Under existing law, a person is guilty of sexual exploitation of a child if the person knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, or exchanges any representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to, any film, filmstrip, photograph, negative, slide, photocopy, videotape, video laser disc, computer hardware, computer software, computer floppy disc, data storage media, CD-ROM, or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film or filmstrip that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct, as defined. Existing law makes a violation of this section punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony, as specified.

This bill would, except as specified, make a person guilty of a misdemeanor or a felony if the person knowingly does any of the above-described actions, or downloads, streams, or accesses through electronic or digital media the above-described sexual conduct, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Existing law, the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act, requires a mandated reporter, as defined, to make a report to a specified agency whenever the mandated reporter, in their professional capacity or within the scope of their employment, has knowledge of or observes a child whom the mandated reporter knows or reasonably suspects has been the victim of child abuse or neglect. For the purposes of this act, existing law includes sexual exploitation, and defines sexual exploitation as, among other things, a person who depicts a child in, or who knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, downloads, streams, accesses through any electronic or digital media, or exchanges, a film, photograph, videotape, video recording, negative, or slide in which a child is engaged in an act of obscene sexual conduct, except as specified.

This bill would broaden the above-described definition to include any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct, as specified.

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.

Under existing law, a person is guilty of sexual exploitation of a child if the person knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, or exchanges any representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to, any film, filmstrip, photograph, negative, slide, photocopy, videotape, video laser disc, computer hardware, computer software, computer floppy disc, data storage media, CD-ROM, or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film or filmstrip that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct, as defined. Existing law makes a violation of this section punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony, as specified.

This bill would, except as specified, make a person guilty of a misdemeanor or a felony if the person knowingly does any of the above-described actions, or downloads, streams, or accesses through electronic or digital media the above-described sexual conduct, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Existing law, the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act, requires a mandated reporter, as defined, to make a report to a specified agency whenever the mandated reporter, in their professional capacity or within the scope of their employment, has knowledge of or observes a child whom the mandated reporter knows or reasonably suspects has been the victim of child abuse or neglect. For the purposes of this act, existing law includes sexual exploitation, and defines sexual exploitation as, among other things, a person who depicts a child in, or who knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, downloads, streams, accesses through any electronic or digital media, or exchanges, a film, photograph, videotape, video recording, negative, or slide in which a child is engaged in an act of obscene sexual conduct, except as specified.

This bill would broaden the above-described definition to include any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct, as specified.

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.

Under existing law, a person is guilty of sexual exploitation of a child if the person knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, or exchanges any representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to, any film, filmstrip, photograph, negative, slide, photocopy, videotape, video laser disc, computer hardware, computer software, computer floppy disc, data storage media, CD-ROM, or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film or filmstrip that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct, as defined. Existing law makes a violation of this section punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony, as specified.

This bill would additionally make a person guilty of a misdemeanor or a felony if the person downloads, streams, or accesses through electronic or digital media the above-described sexual conduct, except as specified. would, except as specified, make a person guilty of a misdemeanor or a felony if the person knowingly does any of the above-described actions, or downloads, streams, or accesses through electronic or digital media the above-described sexual conduct, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Existing law, the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act, requires a mandated reporter, as defined, to make a report to a specified agency whenever the mandated reporter, in their professional capacity or within the scope of their employment, has knowledge of or observes a child whom the mandated reporter knows or reasonably suspects has been the victim of child abuse or neglect. For the purposes of this act, existing law includes sexual exploitation, and defines sexual exploitation as, among other things, a person who depicts a child in, or who knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, downloads, streams, accesses through any electronic or digital media, or exchanges, a film, photograph, videotape, video recording, negative, or slide in which a child is engaged in an act of obscene sexual conduct, except as specified.

This bill would broaden the above-described definition to include any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct, as specified.

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.

Under existing law, a person is guilty of sexual exploitation of a child if the person knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, or exchanges any representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to, any film, filmstrip, photograph, negative, slide, photocopy, videotape, video laser disc, computer hardware, computer software, computer floppy disc, data storage media, CD-ROM, or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film or filmstrip that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct, as defined. Existing law makes a violation of this section punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony, as specified.

This bill would additionally make a person guilty of a misdemeanor or a felony if the person downloads, streams, or accesses through electronic or digital media the above-described sexual conduct, except as specified. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Existing law, the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act, requires a mandated reporter, as defined, to make a report to a specified agency whenever the mandated reporter, in their professional capacity or within the scope of their employment, has knowledge of or observes a child whom the mandated reporter knows or reasonably suspects has been the victim of child abuse or neglect. For the purposes of this act, existing law includes sexual exploitation, and defines sexual exploitation as, among other things, a person who depicts a child in, or who knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, downloads, streams, accesses through any electronic or digital media, or exchanges, a film, photograph, videotape, video recording, negative, or slide in which a child is engaged in an act of obscene sexual conduct, except as specified.

This bill would broaden the above-described definition to include any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct, as specified.

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.

 UNFINISHED BUSINESS 

Bill No: SB 1276

Author: Rubio (D), et al.

Amended: 8/13/26

Vote: 21

SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE: 6-0, 4/14/26

AYES: Arreguín, Seyarto, Caballero, Cortese, Pérez, Wiener

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/14/26

AYES: Cervantes, Seyarto, Cabaldon, Dahle, Grayson, Richardson, Wahab

SENATE FLOOR: 33-0, 5/22/26

AYES: Archuleta, Arreguín, Ashby, Blakespear, Cabaldon, Caballero, Cervantes, Choi, Cortese, Dahle, Durazo, Gonzalez, Grayson, Grove, Jones, Laird, Limón, McGuire, McNerney, Menjivar, Ochoa Bogh, Pérez, Reyes, Richardson, Rubio, Seyarto, Smallwood-Cuevas, Strickland, Umberg, Valladares, Wahab, Weber Pierson, Wiener

NO VOTE RECORDED: Allen, Alvarado-Gil, Becker, Hurtado, Niello, Padilla, Stern

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 8/25/26 - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Crimes: sexual exploitation of a child

SOURCE: Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto

DIGEST:

This bill expands the crime of sexual exploitation of a child to include downloading, streaming, or accessing through electronic or digital media specified depictions of a minor engaged in an act of sexual conduct.

Assembly Amendments

require that the person knew that the matter depicted a person under 18 years of age in an act of sexual conduct.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Prohibits, except as provided, the act of knowingly sending or causing to sent, or bringing or causing to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or possessing, preparing, publishing, producing, developing, duplicating, or printing in this state any representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to specified media, or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, with intent to distribute or to exhibit to, or to exchange with, others, or offering to distribute, distributing, or exhibiting to, or exchanging with, others, any obscene matter, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age, or contains digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated data depicting what appears to be a person under 18 years of age, engaging in or simulating sexual conduct, as defined, punishable as a wobbler. (Penal (Pen.) Code, § 311.1, subd. (a).)
2. Prohibits the act of knowingly sending or causing to be sent, or bringing or causing to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or possessing, preparing, publishing, producing, developing, duplicating, or printing in this state, with intent to distribute or exhibit to others, or offering to distribute, distributing, exhibiting to others any obscene matter, punishable as a misdemeanor. (Pen. Code, § 311.2, subd. (a).)
3. Provides that every person who knowingly sends or causes to be sent, or brings or causes to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or in this state possesses, prepares, publishes, produces, develops, duplicates, or prints any representation of information, data, or image, including specified media or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, with intent to distribute or exhibit to, or to exchange with, a person 18 years of age or older, or who offers to distribute, distributes, or exhibits to, or exchanges with, a person 18 years of age or older any matter, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age personally engaging in or personally simulating sexual conduct, or any obscene matter that contains a digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated depiction of what appears to be a person under 18 years of age engaging in such conduct, shall be guilty of a crime, punishable as a wobbler. (Pen. Code, § 311.2, subd. (c).)
4. Provides that every person who, with knowledge that a person is a minor under 18 years of age, or who, while in possession of any facts on the basis of which they should reasonably know that the person is a minor under 18 years of age, knowingly promotes, employs, uses, persuades, induces, or coerces a minor under 18 years of age, or any parent or guardian of a minor under 18 years of age who is under their control who knowingly permits the minor, to engage in or assist others to engage in either posing or modeling alone or with others for purposes of preparing any representation of information, data, or image, including specified media or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, or live performance, involving sexual conduct by a minor under 18 years of age alone or with other persons or animals, is guilty of a felony. (Pen. Code, § 311.4, subd. (c).)
5. Provides that a person is guilty of sexual exploitation of a child if that person knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, or exchanges any representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to, any film, filmstrip, photograph, negative, slide, photocopy, videotape, video laser disc, computer hardware, computer software, computer floppy disc, data storage media, CD-ROM, or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct, punishable as a misdemeanor for a first offense and as a felony for any second or subsequent offense. (Pen. Code, § 311.3, subd. (a).)
6. Specifies that it is not necessary to prove that the matter is obscene in order to establish the violation above. (Pen. Code, § 311.3, subd. (b).)
7. Provides that the crime of sexual exploitation of a child does not apply to law enforcement and prosecution agencies, to legitimate medical, scientific, or education activities, or to lawful conduct between spouses. (Pen. Code, § 311.3, subd. (d).)
8. Defines. for the purposes of the crime of sexual exploitation of a child, “sexual conduct” as any of several enumerated sexual acts. (Pen. Code, § 311.3, subd. (c).)
9. Establishes the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA) which is generally intended to protect children from abuse and neglect with a focus on the needs of the victim. (Pen. Code, § 11164.)
10. Defines “neglect” under CANRA as the negligent treatment or the maltreatment of a child by a person responsible for the child’s welfare under circumstances indicating harm or threatened harm to the child’s health or welfare. The term includes both acts and omissions on the part of the responsible person. (Pen. Code, § 11165.2.)
11. Defines “child abuse or neglect” under CANRA to include physical injury or death inflicted by other than accidental means upon a child by another person, sexual abuse as defined, neglect as defined, the willful harming or injuring of a child or the endangering of the person or health of a child as defined, and unlawful corporal punishment or injury. “Child abuse or neglect” does not include a mutual affair between minors. “Child abuse or neglect” does not include an injury caused by reasonable and necessary force used by a peace officer acting within the course and scope of his or her employment as a peace officer. (Pen. Code, § 11165.6.)
12. Requires any mandated reporter who has knowledge of or observes a child, their professional capacity or within the scope of their employment whom they know or reasonably suspect has been the victim of child abuse or neglect, to report it as specified, to any police or sheriff's department, a county probation department if designated by the county to receive mandated reports, or the county welfare department. (Pen. Code, §§ 11166, subd. (a), 11165.9.)
13. For the purposes of CANRA, specifies that “sexual abuse” means sexual assault or sexual exploitation as defined by the following:
    1. “Sexual assault” means illegal sexual conduct as defined in several specified sections of the Penal Code, including provisions criminalizing rape, statutory rape, rape in concert, incest, sodomy, oral copulation, lewd or lascivious acts upon a child, sexual penetration, or child molestation, as specified.
    2. “Sexual exploitation” refers to the following:
       1. Conduct involving matter depicting a minor engaged in obscene acts in violation of the existing prohibition against preparing, selling or distributing obscene matter (Section 311.2) or against the employment of a minor to perform obscene acts (Section 311.4).
       2. A person who knowingly promotes, aids, or assists, employs, uses, persuades, induces, or coerces a child, or a person responsible for a child’s welfare, who knowingly permits or encourages a child to engage in, or assist others to engage in, prostitution or a live performance involving obscene sexual conduct, or to either pose or model alone or with others for purposes of preparing a film, photograph, negative, slide, drawing, painting, or other pictorial depiction, involving obscene sexual conduct. For the purpose of this provision, “person responsible for a child’s welfare” means a parent, guardian, foster parent, or a licensed administrator or employee of a public or private residential home, residential school, or other residential institution.
       3. A person who depicts a child in, or who knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, downloads, streams, accesses through any electronic or digital media, or exchanges, a film, photograph, videotape, video recording, negative, or slide in which a child is engaged in an act of obscene sexual conduct, except as provided. (Pen. Code, § 11165.1.)

