Official Summary Text
SB 574, as amended, Umberg.
Streamlined housing approvals.
Generative artificial intelligence: attorneys and arbitrators.
Existing law, the State Bar Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of attorneys by the State Bar of California, a public corporation. The act requires an attorney to strictly maintain client confidences and to preserve client secrets at their own peril.
This bill would obligate an attorney who uses generative artificial intelligence to practice law to ensure that confidential personal identifying, or other nonpublic information, is not entered into a public generative artificial intelligence system. The bill would also require an attorney to ensure that reasonable steps are taken to verify the accuracy of generative artificial intelligence material and to correct any erroneous or hallucinated output in any material used by the attorney.
Existing law requires every pleading, petition, written notice of motion, or other similar paper to be signed by the attorney of record, or if a party is unrepresented, by the party, thereby certifying to the best of the person’s knowledge, information, and belief that it is not being presented primarily for an improper purpose and that the claims, defenses, and legal and factual contentions are warranted, as specified.
This bill would prohibit a brief, pleading, motion, or any other paper filed in any court from containing any citations that the attorney responsible for submitting the pleading has not personally read and verified, including any citation provided by generative artificial intelligence.
Existing law, the California Arbitration Act, provides a statutory framework for the enforcement of contractual arbitration under California law. The act establishes that a written
agreement to submit a present or future controversy to arbitration is valid, enforceable, and irrevocable, except as specified. The act defines a neutral arbitrator as one who is selected jointly by the parties or by the parties’ arbitrators, or is appointed by the court if the parties or their arbitrators cannot jointly select an arbitrator. The act requires a person selected to serve as a neutral arbitrator to disclose all matters that could cause a person aware of the facts to reasonably entertain a doubt as to the proposed neutral arbitrator’s impartiality.
This bill would prohibit an arbitrator from delegating any part of their decision-making process to any generative artificial intelligence tool. The bill would prohibit an arbitrator from relying on information generated by generative artificial intelligence outside the record without making appropriate disclosures to the parties beforehand. The bill would require an arbitrator to assume responsibility for
all aspects of an award, regardless of any use of generative artificial intelligence tools to assist with the decision-making process.
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA does not apply to the approval of ministerial projects.
Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, authorizes a development proponent to submit an application for a multifamily housing development that is subject to a streamlined, ministerial approval process, as provided, and not subject to a conditional use permit, if the development satisfies specified objective planning standards.
This bill would authorize a
development proponent to submit an application for a housing development that is subject to a streamlined, ministerial approval process if the development is for single-family housing in which each unit is 1,600 square feet or less and the development is consistent with objective planning and design standards. By establishing a streamlined, ministerial approval process for certain housing developments, this bill would expand the exemption for the ministerial approval of projects under CEQA. By expanding the duties of local agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.