CONSUMER FEDERATION OF CALIFORNIA ANNOUNCES 2025 LEGISLATIVE SUCCESSES

Six Sponsored or Co-Sponsored Bills Signed Into Law, along with Numerous Other Supported Bills; Key CFC-Opposed bills Vetoed or Fail in Legislature

SACRAMENTO, CA, UNITED STATES, October 20, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Consumer Federation of California (CFC) celebrated having six of seven CFC sponsored or co-sponsored bills signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2025. These new laws enhance consumer protections in various industries.

“CFC is continuing to lead the way with major victories for consumers in a wide range of areas,” said CFC Executive Director Robert Herrell. “From significant advances for consumers when purchasing or renting a car, to pushing back on social media oligopolies and self-service storage companies run amok, CFC gave consumers more tools to protect themselves in the marketplace. We are thankful to Governor Newsom for signing many of our top priorities, to the authors we worked with throughout the year and to our partners and coalition members for their steadfast collaboration. CFC is continuing a multi-year record of unprecedented legislative successes helping consumers in their daily lives.”

The six bills signed into law in 2025 are as follows:

AB 656 (Schiavo) – Establishes a simple process for consumers to delete unwanted social media accounts and their personal information associated with the account;

AB 1374 (Berman) – Strengthens price transparency in car rentals by ensuring that consumers see the complete cost up front, whether booking directly or via third-parties;

SB 82 (Umberg) – Limits forced arbitration clauses to only the specific product or service covered;

SB 709 (Menjivar) – Enhances transparency to the self-storage industry, notorious for bait and switch practices, by requiring key consumer disclosures like rate maximums;

SB 766 (Allen) – (Author sponsored) Enhances consumer protections when purchasing a vehicle, including a first-in-the-nation three-day used car cooling off period. Also eases returns, enhances pricing transparency, and limits vehicle add-ons proving no value;

Senate Bill 825 (Limón & Grayson) – Clarifies CA Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) authority to enforce consumer financial protection laws.

Only one CFC co-sponsored bill was disappointingly vetoed by Governor Newsom. That bill, SB 771 (Stern), would have enhanced state penalties on social media companies encouraging violence and hate speech by completely throwing in the towel on content moderation.

Other Wins - CFC also supported the following bills which became law (list is non-exhaustive):

AB 316 (Krell) – Artificial Intelligence Defenses: Prevents AI developers from evading legal responsibility when harm is caused by AI tools they created;

AB 325 (Aguiar-Curry) – Cartwright Act Violations: Prevents the use of price fixing algorithms;

AB 566 (Lowenthal) – Privacy Opt-Out: Ensures that businesses grant consumers the option to prevent data from being sold or shared on the businesses’ websites;

AB 692 (Kalra) – Employment Contracts: Prohibits the use of training repayment agreement provisions (TRAPs) or Stay-or-Pay contracts from being used by employers;

SB 361 (Becker) – Data Brokers: Data Collection and Deletion: Establishes easier mechanisms whereby consumers can submit data deletion requests to data brokers;

SB 763 (Hurtado) – Trade Violations: Enhances penalties on Cartwright Act violations for conspiring to use price fixing algorithms, among other unfair trade practices.

CFC also kept bad things from happening to consumers. Two top highlights are:

OPPOSED SB 791 (Cortese) - Vetoed by Governor - Would have more than tripled a “junk fee” on consumers when buying a car. In the Governor’s veto message Governor Newsom wrote “At a time when Californians are already struggling with the high cost of living [...] consumers could be charged hundreds more for only minutes of data entry.”

OPPOSED SB 690 (Caballero) - Became two-year bill - Would have allowed a massive expansion of Big Tech’s surveillance and spying powers, without a consumer’s knowledge or consent.

CFC will be back at it in 2026, fighting to protect consumers every day.

About the Consumer Federation of California: The Consumer Federation of California is a nonprofit advocacy organization that, since 1960, has been a powerful voice for consumer rights. CFC campaigns for laws and regulations that place consumer protection ahead of corporate profit, either in front of the California Legislature or before state agencies in support of consumer regulations.

Contact: Robert Herrell
(916) 270-3404
mail@consumercal.org

Robert Herell
Consumer Federation of California
+1 916-270-3404
email us here
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