This bill:

1. Expands the crime of sexual exploitation of a child to apply to anyone who downloads, streams, or accesses through electronic or digital media any representation of information, data, or image, as specified above, that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct knowing that the matter depicts a person under the age of 18 engaged in an act of sexual conduct.
2. Specifies that the crime of sexual exploitation of a child does not apply to a child under 18 years of age alleged to have solely engaged in viewing sexual conduct through a video stream.
3. Expands the definition of “sexual exploitation” for the purposes of CANRA to include a person who depicts a child in, or who knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, downloads, streams, accesses through any electronic or digital media, or exchanges digitally altered or artificial-intelligence- generated matter that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes

According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee:

• Non-reimbursable local incarceration costs of an unknown amount for additional convictions. A first violation is punishable by a fine of not more than $2,000, by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or both. A person previously convicted of a violation of that subdivision or any section of the same chapter is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison. Actual costs will depend on the number of convictions and the length of each sentence. The average annual cost to incarcerate one person in county jail is approximately $29,000, though costs are higher in larger counties. County incarceration costs are not subject to reimbursement by the state. However, overcrowding in county jails creates cost pressure on the General Fund (GF) because the state has historically granted new funding to counties to offset overcrowding resulting from public safety realignment.
• Increased state incarceration costs of an unknown amount (GF) to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to the extent additional persons with qualifying prior convictions are committed to state prison. The Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates the average annual cost to incarcerate one person in state prison at $128,000; CDCR estimates $135,921. If two people are incarcerated in state prison as a result of this crime’s expansion, the resulting incarceration costs to CDCR would exceed this committee’s suspense threshold.
• Potential court cost pressures of an unknown amount (Trial Court Trust Fund (TCTF), GF) to adjudicate additional charges. The conduct reached by this bill — downloading, streaming, and accessing — is substantially more common than the development, duplication, printing, and exchange the statute currently reaches, so the number of chargeable violations could increase. Actual costs will depend on the number of charges filed and the time needed to adjudicate each case. Although courts are not funded on the basis of workload, increased pressure on the TCTF may create a demand for increased funding for courts from the GF. The state budget provides annual GF backfills to the TCTF to offset revenue reductions, totaling approximately $117.3 million in 2025-26.

SUPPORT: (Verified 8/25/26)

Hydee Feldstein Soto, Los Angeles City Attorney (source)

American Association of University Women - California

California District Attorneys Association

California Family Resource Association

California State Sheriffs' Association

California Teachers Association

Child Abuse Prevention Center and its Affiliates Safe Kids California, Prevent Child Abuse California and the California Family Resource Association

City of Sunnyvale

Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office

Sistahfriends

Strength United

The California Baptist Capitol Ministry

OPPOSITION: (Verified 8/25/26)

California Attorneys for Criminal Justice

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 8/25/26

AYES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Ahrens, Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Ávila Farías, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Caloza, Carrillo, Castillo, Chen, Connolly, Davies, DeMaio, Dixon, Elhawary, Ellis, Flora, Fong, Gabriel, Garcia, Gipson, Jeff Gonzalez, Mark González, Hadwick, Haney, Harabedian, Hart, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Johnson, Kalra, Krell, Lackey, Lee, Lowenthal, Macedo, Muratsuchi, Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Patel, Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Ransom, Celeste Rodriguez, Michelle Rodriguez, Rogers, Blanca Rubio, Sanchez, Schiavo, Schultz, Sharp-Collins, Solache, Soria, Stefani, Ta, Tangipa, Valencia, Wallis, Ward, Wicks, Wilson, Zbur, Rivas

NO VOTE RECORDED: McKinnor

Prepared by: Alex Barnett / PUB. S. / (916) 651-4118

11/5/26 16:25:08

**** END ****

 UNFINISHED BUSINESS  

Bill No: SB 1276

Author: Rubio (D), et al.

Amended: 8/13/26

Vote: 21

SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE: 6-0, 4/14/26

AYES: Arreguín, Seyarto, Caballero, Cortese, Pérez, Wiener

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/14/26

AYES: Cervantes, Seyarto, Cabaldon, Dahle, Grayson, Richardson, Wahab

SENATE FLOOR: 33-0, 5/22/26

AYES: Archuleta, Arreguín, Ashby, Blakespear, Cabaldon, Caballero, Cervantes, Choi, Cortese, Dahle, Durazo, Gonzalez, Grayson, Grove, Jones, Laird, Limón, McGuire, McNerney, Menjivar, Ochoa Bogh, Pérez, Reyes, Richardson, Rubio, Seyarto, Smallwood-Cuevas, Strickland, Umberg, Valladares, Wahab, Weber Pierson, Wiener

NO VOTE RECORDED: Allen, Alvarado-Gil, Becker, Hurtado, Niello, Padilla, Stern

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: Passed, 8/25/26

SUBJECT: Crimes: sexual exploitation of a child

SOURCE: Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto

DIGEST:

This bill expands the crime of sexual exploitation of a child to include downloading, streaming, or accessing through electronic or digital media specified depictions of a minor engaged in an act of sexual conduct.

Assembly Amendments

require that the person knew that the matter depicted a person under 18 years of age in an act of sexual conduct.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Prohibits, except as provided, the act of knowingly sending or causing to sent, or bringing or causing to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or possessing, preparing, publishing, producing, developing, duplicating, or printing in this state any representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to specified media, or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, with intent to distribute or to exhibit to, or to exchange with, others, or offering to distribute, distributing, or exhibiting to, or exchanging with, others, any obscene matter, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age, or contains digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated data depicting what appears to be a person under 18 years of age, engaging in or simulating sexual conduct, as defined, punishable as a wobbler. (Penal (Pen.) Code, § 311.1, subd. (a).)
2. Prohibits the act of knowingly sending or causing to be sent, or bringing or causing to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or possessing, preparing, publishing, producing, developing, duplicating, or printing in this state, with intent to distribute or exhibit to others, or offering to distribute, distributing, exhibiting to others any obscene matter, punishable as a misdemeanor. (Pen. Code, § 311.2, subd. (a).)
3. Provides that every person who knowingly sends or causes to be sent, or brings or causes to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or in this state possesses, prepares, publishes, produces, develops, duplicates, or prints any representation of information, data, or image, including specified media or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, with intent to distribute or exhibit to, or to exchange with, a person 18 years of age or older, or who offers to distribute, distributes, or exhibits to, or exchanges with, a person 18 years of age or older any matter, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age personally engaging in or personally simulating sexual conduct, or any obscene matter that contains a digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated depiction of what appears to be a person under 18 years of age engaging in such conduct, shall be guilty of a crime, punishable as a wobbler. (Pen. Code, § 311.2, subd. (c).)
4. Provides that every person who, with knowledge that a person is a minor under 18 years of age, or who, while in possession of any facts on the basis of which they should reasonably know that the person is a minor under 18 years of age, knowingly promotes, employs, uses, persuades, induces, or coerces a minor under 18 years of age, or any parent or guardian of a minor under 18 years of age who is under their control who knowingly permits the minor, to engage in or assist others to engage in either posing or modeling alone or with others for purposes of preparing any representation of information, data, or image, including specified media or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, or live performance, involving sexual conduct by a minor under 18 years of age alone or with other persons or animals, is guilty of a felony. (Pen. Code, § 311.4, subd. (c).)
5. Provides that a person is guilty of sexual exploitation of a child if that person knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, or exchanges any representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to, any film, filmstrip, photograph, negative, slide, photocopy, videotape, video laser disc, computer hardware, computer software, computer floppy disc, data storage media, CD-ROM, or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct, punishable as a misdemeanor for a first offense and as a felony for any second or subsequent offense. (Pen. Code, § 311.3, subd. (a).)
6. Specifies that it is not necessary to prove that the matter is obscene in order to establish the violation above. (Pen. Code, § 311.3, subd. (b).)
7. Provides that the crime of sexual exploitation of a child does not apply to law enforcement and prosecution agencies, to legitimate medical, scientific, or education activities, or to lawful conduct between spouses. (Pen. Code, § 311.3, subd. (d).)
8. Defines. for the purposes of the crime of sexual exploitation of a child, “sexual conduct” as any of several enumerated sexual acts. (Pen. Code, § 311.3, subd. (c).)
9. Establishes the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA) which is generally intended to protect children from abuse and neglect with a focus on the needs of the victim. (Pen. Code, § 11164.)
10. Defines “neglect” under CANRA as the negligent treatment or the maltreatment of a child by a person responsible for the child’s welfare under circumstances indicating harm or threatened harm to the child’s health or welfare. The term includes both acts and omissions on the part of the responsible person. (Pen. Code, § 11165.2.)
11. Defines “child abuse or neglect” under CANRA to include physical injury or death inflicted by other than accidental means upon a child by another person, sexual abuse as defined, neglect as defined, the willful harming or injuring of a child or the endangering of the person or health of a child as defined, and unlawful corporal punishment or injury. “Child abuse or neglect” does not include a mutual affair between minors. “Child abuse or neglect” does not include an injury caused by reasonable and necessary force used by a peace officer acting within the course and scope of his or her employment as a peace officer. (Pen. Code, § 11165.6.)
12. Requires any mandated reporter who has knowledge of or observes a child, their professional capacity or within the scope of their employment whom they know or reasonably suspect has been the victim of child abuse or neglect, to report it as specified, to any police or sheriff's department, a county probation department if designated by the county to receive mandated reports, or the county welfare department. (Pen. Code, §§ 11166, subd. (a), 11165.9.)
13. For the purposes of CANRA, specifies that “sexual abuse” means sexual assault or sexual exploitation as defined by the following:
    1. “Sexual assault” means illegal sexual conduct as defined in several specified sections of the Penal Code, including provisions criminalizing rape, statutory rape, rape in concert, incest, sodomy, oral copulation, lewd or lascivious acts upon a child, sexual penetration, or child molestation, as specified.
    2. “Sexual exploitation” refers to the following:
       1. Conduct involving matter depicting a minor engaged in obscene acts in violation of the existing prohibition against preparing, selling or distributing obscene matter (Section 311.2) or against the employment of a minor to perform obscene acts (Section 311.4).
       2. A person who knowingly promotes, aids, or assists, employs, uses, persuades, induces, or coerces a child, or a person responsible for a child’s welfare, who knowingly permits or encourages a child to engage in, or assist others to engage in, prostitution or a live performance involving obscene sexual conduct, or to either pose or model alone or with others for purposes of preparing a film, photograph, negative, slide, drawing, painting, or other pictorial depiction, involving obscene sexual conduct. For the purpose of this provision, “person responsible for a child’s welfare” means a parent, guardian, foster parent, or a licensed administrator or employee of a public or private residential home, residential school, or other residential institution.
       3. A person who depicts a child in, or who knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, downloads, streams, accesses through any electronic or digital media, or exchanges, a film, photograph, videotape, video recording, negative, or slide in which a child is engaged in an act of obscene sexual conduct, except as provided. (Pen. Code, § 11165.1.)

