the person depicted in the image. SB 926 was introduced by Senator Wahab and Senator Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park). Read LADA's SB 926 Sponsor Letter.

• SB 981 protects kids and adults from sexually explicit deepfakes on social media byrequiring social media platforms to provide a reporting mechanism for individuals who are depicted in sexually explicit images and videos without their consent and remove sexually explicit deepfake content from their platforms. SB 981 was introduced by Senator Wahab. Read LADA's SB 981 Sponsor Letter.

In August, the Governor signed into law AB 1802, a LADA-sponsored bill to combat organized retail theft. AB 1802 eliminates the sunset clause on California's Organized Retail Theft statute, ensuring prosecutors can continue to charge organized crime rings under this law. Since 2019, LADA has filed more than 1,500 organized retail theft charges. AB 1802 was introduced by Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-South Los Angeles). Read LADA's AB 1802 Sponsor Letter.

Governor Newsom also signed into law nine gun safety laws supported by LADA:AB 2739, AB 2759, AB 2822, AB 2917, AB 3083, SB 899, SB 902, SB 1002, SB 1019, in addition to a critical LADA-supported law, AB 2432, to secure funding for crime victim services.

View all legislation LADA has sponsored and supported since DA Gascón took office: https://da.lacounty.gov/policies/legislative-letters.

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