This bill:

1. Expands the crime of sexual exploitation of a child to apply to anyone who downloads, streams, or accesses through electronic or digital media any representation of information, data, or image, as specified above, that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct knowing that the matter depicts a person under the age of 18 engaged in an act of sexual conduct.
2. Specifies that the crime of sexual exploitation of a child does not apply to a child under 18 years of age alleged to have solely engaged in viewing sexual conduct through a video stream.
3. Expands the definition of “sexual exploitation” for the purposes of CANRA to include a person who depicts a child in, or who knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, downloads, streams, accesses through any electronic or digital media, or exchanges digitally altered or artificial-intelligence- generated matter that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes

According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee:

• Non-reimbursable local incarceration costs of an unknown amount for additional convictions. A first violation is punishable by a fine of not more than $2,000, by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or both. A person previously convicted of a violation of that subdivision or any section of the same chapter is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison. Actual costs will depend on the number of convictions and the length of each sentence. The average annual cost to incarcerate one person in county jail is approximately $29,000, though costs are higher in larger counties. County incarceration costs are not subject to reimbursement by the state. However, overcrowding in county jails creates cost pressure on the General Fund (GF) because the state has historically granted new funding to counties to offset overcrowding resulting from public safety realignment.
• Increased state incarceration costs of an unknown amount (GF) to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to the extent additional persons with qualifying prior convictions are committed to state prison. The Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates the average annual cost to incarcerate one person in state prison at $128,000; CDCR estimates $135,921. If two people are incarcerated in state prison as a result of this crime’s expansion, the resulting incarceration costs to CDCR would exceed this committee’s suspense threshold.
• Potential court cost pressures of an unknown amount (Trial Court Trust Fund (TCTF), GF) to adjudicate additional charges. The conduct reached by this bill — downloading, streaming, and accessing — is substantially more common than the development, duplication, printing, and exchange the statute currently reaches, so the number of chargeable violations could increase. Actual costs will depend on the number of charges filed and the time needed to adjudicate each case. Although courts are not funded on the basis of workload, increased pressure on the TCTF may create a demand for increased funding for courts from the GF. The state budget provides annual GF backfills to the TCTF to offset revenue reductions, totaling approximately $117.3 million in 2025-26.

SUPPORT: (Verified 8/25/26)

Hydee Feldstein Soto, Los Angeles City Attorney (source)

American Association of University Women - California

California District Attorneys Association

California Family Resource Association

California State Sheriffs' Association

California Teachers Association

Child Abuse Prevention Center and its Affiliates Safe Kids California, Prevent Child Abuse California and the California Family Resource Association

City of Sunnyvale

Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office

Sistahfriends

Strength United

The California Baptist Capitol Ministry

OPPOSITION: (Verified 8/25/26)

California Attorneys for Criminal Justice

Prepared by: Alex Barnett / PUB. S. /

8/25/26 13:21:24

**** END ****

SENATE THIRD READING

STR Bill Id:SB 1276

Author:(Rubio)

As Amended Ver:August 13, 2026

Majority vote

SUMMARY

Expands the crime of sexual exploitation of a child to include downloading, streaming, or accessing through electronic or digital media specified depictions of a minor engaged in an act of sexual conduct.

Major Provisions

1. Expands the crime of sexual exploitation of a child to apply to anyone who downloads, streams, or accesses through electronic or digital media any representation of information, data, or image, as specified above, that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct knowing that the matter depicts a person under the age of 18 engaged in an act of sexual conduct.
2. Specifies that the crime of sexual exploitation of a child does not apply to a child under 18 years of age alleged to have solely engaged in viewing sexual conduct.
3. Expands the definition of "sexual exploitation" for the purposes of the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA) to include a person who depicts a child in, or who knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, downloads, streams, accesses through any electronic or digital media, or exchanges digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct.

COMMENTS

According to the Author

"Every child deserves to be safe and California law must reflect that without exception. As technology evolves, so do the methods predators use to exploit children. Livestreaming platforms and AI-generated content have created dangerous new loopholes that bad actors are actively using to harm minors, and our current laws have not kept pace. SB 1276, the End Child Exploitation Act, closes those loopholes once and for all. This bill amends the Penal Code to make clear that knowingly watching a livestream of a minor engaged in sexual conduct is a crime, full stop. It also updates the definition of sexual exploitation to specifically include AI-generated and digitally altered images or videos that depict minors in sexual acts.

"The technology may be new, but the harm is just as real, and the law should treat it that way. No technicality should stand between a child and justice. No predator should escape accountability simply because they exploited a gap in the law. SB 1276 sends an unambiguous message: California will not tolerate the sexual exploitation of children in any form. I am proud to author this bill and call on my colleagues to stand with California's children. Protecting the most vulnerable among us is not a partisan issue, it is a moral obligation."

Arguments in Support

According to American Association of University Women, "Developing, printing, or exchanging sexual content of a minor under 18 is considered sexual exploitation under the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act. This includes material in any form, such as film, photographs, videotapes, computer hardware/software, data storage, or any other digital media However, possessing these items does not fall under sexual exploitation. Artificial intelligence-generated sexual content of minors is also not included in the current definition.

"SB 1276 would make it a crime to possess any depiction of a person under 18 engaged in an act of sexual conduct via download, stream, or access through electronic or digital media. The bill also expands the definition of sexual exploitation under the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act to include any digitally altered or AI-generated content depicting a person under 18. As the digital landscape evolves, we must be responsive to effectively protect children from sexual exploitation SB 1276 is an important piece of legislation that helps meet this ongoing and urgent need."

Arguments in Opposition

According to California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, "Child pornography is morally repugnant. However, what makes child pornography criminal—and why possession and distribution of child pornography is punished so severely (including potential lifetime sex registration)—is not the immorality of the content. The central basis of the criminality of child pornography is the victimization of actual children in its creation. For instance, if consenting adults dress up as children and pretend to be children for the purposes of sexual roleplay or creation of pornography, this behavior is not considered illegal, even if many would deem such behavior highly offensive and morally repugnant. And virtual child pornography, to the extent it does not involve the depiction and victimization of actual children, similarly is not categorically criminal, and in fact implicates the First Amendment.

"The United States Supreme Court struck down a federal law banning virtual child pornography for precisely this reason. (See Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (2002) 535 U.S. 234.) As the high court explained, in contrast to the child pornography at issue in New York v. Ferber (1982) 458 U. S. 747—a form of speech that was itself a record of sexual abuse—the federal law banning virtual child pornography "prohibits speech that records no crime and creates no victims by its production. Virtual child pornography is not ‘intrinsically related' to the sexual abuse of children, as were the materials in Ferber." (Ashcroft, supra, 535 U.S. at p. 234.) Applying some of these principles, California Courts have held that a defendant’s act in placing pictures of child’s head on nude bodies of adult women was insufficient to support conviction for possession of child pornography, as these pictures did not involve sexual exploitation of an actual child. (People v. Gerber (2011) 196 Cal.App.4th 368, 377.)

"The problem with SB 1276 is that it modifies the definition of "sexual exploitation" in a way that criminalizes the creation of content that is produced, not as the result of the victimization of actual children, but through artificial intelligence. While the bill language does require the depiction of an actual person – as opposed to the recent amendments to Section 311.11, which criminalize content that depicts what appears to be a person under 18 – as drafted the bill would violate the First Amendment, because it does not require the victimization of an actual child in the production of computer-generated content.

"In Gerber, the defendant challenged his conviction under Section 311.11(a) on the grounds that the content he possessed had been created using Microsoft Paint, by replacing his minor daughter’s face on pornographic images of women he had downloaded from the Internet. Citing Ashcroft, the Gerber court found such images are protected by the First Amendment. In so holding the court found "that the articulated rationales underlying both the Ferber and Free Speech Coalition decisions compel the conclusion that such altered materials are closer to virtual child pornography than to real child pornography since the use of photo editing software to replace an adult's head with a child's head on pornographic images of the adult does not necessarily involve sexual exploitation of an actual child." (Gerber, supra, 196 Cal.App.4th at p. 386.)

"The amendments to section 11165.1 that SB 1276 proposes raise the same concerns. To pass constitutional muster, the statute would need to limit application of the prohibition of “digitally altered to artificial-intelligence-generated matter” to instances where a child is victimized, not circumstances like those in Gerber, where the computer-generated image depicts part of a real child, but the sexual-conduct aspect of the image is computer-generated and did not involve an actual child in its creation.

"As a society, we should focus our criminal laws on behavior which harms actual victims, and not on severe punishments based on whether a person has deviant sexual interests. Sexual exploitation of real children is simply not the same as virtual content created by artificial intelligence, no matter how offensive that content may be."

FISCAL COMMENTS

According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee:

1. Non-reimbursable local incarceration costs of an unknown amount for additional convictions. A first violation is punishable by a fine of not more than $2,000, by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or both. A person previously convicted of a violation of that subdivision or any section of the same chapter is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison. Actual costs will depend on the number of convictions and the length of each sentence. The average annual cost to incarcerate one person in county jail is approximately $29,000, though costs are higher in larger counties. County incarceration costs are not subject to reimbursement by the state. However, overcrowding in county jails creates cost pressure on the General Fund (GF) because the state has historically granted new funding to counties to offset overcrowding resulting from public safety realignment.
2. Increased state incarceration costs of an unknown amount (GF) to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to the extent additional persons with qualifying prior convictions are committed to state prison. The Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates the average annual cost to incarcerate one person in state prison at $128,000; CDCR estimates $135,921. If two people are incarcerated in state prison as a result of this crime's expansion, the resulting incarceration costs to CDCR would exceed this committee's suspense threshold.
3. Potential court cost pressures of an unknown amount (Trial Court Trust Fund (TCTF), GF) to adjudicate additional charges. The conduct reached by this bill — downloading, streaming, and accessing — is substantially more common than the development, duplication, printing, and exchange the statute currently reaches, so the number of chargeable violations could increase. Actual costs will depend on the number of charges filed and the time needed to adjudicate each case. Although courts are not funded on the basis of workload, increased pressure on the TCTF may create a demand for increased funding for courts from the GF. The state budget provides annual GF backfills to the TCTF to offset revenue reductions, totaling approximately $117.3 million in 2025-26.

VOTES

SENATE FLOOR: 33-0-7

YES: Archuleta, Arreguín, Ashby, Blakespear, Cabaldon, Caballero, Cervantes, Choi, Cortese, Dahle, Durazo, Gonzalez, Grayson, Grove, Jones, Laird, Limón, McGuire, McNerney, Menjivar, Ochoa Bogh, Pérez, Reyes, Richardson, Rubio, Seyarto, Smallwood-Cuevas, Strickland, Umberg, Valladares, Wahab, Weber Pierson, Wiener

ABS, ABST OR NV: Allen, Alvarado-Gil, Becker, Hurtado, Niello, Padilla, Stern

ASM PUBLIC SAFETY: 9-0-0

YES: Schultz, Alanis, Mark González, Haney, Harabedian, Lackey, Nguyen, Ramos, Sharp-Collins

ASM PRIVACY AND CONSUMER PROTECTION: 15-0-0

YES: Bauer-Kahan, Macedo, Bryan, DeMaio, Hoover, Irwin, Lowenthal, McKinnor, Ortega, Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Ward, Bennett, Wilson

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 11-0-4

YES: Wicks, Arambula, Calderon, Caloza, Fong, Mark González, Krell, Pacheco, Pellerin, Sharp-Collins, Solache

ABS, ABST OR NV: Hoover, Dixon, Ta, Tangipa

UPDATED

VERSION: August 13, 2026

CONSULTANT: Kimberly Horiuchi / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 FN: 0003543

Date of Hearing: August 5, 2026

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Buffy Wicks, Chair

SBPCA Bill Id:SB 1276

Author:(Rubio) – As Introduced Ver:February 20, 2026

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: Yes Reimbursable: No

SUMMARY:

This bill expands the crime of sexual exploitation of a child to reach downloading, streaming, or accessing depictions of a minor engaged in sexual conduct, and conforms the definition of sexual exploitation under the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA).

More specifically, this bill:

1. Expands the crime of sexual exploitation of a child to apply to a person who knowingly downloads, streams, or accesses through electronic or digital media any representation of information, data, or image, as specified, that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct.
2. Provides that the crime does not apply to a child under 18 years of age alleged to have solely engaged in viewing sexual conduct through a video stream.
3. Expands the definition of sexual exploitation under CANRA to include a person who depicts a child in, or who knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, downloads, streams, accesses through any electronic or digital media, or exchanges, digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct, as described.

FISCAL EFFECT:

1. Non-reimbursable local incarceration costs of an unknown amount for additional convictions. A first violation is punishable by a fine of not more than $2,000, by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or both. A person previously convicted of a violation of that subdivision or any section of the same chapter is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison. Actual costs will depend on the number of convictions and the length of each sentence. The average annual cost to incarcerate one person in county jail is approximately $29,000, though costs are higher in larger counties. County incarceration costs are not subject to reimbursement by the state. However, overcrowding in county jails creates cost pressure on the General Fund (GF) because the state has historically granted new funding to counties to offset overcrowding resulting from public safety realignment.
2. Increased state incarceration costs of an unknown amount (GF) to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to the extent additional persons with qualifying prior convictions are committed to state prison. The Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates the average annual cost to incarcerate one person in state prison at $128,000; CDCR estimates $135,921. If two people are incarcerated in state prison as a result of this crime’s expansion, the resulting incarceration costs to CDCR would exceed this committee’s suspense threshold.
3. Potential court cost pressures of an unknown amount (Trial Court Trust Fund (TCTF), GF) to adjudicate additional charges. The conduct reached by this bill — downloading, streaming, and accessing — is substantially more common than the development, duplication, printing, and exchange the statute currently reaches, so the number of chargeable violations could increase. Actual costs will depend on the number of charges filed and the time needed to adjudicate each case. Although courts are not funded on the basis of workload, increased pressure on the TCTF may create a demand for increased funding for courts from the GF. The state budget provides annual GF backfills to the TCTF to offset revenue reductions, totaling approximately $117.3 million in 2025-26.

COMMENTS:

1. Purpose. According to the author:

As technology evolves, so do the methods predators use to exploit children. Livestreaming platforms and AI-generated content have created dangerous new loopholes that bad actors are actively using to harm minors, and our current laws have not kept pace. SB 1276, the End Child Exploitation Act, closes those loopholes once and for all.

1. Background. Penal Code Section 311.3, added in 1981, makes a person guilty of sexual exploitation of a child for knowingly developing, duplicating, printing, or exchanging specified representations depicting a person under 18 years of age engaged in sexual conduct. The Court of Appeal has described the purpose of the section as protecting children from sexual abuse and from invasion of their privacy rights, observing that children depicted in such material are exploited by the original conduct, by the creation of a permanent record, again each time that record is reproduced, and again when the material is viewed or passed to another. Existing law has been amended repeatedly to reach new technologies, most recently in 2024, when AB 1831 (Berman), Chapter 926, Statutes of 2024, and SB 1381 (Wahab), Chapter 929, Statutes of 2024, extended the child pornography and obscenity statutes to digitally altered and artificial-intelligence-generated matter. The verbs in Section 311.3 describe active conduct — developing, duplicating, printing, exchanging. Livestreamed material, which is generally not preserved after a stream ends, may leave no file for a viewer to develop, duplicate, or exchange. This bill addresses that gap by reaching downloading, streaming, and accessing.

Separately, CANRA, enacted in 1980, requires mandated reporters to report known and reasonably suspected child abuse and neglect, and defines sexual abuse to include sexual exploitation. The CANRA definition of sexual exploitation currently reaches conduct involving specified physical media depicting obscene sexual conduct, and does not reach digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter. The California District Attorneys Association contends the resulting mismatch between the criminal statute and the reporting statute creates confusion for mandated reporters and for those enforcing the law. This bill conforms the two definitions. The California Attorneys for Criminal Justice contends the CANRA amendment raises First Amendment concerns, citing Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (2002) 535 U.S. 234, in which the United States Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on virtual child pornography on the ground that such material records no crime and creates no victim in its production, and People v. Gerber (2011) 196 Cal.App.4th 368, in which the Court of Appeal held that images created by placing a child’s face on the bodies of adults did not involve sexual exploitation of an actual child. To the extent the bill is challenged in court, any defense costs would be borne by the Department of Justice.

1. Prior Legislation. SB 933 (Wahab), of the 2023-2024 Legislative Session, would have defined computer-generated images for purposes of the child sexual abuse material statutes and required the Department of Justice to report on violations involving artificial-intelligence-generated material. SB 933 was held on this committee’s suspense file.

Analysis Prepared by: Shiran Zohar / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: July 1, 2026

Fiscal:

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PRIVACY AND CONSUMER PROTECTION

Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, Chair

SBPCA Bill Id:SB 1276

Author:(Rubio) – As Introduced Ver:February 20, 2026

SENATE VOTE: 33-0

SUBJECT: Crimes: sexual exploitation of a child

SYNOPSIS

California has a robust statutory scheme to protect children from sexual exploitation. Additionally, the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA) designates certain persons as “mandated reporters” who are required to report suspected abuse to relevant authorities. Nevertheless, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and livestreaming have enabled a new class of pedophiles to access and proliferate child sexual abuse content, presenting new and unique challenges for law enforcement who often struggle to keep pace with the new technologies.

This bill aims to address emerging technologies such as streaming by expanding the crime of sexual exploitation of a child to include downloading, streaming, or accessing through electronic or digital media depictions of a minor engaged in a sexual act. Additionally, this bill updates the definition of sexual exploitation in CANRA to include a person who knowingly engages with digitally altered or AI-generated matter depicting a child engaged in a sexual act. These changes harmonize the crime of sexual exploitation of a child with the definition of sexual exploitation in CANRA.

This bill is sponsored by the Los Angeles City Attorney and supported by, amongst others, the California Teachers Association, the American Association of University Women, the California District Attorneys Association, and the California State Sheriffs’ Association. The bill is opposed by the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice.

This bill was previously heard by the Public Safety Committee, where it passed on a 9-0 vote.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Prohibits, except as provided, the act of knowingly sending or causing to be sent, or bringing or causing to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or possessing, preparing, publishing, producing, developing, duplicating, or printing in this state any representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to specified media, or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, with intent to distribute or to exhibit to, or to exchange with, others, or offering to distribute, distributing, or exhibiting to, or exchanging with, others, any obscene matter, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age, or contains digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated data depicting what appears to be a person under 18 years of age, engaging in or simulating sexual conduct, as defined, and is punishable as an alternate-felony-misdemeanor. (Pen. Code, § 311.1(a).)
2. Provides that every person who knowingly sends or causes to be sent, or brings or causes to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or in this state possesses, prepares, publishes, produces, develops, duplicates, or prints any representation of information, data, or image, including specified media that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, with intent to distribute or to exhibit to, or to exchange with, others for commercial consideration, or who offers to distribute, distributes, or exhibits to, or exchanges with, others for commercial consideration, any obscene matter, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age personally engaging in or personally simulating sexual conduct or that it contains a digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated depiction of what appears to be a person under 18 years of age engaging in such conduct is guilty of a felony. (Pen. Code, § 311.2(b).)
3. Provides that every person who knowingly sends or causes to be sent, or brings or causes to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or in this state possesses, prepares, publishes, produces, develops, duplicates, or prints any representation of information, data, or image, including specified media or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, with intent to distribute or exhibit to, or to exchange with, a person 18 years of age or older, or who offers to distribute, distributes, or exhibits to, or exchanges with, a person 18 years of age or older any matter, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age personally engaging in or personally simulating sexual conduct, or any obscene matter that contains a digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated depiction of what appears to be a person under 18 years of age engaging in such conduct, shall be guilty of a crime, punishable as a wobbler. (Pen. Code, § 311.2(c).)
4. Prohibits knowingly sending or causing to be sent, or bringing or causing to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or possessing, preparing, publishing, producing, developing, duplicating, or printing in this state any representation of information, data, or image, including specified media or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, with intent to distribute or exhibit to, or to exchange with, a person under 18 years of age, or offering to distribute, distributing, or exhibiting to, or exchanging with, a person under 18 years of age any matter, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age personally engaging in or personally simulating sexual conduct, or any obscene matter that contains a digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated depiction of what appears to be a person under 18 years of age engaging in such conduct, punishable as a felony. (Pen. Code, § 311.2(d).)
5. Provides that a person is guilty of sexual exploitation of a child if that person knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, or exchanges any representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to, any film, filmstrip, photograph, negative, slide, photocopy, videotape, video laser disc, computer hardware, computer software, computer floppy disc, data storage media, CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read-Only Memory), or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct, punishable as a misdemeanor for a first offense and as a felony for any second or subsequent offense. (Pen. Code, § 311.3(a).)
6. For the purposes of the crime of sexual exploitation of a child, defines “sexual conduct” as any of several enumerated sexual acts. (Pen. Code, § 311.3(c).)
7. Establishes the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA) which is generally intended to protect children from abuse and neglect with a focus on the needs of the victim. (Pen. Code, § 11164.)
8. Provides that a person is guilty of a crime if they intentionally create and distribute or cause to be distributed any photo realistic image, digital image, electronic image, computer image, computer-generated image, or other pictorial representation of an intimate body part or parts of another identifiable person, or an image of the person depicted engaged in a sexual act by the person depicted or in which the person depicted participates that was created in a manner that would cause a reasonable person to believe the image is an authentic image of the person depicted, under circumstances in which the person distributing the image knows or should know that distribution of the image will cause serious emotional distress, and the person depicted suffers that distress. (Pen. Code, § 647).
9. Requires social media platforms to provide a mechanism for a reporting user who is a California resident to report sexually explicit digital identity theft to the platform. (Bus. & Prof. Code § 22671).

THIS BILL:

1. Expands the crime of sexual exploitation of a child to apply to anyone who downloads, streams, or accesses through electronic or digital media any representation of information, data, or image that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct.
   1. Exempts a child under 18 years of age alleged to have solely engaged in viewing sexual conduct through a video stream.
2. Expands the definition of “sexual exploitation” under CANRA to include a person who depicts a child in, or who knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, downloads, streams, accesses through any electronic or digital media, or exchanges digitally altered or AI-generated matter that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct.

COMMENTS:

1) Author’s statement. According to the author:

Every child deserves to be safe and California law must reflect that without exception. As technology evolves, so do the methods predators use to exploit children. Livestreaming platforms and AI-generated content have created dangerous new loopholes that bad actors are actively using to harm minors, and our current laws have not kept pace. SB 1276, the End Child Exploitation Act, closes those loopholes once and for all. This bill amends the Penal Code to make clear that knowingly watching a livestream of a minor engaged in sexual conduct is a crime, full stop. It also updates the definition of sexual exploitation to specifically include AI-generated and digitally altered images or videos that depict minors in sexual acts. The technology may be new, but the harm is just as real, and the law should treat it that way. No technicality should stand between a child and justice. No predator should escape accountability simply because they exploited a gap in the law. SB 1276 sends an unambiguous message: California will not tolerate the sexual exploitation of children in any form. I am proud to author this bill and call on my colleagues to stand with California's children. Protecting the most vulnerable among us is not a partisan issue, it is a moral obligation.

2) Criminalizing child sexual exploitation. California has a robust and longstanding statutory scheme prohibiting the creation, possession, and transfer of child pornography, often referred to as child sexual abuse material. Under section 311.3 of the California Penal Code, the knowing development, duplication, printing, or exchanging of any representation of information, data, or image that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct is classified as sexual exploitation of a child. According to the Court of Appeals of California:

The purpose of section 311.3 is to protect children from sexual abuse and invasion of their privacy rights through the development and duplication of photographs, movies and video tapes depicting them engaged in sexual conduct. Legally incapable of consent, these children are perpetually exploited, first by the original performance of these acts; then by the creation of a permanent record of the conduct; again each time that record is reproduced; and then again when that photograph, film or video tape is viewed or passed on to another. In addition, these materials are used to induce other children to engage in sexual activity.^[1]

Since its enactment in 1981, section 311.3 has been updated several times to address emerging technologies. According to the Senate Public Safety’s analysis of SB 1276:

In the mid 1990s, the law was updated to apply to new innovations in computer technology, prohibiting representations of information, data or images contained on a host of new media, including laser discs, computer hardware, computer software, CD-ROM, and others.^[2] In 2024, this provision of the statute was once again amended to bring it into alignment with modern technologies, prohibiting the aforementioned conduct (development, duplication, etc.) of representations of child pornography that incorporate any “digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter.”^[3]

3) Artificial intelligence (AI) and child sexual exploitation. The advent of generative AI (sometimes referred to as GenAI or GAI) has reshaped much of modern life, from helping draft emails to teaching high schoolers calculus. However, the ability to generate realistic audio, text, and images has also enabled bad actors to create and disseminate child sexual abuse materials to wider audiences. In order for GenAI to create realistic images and text, the software must first be trained on thousands of datapoints, collected from across the internet, often through conducting “scrapes” of all available images and text found online. Thus, real images of real people go into the training datasets that help develop these programs, victimizing real people whose images are then used to generate realistic AI child sexual exploitation content.

Additionally, evidence suggests that using AI technology to produce child sexual and other sexualizing content of children – such as using AI companions that mimic a child’s voice and likeness – may reinforce fantasies of abuse and may, consequently, drive pedophiles to commit hands-on acts of child abuse and sexual exploitation.^[4] Given the real harms that may befall children due to GenAI child sexual exploitation content, in 2024 California updated its sexual exploitation statutes to include digital and AI-generated images of children.

Despite increasing state regulations criminalizing the possession, distribution, and development of GenAI child sexual abuse content, reports of this content continue to proliferate. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), 2024 saw a record increase in AI-generated child sexual abuse materials reports (commonly referred to as CSAM), with over 67,000 cases reported.^[5] As detailed in NCMEC’s 2025 report on the trends in the tips received on their CyberTipline:

NCMEC continues to hear from many children and families who have been harmed by the use of AI technology in the exploitation of children. Reports to the CyberTipline in 2025 included 1.5 million reports of exploitation with a GAI nexus. Of the total volume, more than 1.1 million reports submitted by Amazon AI Services related to the detection of potential CSAM within AI training datasets. Those reports did not include actionable offender or victim-related information.^[6] Excluding those submissions, more than 182,000 reports involved offenders possessing, generating or attempting to generate GAI CSAM, underscoring the increasing role of generative AI in enabling and scaling child sexual exploitation and abuse. This also includes the revictimization of known victims of CSAM with offenders using AI to manipulate existing abusive imagery to create new content. Since 2023, when we started tracking the use of GAI, more than 275 victims of GAI CSAM have been identified, and more than 158,000 images and videos have been categorized as GAI CSAM.^[7] 

4) CANRA. Enacted in 1980, the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA) seeks to protect children from abuse and neglect via a comprehensive reporting scheme that requires persons in positions where abuse is likely to be detected – known as “mandated reporters” – to promptly report all suspected and known instances of child abuse and neglect to relevant authorities. CANRA identifies nearly 50 separate categories of mandated reporters, including teachers, school employees, doctors, athletic coaches, police officers, firefighters, social workers, and individuals who are in direct contact or supervision of minors.^[8]

Under CANRA, the definition of “sexual abuse” is broadly defined, capturing both the definitions of “sexual assault” and “sexual exploitation” as well as by referencing existing crimes. This bill adds digital and AI generated images to the definition of sexual exploitation in CANRA. Since the duty to report is triggered by the nature of the material or conduct and not the ability to identify a specific victim or perpetrator, the bill requires mandated reporters to report any knowledge or reasonable suspicion of digitally altered or AI-generated matter that depicts a person under 18 engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including AI or digitally generated images.

5) Livestreaming. Livestreaming refers to the recording and broadcasting of video footage over the internet in real time. Almost every social media platform allows livestreaming in some form, either by directly allowing person-to-person livestreaming such as on WhatsApp or Discord, or by allowing a user to stream directly to thousands of followers such as on TikTok Live, Facebook Live, YouTube, Snapchat, and Twitch. Streaming also captures video call software such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom. Livestreaming, unlike other forms of internet communication, disappears after the stream ends unless it is recorded, leaving little record of the content.

Livestreaming is increasingly being used to allow pedophiles to watch children being sexually assaulted in real time, with trace records of the abuse once the livestream ends. The majority of the victims of child sexual abuse are young girls, with some statistics putting the number as high as 99 percent of all content depicting children featuring girls being sexually assaulted, with the average age of the victim falling between three and thirteen years old.^[9] The vast majority of individuals convicted for possession of child pornography are men, with the United States Sentencing Commission reporting that 98.8 percent of all convicted individuals from 2019-2023 were men with the average age of 41 years old.^[10] Thus, the creation, possession, and distribution of content depicting children being sexually-assaulted is a heavily gendered-issue, and the discrepancies in the genders of abusers and victims should be considered during discussions of child sexual exploitation.

According to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), there are generally three types of livestreaming child sexual exploitation (LCSE): child “self-generated,” offender-streaming, and virtual child sex trafficking. The DOJ defines these three categories of livestreaming child sexual exploitation as follows:

Child “Self-Generated”: This type of LCSE occurs when an offender coerces, tricks, or otherwise compels children to engage in sexually explicit conduct on a livestream, typically from the child’s bedrooms or a bathroom. In some cases, this activity occurs under the pretext of the offender and victim being in a romantic relationship.

Offender-streaming: Offender-streaming LCSE occurs when an offender sexually abuses a child in person while livestreaming the abuse to viewers. The offender is usually someone who knows, and has easy access to, the victim, such as a family member or a family friend. The viewers may not know each other in real life. They often participate in the activity by requesting that specific sex acts be committed.

Virtual Child Sex Trafficking: In this form of LCSE, offenders pay to watch while another offender sexually abuses a child in person or offenders pay a victim directly to create “self-generated” CSAM. Because of the interactive nature of livestreaming platforms, offenders can request specific sexual abuse acts for an additional cost. Payment is usually made digitally. This offense often involves offenders in the United States and facilitators and children in foreign countries. Children may be transported from rural areas of that foreign country to urban settings in furtherance of this crime.^[11]

Livestreaming the children being sexually assaulted is becoming an increasing problem for law enforcement, due in part to the explosion of livestreaming technologies following the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a 2021 survey of individuals who watch children being sexually assaulted in videos and otherwise, nearly half of all respondents had livestreamed children being sexually assaulted (45 percent), a statistic that is likely only growing given the widespread availability of livestreaming opportunities.^[12] Given that livestreaming is rarely preserved on the platform that broadcasts it, combined with the fact that most social media and streaming platforms do not voluntarily monitor their platforms for sexual assaults occurring over livestreaming, catching and preventing livestreamed sexual abuse can prove exceedingly difficult.

6) What this bill would do. This bill makes a person guilty of a misdemeanor or felony if the person downloads, streams, or accesses through electronic or digital media depictions of a minor engaged in a sexual act. By classifying the act of knowingly streaming child sexual abuse as a crime under California law, this bill attempts to keep pace with emerging technologies and to continue to hold accountable men who use these technologies to perpetrate harm. Additionally, this bill broadens the definition of “sexual exploitation” under the CANRA to include a person who depicts a child in, or who knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, downloads, streams, or accesses through any electronic or digital media any digitally altered or AI-generated materials that depict a person under 18 years of age engaged in a sexual act. By expanding this definition, this bill aims to bring the definitions of sexual exploitation under the CANRA into alignment with current criminal statutes.

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: California District Attorneys Association write in support:

Under existing law, Penal Code section 311.3 criminalizes conduct involving the sexual exploitation of a minor in the production of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Separately, CANRA defines “sexual exploitation” for purposes of mandatory reporting by professionals who are required to report suspected child abuse or neglect. Differences between these definitions can create confusion for mandated reporters and those responsible for enforcing the law.

SB 1276 resolves this inconsistency by harmonizing these definitions, ensuring that the conduct triggering mandatory reporting obligations aligns with the criminal statute addressing sexual exploitation. This clarification will promote more effective reporting, investigation, and prosecution of crimes involving the exploitation of children.

Additionally, SB 1276 clarifies that a person who knowingly watches a video stream of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) falls within the scope of Penal Code section 311.3. As technology evolves, offenders increasingly access CSAM through live or streamed formats rather than through downloaded files. Ensuring that knowingly viewing such streamed material is covered by the statute closes a potential gap in the law and strengthens the ability of prosecutors to hold offenders accountable.

Protecting children from sexual exploitation is a critical priority for prosecutors and law enforcement across California. By improving statutory consistency and clarifying that streamed CSAM falls within the scope of Penal Code section 311.3, SB 1276 strengthens the framework that supports the identification and prosecution of those who exploit children.

ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: In opposition to the bill, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice argues:

Child pornography is morally repugnant. However, what makes child pornography criminal—and why possession and distribution of child pornography is punished so severely (including potential lifetime sex registration)—is not the immorality of the content. The central basis of the criminality of child pornography is the victimization of actual children in its creation. For instance, if consenting adults dress up as children and pretend to be children for the purposes of sexual roleplay or creation of pornography, this behavior is not considered illegal, even if many would deem such behavior highly offensive and morally repugnant. And virtual child pornography, to the extent it does not involve the depiction and victimization of actual children, similarly is not categorically criminal, and in fact implicates the First Amendment. The United States Supreme Court struck down a federal law banning virtual child pornography for precisely this reason. (See Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (2002) 535 U.S. 234.) As the high court explained, in contrast to the child pornography at issue in New York v. Ferber (1982) 458 U. S. 747—a form of speech that was itself a record of sexual abuse—the federal law banning virtual child pornography “prohibits speech that records no crime and creates no victims by its production. Virtual child pornography is not ‘intrinsically related’ to the sexual abuse of children, as were the materials in Ferber.” (Ashcroft, supra, 535 U.S. at p. 234.) Applying some of these principles, California Courts have held that a defendant’s act in placing pictures of child’s head on nude bodies of adult women was insufficient to support conviction for possession of child pornography, as these pictures did not involve sexual exploitation of an actual child. (People v. Gerber (2011) 196 Cal.App.4th 368, 377.)

The problem with SB 1276 is that it modifies the definition of “sexual exploitation” in a way that criminalizes the creation of content that is produced, not as the result of the victimization of actual children, but through artificial intelligence. While the bill language does require the depiction of an actual person – as opposed to the recent amendments to Section 311.11, which criminalize content that depicts what appears to be a person under 18 – as drafted the bill would violate the First Amendment, because it does not require the victimization of an actual child in the production of computer-generated content.

[…]

As a society, we should focus our criminal laws on behavior which harms actual victims, and not on severe punishments based on whether a person has deviant sexual interests. Sexual exploitation of real children is simply not the same as virtual content created by artificial intelligence, no matter how offensive that content may be.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

Los Angeles City Attorney (sponsor)

American Association of University Women - California
California District Attorneys Association
California State Sheriffs' Association
California Teachers Association
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office

Oppose

California Attorneys for Criminal Justice

Analysis Prepared by: Kate Davis / P. & C.P. / (916) 319-2200

1. In re Duncan (1987) 189 Cal.App.3d 1348, 1358-59. ↑

2. AB 927 (Honeycutt), Ch. 55, Stats. of 1994 ↑

3. SB 1381 (Wahab), Ch. 926, Stats. of 2024. ↑

4. Tegan Insoll, A. Ovaska, and N. Vaaranen-Valkonen, “CSAM Users in the Dark Web: Protecting Children Through Prevention,” Protect Children, (Sep. 2021), p. 16, https://www.suojellaanlapsia.fi/en/post/csam-users-in-the-dark-web-protecting-children-through-prevention, (Insoll et al., “CSAM Users in the Dark Web.”). ↑

5. WeProtect Global Alliance, Global threat Assessment 2025, (2025), https://www.weprotect.org/global-threat-assessment-25/. ↑

6. “Amazon’s efforts to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse material,” Amazon News, (Apr. 21, 2026), https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/policy-news-views/amazon-csam-transparency-report-2025. ↑

7. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 2025 CyberTipline Report, (2025), https://ncmec.org/gethelpnow/cybertipline/cybertiplinedata. ↑

8. Pen. Code § 11165.7. ↑

9. “Online child sexual abuse and exploitation statistics,” Thorn, (Mar. 3, 2026), https://safer.io/resources/csam-problem-of-epidemic-proportions/. ↑

10. The United States Sentencing Commission, Quick Facts: Child Pornography Offenses, (2023), https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/research-and-publications/quick-facts/Child_Pornography_FY23.pdf.

    Given that men represent the vast majority of convictions for possessing child sexual assault content and girls represent the majority of victims of child sexual abuse, this analysis will refer to perpetrators of these crimes as men, rather than using gender neutral terms. ↑

11. U.S. Department of Justice, Livestreaming Child Sexual Exploitation, (June 2023), p. 1, https://www.justice.gov/d9/2023-06/livestreaming_and_virtual_child_sex_trafficking_2.pdf. ↑

12. Insoll et al., “CSAM Users in the Dark Web,” p. 31. ↑

Date of Hearing: June 23, 2026

Counsel: Kimberly Horiuchi

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY

Nick Schultz, Chair

SBPCA Bill Id:SB 1276

Author:(Rubio) – As Introduced Ver:February 20, 2026

SUMMARY: Expands the crime of sexual exploitation of a child to include downloading, streaming, or accessing through electronic or digital media specified depictions of a minor engaged in an act of sexual conduct. Specifically, this bill:

1. Expands the crime of sexual exploitation of a child to apply to anyone who downloads, streams, or accesses through electronic or digital media any representation of information, data, or image, as specified above, that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct.
2. Specifies that the crime of sexual exploitation of a child does not apply to a child under 18 years of age alleged to have solely engaged in viewing sexual conduct through a video stream.
3. Expands the definition of “sexual exploitation” for the purposes of the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA) to include a person who depicts a child in, or who knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, downloads, streams, accesses through any electronic or digital media, or exchanges digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Prohibits, except as provided, the act of knowingly sending or causing to be sent, or bringing or causing to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or possessing, preparing, publishing, producing, developing, duplicating, or printing in this state any representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to specified media, or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, with intent to distribute or to exhibit to, or to exchange with, others, or offering to distribute, distributing, or exhibiting to, or exchanging with, others, any obscene matter, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age, or contains digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated data depicting what appears to be a person under 18 years of age, engaging in or simulating sexual conduct, as defined, and is punishable as an alternate-felony-misdemeanor. (Pen. Code, § 311.1, subd. (a).)
2. Prohibits the act of knowingly sending or causing to be sent, or bringing or causing to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or possessing, preparing, publishing, producing, developing, duplicating, or printing in this state, with intent to distribute or exhibit to others, or offering to distribute, distributing, exhibiting to others any obscene matter, punishable as a misdemeanor. (Pen. Code, § 311.2, subd. (a).)
3. Provides that every person who knowingly sends or causes to be sent, or brings or causes to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or in this state possesses, prepares, publishes, produces, develops, duplicates, or prints any representation of information, data, or image, including specified media that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, with intent to distribute or to exhibit to, or to exchange with, others for commercial consideration, or who offers to distribute, distributes, or exhibits to, or exchanges with, others for commercial consideration, any obscene matter, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age personally engaging in or personally simulating sexual conduct or that it contains a digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated depiction of what appears to be a person under 18 years of age engaging in such conduct is guilty of a felony. (Pen. Code, § 311.2, subd. (b).)
4. Provides that every person who knowingly sends or causes to be sent, or brings or causes to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or in this state possesses, prepares, publishes, produces, develops, duplicates, or prints any representation of information, data, or image, including specified media or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, with intent to distribute or exhibit to, or to exchange with, a person 18 years of age or older, or who offers to distribute, distributes, or exhibits to, or exchanges with, a person 18 years of age or older any matter, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age personally engaging in or personally simulating sexual conduct, or any obscene matter that contains a digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated depiction of what appears to be a person under 18 years of age engaging in such conduct, shall be guilty of a crime, punishable as a wobbler. (Pen. Code, § 311.2, subd. (c).)
5. Prohibits knowingly sending or causing to be sent, or bringing or causing to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or possessing, preparing, publishing, producing, developing, duplicating, or printing in this state any representation of information, data, or image, including specified media or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, with intent to distribute or exhibit to, or to exchange with, a person under 18 years of age, or offering to distribute, distributing, or exhibiting to, or exchanging with, a person under 18 years of age any matter, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age personally engaging in or personally simulating sexual conduct, or any obscene matter that contains a digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated depiction of what appears to be a person under 18 years of age engaging in such conduct, punishable as a felony. (Pen. Code, § 311.2, subd. (d).)
6. Provides that every person who, with knowledge that a person is a minor under 18 years of age, or who, while in possession of any facts on the basis of which they should reasonably know that the person is a minor under 18 years of age, knowingly promotes, employs, uses, persuades, induces, or coerces a minor under 18 years of age, or any parent or guardian of a minor under 18 years of age who is under their control who knowingly permits the minor, to engage in or assist others to engage in either posing or modeling alone or with others for purposes of preparing any representation of information, data, or image, including specified media or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, or live performance, involving sexual conduct by a minor under 18 years of age alone or with other persons or animals, is guilty of a felony. (Pen. Code, § 311.4, subd. (c).)
7. Provides that a person is guilty of sexual exploitation of a child if that person knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, or exchanges any representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to, any film, filmstrip, photograph, negative, slide, photocopy, videotape, video laser disc, computer hardware, computer software, computer floppy disc, data storage media, CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read-Only Memory), or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct, punishable as a misdemeanor for a first offense and as a felony for any second or subsequent offense. (Pen. Code, § 311.3, subd. (a).)
8. Specifies that it is not necessary to prove that the matter is obscene in order to establish the violation above. (Pen. Code, § 311.3, subd. (b).)
9. Provides that the crime of sexual exploitation of a child does not apply to law enforcement and prosecution agencies, to legitimate medical, scientific, or education activities, or to lawful conduct between spouses. (Pen. Code, § 311.3, subd. (d).)
10. For the purposes of the crime of sexual exploitation of a child, defines “sexual conduct” as any of several enumerated sexual acts. (Pen. Code, § 311.3, subd. (c).)
11. Establishes CANRA which is generally intended to protect children from abuse and neglect with a focus on the needs of the victim. (Pen. Code, § 11164.)
12. Defines “neglect” under CANRA as the negligent treatment or the maltreatment of a child by a person responsible for the child’s welfare under circumstances indicating harm or threatened harm to the child’s health or welfare. The term includes both acts and omissions on the part of the responsible reporting person. (Pen. Code, § 11165.2)
13. Defines “severe neglect” under CANRA as the negligent failure of a person having the care or custody of a child to protect the child from severe malnutrition or medically diagnosed nonorganic failure to thrive. “Severe neglect” also means those situations of neglect where any person having the care or custody of a child willfully causes or permits the person or health of the child to be placed in a situation such that his or her person or health is endangered, as specified, including the intentional failure to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical care. (Pen. Code, § 11165.2, subd. (a).)
14. Defines “child abuse or neglect” under CANRA to include physical injury or death inflicted by other than accidental means upon a child by another person, sexual abuse as defined, neglect as defined, the willful harming or injuring of a child or the endangering of the person or health of a child as defined, and unlawful corporal punishment or injury. “Child abuse or neglect” does not include a mutual affair between minors. “Child abuse or neglect” does not include an injury caused by reasonable and necessary force used by a peace officer acting within the course and scope of his or her employment as a peace officer. (Pen. Code, § 11165.6.)
15. Requires any mandated reporter who has knowledge of or observes a child, their professional capacity or within the scope of their employment whom they know, or reasonably suspect has been the victim of child abuse or neglect, to report it as specified, to any police or sheriff's department, a county probation department if designated by the county to receive mandated reports, or the county welfare department. (Pen. Code, §§ 11166, subd. (a), 11165.9.)
16. For the purposes of CANRA, specifies that “sexual abuse” means sexual assault or sexual exploitation as defined by the following:
    1. “Sexual assault” means illegal sexual conduct as defined in several specified sections of the Penal Code, including provisions criminalizing rape, statutory rape, rape in concert, incest, sodomy, oral copulation, lewd or lascivious acts upon a child, sexual penetration, or child molestation, as specified.
       
    2. “Sexual exploitation” refers to the following:
       1. Conduct involving matter depicting a minor engaged in obscene acts in violation of the existing prohibition against preparing, selling or distributing obscene matter (Pen. Code, § 311.2) or against the employment of a minor to perform obscene acts (Pen. Code, § 311.4).
       2. A person who knowingly promotes, aids, or assists, employs, uses, persuades, induces, or coerces a child, or a person responsible for a child’s welfare, who knowingly permits or encourages a child to engage in, or assist others to engage in, prostitution or a live performance involving obscene sexual conduct, or to either pose or model alone or with others for purposes of preparing a film, photograph, negative, slide, drawing, painting, or other pictorial depiction, involving obscene sexual conduct. For the purpose of this provision, “person responsible for a child’s welfare” means a parent, guardian, foster parent, or a licensed administrator or employee of a public or private residential home, residential school, or other residential institution.
       3. A person who depicts a child in, or who knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, downloads, streams, accesses through any electronic or digital media, or exchanges, a film, photograph, videotape, video recording, negative, or slide in which a child is engaged in an act of obscene sexual conduct, except as provided. (Pen. Code, § 11165.1.)
17. Mandates the appropriate local law enforcement agency investigate a child abuse complaint filed by a parent or guardian of a pupil with a school or an agency, as specified, against a school employee or other person that commits an act of child abuse, as defined in this article, against a pupil at a school site and shall transmit a substantiated report, as defined, of that investigation to the governing board of the appropriate school district or county office of education.

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.

COMMENTS:

1. Sponsor: Los Angeles City Attorney
   
2. Author's Statement: According to the author, “Every child deserves to be safe and California law must reflect that without exception. As technology evolves, so do the methods predators use to exploit children. Livestreaming platforms and AI-generated content have created dangerous new loopholes that bad actors are actively using to harm minors, and our current laws have not kept pace. SB 1276, the End Child Exploitation Act, closes those loopholes once and for all. This bill amends the Penal Code to make clear that knowingly watching a livestream of a minor engaged in sexual conduct is a crime, full stop. It also updates the definition of sexual exploitation to specifically include AI-generated and digitally altered images or videos that depict minors in sexual acts.

“The technology may be new, but the harm is just as real, and the law should treat it that way. No technicality should stand between a child and justice. No predator should escape accountability simply because they exploited a gap in the law. SB 1276 sends an unambiguous message: California will not tolerate the sexual exploitation of children in any form. I am proud to author this bill and call on my colleagues to stand with California's children. Protecting the most vulnerable among us is not a partisan issue, it is a moral obligation.”

1. Sexual Exploitation of a Child: Existing law criminalizes the production, viewing, creation, downloading, or transfer of child sexual assault material (CSAM) (formerly referred to as child pornography). In 2024, criminal penalties around CSAM were updated to include AI-generated or digitized material that scrapes the internet and dark web for images of real children and generates them into CSAM.^[1] This bill seeks to include any person who downloads, streams, or access through electronic digital media in the definition of sexual exploitation.

Penal Code section 311.3 was added in 1981. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in New York v. Ferber (1982) 458 U.S. 747 that “the exploitive use of children in the production of pornography has become a serious national problem […] the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse of children constitutes a government objective of surpassing importance.” (Id., 458 U.S. at 757.) The Ferber court held that CSAM was not entitled to First Amendment protection, and the New York statute was not vague or overbroad. (Id. at p. 773.)

The court in In re Duncan in holding that our child exploitation statute is not unconstitutional, explained the purpose of Penal Code section 311.3 as follows:

To protect children from sexual abuse and invasion of their privacy rights through the development and duplication of photographs, movies and video tapes depicting them engaged in sexual conduct. Legally incapable of consent, these children are perpetually exploited, first by the original performance of these acts; then by the creation of a permanent record of the conduct; again, each time that record is reproduced; and then again when that photograph, film or video tape is viewed or passed on to another. In addition, these materials are used to induce other children to engage in sexual activity… The legislative history of section 311.3 reveals this provision was designed ‘to deter pedophiles from exchanging pictures of minors and to prevent child molesters from using pictures of minors engaged in sexual conduct to suggest to their victims that such acts are acceptable.’ (In re Duncan (1987) 189 Cal.App.3d 1348, 1358-59.)

Section 311.3 is either punishable by up to one year in the county jail or, if the defendant has a prior conviction for child exploitation, up to three years in state prison. A felony conviction for Penal Code section 311.3 is subject to lifetime sex offender registration. (Pen. Code, § 290, subd. (d)(3)(R).)

The sections of the Penal Code criminalizing possession, distribution, exhibition, and production of CSAM pertain to what used to called “obscenity” statutes that “protected public decency and good morals.” However, obscenity, as that term was used when most of these statutes were drafted has been mostly abandoned by the U.S. Supreme Court for anything other than CSAM. (Schauer, Out of Range: on Patently Uncovered Speech (2015) 128 Harv. L.Rev. F. 346, 349; see United States v. Stevens (2010) 559 U.S. 460, 480. However, even at its inception, Penal Code section 311.3 expressly stated that a prosecutor need not demonstrate “obscenity” to prove a charge of sexual exploitation. (Pen. Code, § 311.3, subd. (b).)

1. CSAM and AI: In 2024, AB 1831 (Berman) Chapter 926 and later, SB 1381 (Wahab) Chapter 929 updated sections 311.1 through 312.3 to include digital and AI-generated material. In 2002, the Supreme Court struck down the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996’s ban on sexually explicit images that appeared to depict minors, but were not produced using minors, unconstitutionally proscribed protected speech. (See Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (2002) 535 U.S. 234, superseded by statute in the Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to end the Exploitation of Children Today Act (“PROTECT Act”). See Pub. L. No. 108-21 (April 30, 2003), § 502(a)(1), (a)(3); 18 U.S.C. § 2256(8)(B).) As explained by contributions in the congressional record:
   

Currently prosecution of the possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and related crimes, requires proof that the material in question depicts a real child. However, advances in AI and computer technology have made it possible, cheap, and easy to create highly realistic deepfake content, including CSAM. For example, websites available to the general public offer services that modify images of real people, including children, to make them appear nude. Other websites will generate artificial images of children in any position or situation the user demands. The images are often so realistic that the human eye cannot tell they are fake.

Numerous free applications utilize generative AI technology to produce images and videos of humans that appear real. There are many sites that provide free “text-to-image” services that allow a user to generate an image (or series of images) based upon text input. Some of these services include Dall-E, Midjourney, and Kasper Art. With minimal input, a user can produce images of humans that appear to be real. This includes material that could involve children.

These results demonstrate the simplicity of the process for producing lifelike images of hypothetically “fictional” persons in realistic settings using a mobile device with no programming skills. Countless AI-image generating services not only allow the generation of nude, not-safe-for-work, or underage imagery, but actually market themselves for that ability.

Many of these services have basic free plans, but also paid plans that allow for more censor-free content generation. These services are not on the dark web, but within the open internet for anyone – including children – to find. The wide availability and use of technology in this way is deeply troubling for a number of reasons. For example, as CSAM becomes more readily available, and simultaneously more difficult to prosecute, CSAM consumers will be able to view more volume and more explicit content than before. Viewers of CSAM can then become desensitized, they will seek more harmful materials and eventually are likely to escalate their conduct to physical child sexual abuse.

Before an artificially intelligent program is utilized to create something, it needs to be taught what it is going to produce and how it is going to produce it. AI can learn to recognize and understand images through a process known as image recognition or computer vision. Image recognition occurs by analyzing data and identifying patterns or rules that it needs to follow. For example, by showing a computer dozens of images of cats and dogs, over time it will develop a generalized idea of what a cat and what a dog should look like. When shown an image, the computer should then have information to make an intelligent assumption of what kind of animal is shown. If the amount of training data provided to the AI program is increased, the accuracy of what the AI program produces should also increase.^[2]

As noted above, California updated its CSAM statutes to include digital and AI-generated images of children because the evidence demonstrates such images rely on photos of actual children and may demonstrate a propensity for criminal sexual conduct with children.

1. Child Pornography: Possession or distribution of child pornography is punishable as either a misdemeanor or felony, and in some cases, may be a state prison felony.^[3] Penal Code section 311.2, subdivision (a) criminalizes distribution or exhibition of obscene material, including child pornography, and requires a maximum sentence of one year in state prison. Additionally, Penal Code section 311.2 may be charged per image and, in some case, aggregated to increase the total sentence. (People v. Haraszewski (2012) 203 Cal.App.4th 924.) Penal Code section 311.2, subdivision (b) punishes exhibition or distribution of child pornography for commercial consideration as a felony subject to a maximum of six years in state prison. (Pen. Code, § 290, subd. (c).)

Penal Code section 311.2, subdivision (c) punishes exhibition or distribution of obscene matter to another person 18 and over knowing the material depicts a minor engaged in sexual conduct, may be sentenced to a maximum of 1 year in state prison. Penal Code section 311.2 subdivision (d) punishes distribution of obscene matter, including child pornography, to a person under the age of 18, by up to one year in county jail, or three years in state prison.

Penal Code section 311.3 criminalizes “sexual exploitation of a child” meaning knowingly developing or printing child pornography, as specified, and may be punished by up to one year in the county jail. (Pen. Code, § 311.3, subd. (d).) Penal Code section 311.4, subdivision (a) punishes knowingly employing a minor to distribute obscenity or pornography, as specified, and is subject to a punishment of up to one year in state prison. Penal Code section 311.11, subdivision (a) criminalizes possession of child pornography which is mostly punishable as a felony.

Penal Code section 311.3 criminalizes a person who knowingly develops, duplicates, or otherwise disseminates CSAM, including any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter. A person must intentionally generate the material knowing a person is underage. As the court in Duncan pointed out:

The legislative history of section 311.3 reveals that this provision was designed ‘to deter pedophiles from exchanging pictures of minors and to prevent child molesters from using pictures of minors engaged in sexual conduct to suggest to their victims that such acts are acceptable.’ (Rep. of the Sen. Com. on Jud. on Sen. Bill No. 331 (1981-1982 Reg. Sess.) p. 2.).” (Duncan, supra, 189 Cal.App.3d at 1359.)

As noted above, this bill adds any person who knowingly downloads, or accesses through electronic or digital media depicting a person under the age of 18 engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Since this is not the same as knowingly transmitting material, it is not clear whether the intent requirement applies just to a person who knowingly streams sexually explicit conduct and also knows it is CSAM. Since the term “streaming” is more passive on apps like TikTok and Insta Reels, and terms such as “develop, duplicate, print, or exchange” are more active, the author may wish to clarify whether it intends to criminalize a person who intends to stream on TikTok or Reels, but not intentionally to view CSAM.

1. CANRA: In addition to adding downloading and streaming through an electronic or digital media to the child exploitation statute, this bill also adds digital, and AI generated images to the definition of sexual exploitation in CANRA. CANRA was enacted in 1980 for the purpose of protecting children from abuse and neglect, which it seeks to accomplish via a comprehensive reporting scheme aimed toward increasing the likelihood that child abuse victims will be identified. CANRA requires persons in positions where abuse is likely to be detected – known as “mandated reporters” – to promptly report all suspected and known instances of child abuse and neglect to the relevant authorities, and identifies nearly 50 separate categories of mandated reporters, including teachers, school employees, doctors, athletic coaches, police officers, firefighters, social workers, and persons whose duties require direct contact with and supervision of minors, among many others.

A mandated reporter must make a report when they have knowledge of or observe a child whom the mandated reporter knows, or reasonably suspects is or has been the victim of child abuse or neglect.

For the purposes of CANRA, “child abuse or neglect” is defined to include physical injury or death inflicted by other than accidental means upon a child by another person, sexual abuse as defined, neglect as defined, the willful harming or injuring of a child or the endangering of the person or health of a child as defined, and unlawful corporal punishment or injury as defined.

CANRA defines “sexual abuse” broadly, both by reference to existing crimes and by establishing definitions for “sexual assault” and “sexual exploitation,” both of which fall under the ambit of “sexual abuse.” Since the duty to report is triggered by the nature of the material or conduct and not the ability to identify a specific victim or perpetrator, the bill requires mandated reporters to report any knowledge or reasonable suspicion of digitally altered or artificial intelligence generated matter that depicts a person under 18 engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including AI or digitally generated images.

1. Argument in Support: According to American Association of University Women, “Developing, printing, or exchanging sexual content of a minor under 18 is considered sexual exploitation under the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act. This includes material in any form, such as film, photographs, videotapes, computer hardware/software, data storage, or any other digital media However, possessing these items does not fall under sexual exploitation. Artificial intelligence-generated sexual content of minors is also not included in the current definition.

“SB 1276 would make it a crime to possess any depiction of a person under 18 engaged in an act of sexual conduct via download, stream, or access through electronic or digital media. The bill also expands the definition of sexual exploitation under the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act to include any digitally altered or AI-generated content depicting a person under 18. As the digital landscape evolves, we must be responsive to effectively protect children from sexual exploitation SB 1276 is an important piece of legislation that helps meet this ongoing and urgent need.”

1. Argument in Opposition: According to California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, “Child pornography is morally repugnant. However, what makes child pornography criminal—and why possession and distribution of child pornography is punished so severely (including potential lifetime sex registration)—is not the immorality of the content. The central basis of the criminality of child pornography is the victimization of actual children in its creation. For instance, if consenting adults dress up as children and pretend to be children for the purposes of sexual roleplay or creation of pornography, this behavior is not considered illegal, even if many would deem such behavior highly offensive and morally repugnant. And virtual child pornography, to the extent it does not involve the depiction and victimization of actual children, similarly is not categorically criminal, and in fact implicates the First Amendment.

“The United States Supreme Court struck down a federal law banning virtual child pornography for precisely this reason. (See Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (2002) 535 U.S. 234.) As the high court explained, in contrast to the child pornography at issue in New York v. Ferber (1982) 458 U. S. 747—a form of speech that was itself a record of sexual abuse—the federal law banning virtual child pornography “prohibits speech that records no crime and creates no victims by its production. Virtual child pornography is not ‘intrinsically related’ to the sexual abuse of children, as were the materials in Ferber.” (Ashcroft, supra, 535 U.S. at p. 234.) Applying some of these principles, California Courts have held that a defendant’s act in placing pictures of child’s head on nude bodies of adult women was insufficient to support conviction for possession of child pornography, as these pictures did not involve sexual exploitation of an actual child. (People v. Gerber (2011) 196 Cal.App.4th 368, 377.)

“The problem with SB 1276 is that it modifies the definition of “sexual exploitation” in a way that criminalizes the creation of content that is produced, not as the result of the victimization of actual children, but through artificial intelligence. While the bill language does require the depiction of an actual person – as opposed to the recent amendments to Section 311.11, which criminalize content that depicts what appears to be a person under 18 – as drafted the bill would violate the First Amendment, because it does not require the victimization of an actual child in the production of computer-generated content.

“In Gerber, the defendant challenged his conviction under Section 311.11(a) on the grounds that the content he possessed had been created using Microsoft Paint, by replacing his minor daughter’s face on pornographic images of women he had downloaded from the Internet. Citing Ashcroft, the Gerber court found such images are protected by the First Amendment. In so holding the court found “that the articulated rationales underlying both the Ferber and Free Speech Coalition decisions compel the conclusion that such altered materials are closer to virtual child pornography than to real child pornography since the use of photo editing software to replace an adult's head with a child's head on pornographic images of the adult does not necessarily involve sexual exploitation of an actual child.” (Gerber, supra, 196 Cal.App.4th at p. 386.)

“The amendments to section 11165.1 that SB 1276 proposes raise the same concerns. To pass constitutional muster, the statute would need to limit application of the prohibition of “digitally altered to artificial-intelligence-generated matter” to instances where a child is victimized, not circumstances like those in Gerber, where the computer-generated image depicts part of a real child, but the sexual-conduct aspect of the image is computer-generated and did not involve an actual child in its creation.

“As a society, we should focus our criminal laws on behavior which harms actual victims, and not on severe punishments based on whether a person has deviant sexual interests. Sexual exploitation of real children is simply not the same as virtual content created by artificial intelligence, no matter how offensive that content may be.”

1. Related Legislation: SB 1015 (Strickland) would make it a wobbler for any adult to recruit, induce, coerce or persuade a minor to commit an illegal act against another minor, or to solicit physical harm, sexual conduct, or images of an intimate body part, from another minor, as specified, and expands the crime of extortion to apply to minors in cases where the minor has knowingly threatened, intimidated or coerced another minor to engage in any sexual conduct or obtain an image of an intimate body part from another minor, as specified. SB 1015 is pending hearing in this committee.
   
2. Prior Legislation:
   
   1. AB 1831 (Berman), Chapter 926, Statutes of 2024, expanded the scope of certain provisions related to child pornography and obscene matter to include digitally altered or AI-generated matter, as provided.
      
   2. SB 1381 (Wahab), Chapter 929, Statutes of 2024, expanded the scope of certain provisions related to child pornography to include digitally altered or AI-generated matter that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in sexual conduct, as provided.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

American Association of University Women - California
California District Attorneys Association
California Family Resource Association
California State Sheriffs' Association
California Teachers Association
Child Abuse Prevention Center and its Affiliates Safe Kids California, Prevent Child Abuse California and the California Family Resource Association; the
City of Sunnyvale
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
Sistahfriends
Strength United
The California Baptist Capitol Ministry

Opposition

California Attorneys for Criminal Justice

Analysis Prepared by: Kimberly Horiuchi / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744

1. See AB 1831 (Berman), Chapter 926, Statutes of 2024; SB 1381 (Wahab), Chapter 929, Statutes of 2024. ↑

2. See Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internet Crime Complaint Center, March 2024 https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2024/PSA240329 https://enoughabuse.org/get-vocal/laws-by-state/state-laws-criminalizing-ai-generated-or-computer-edited-child-sexual-abuse-material-csam/; chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.justice.gov/d9/2023-06/child_sexual_abuse_material_2.pdf ↑

3. See fn. 1, supra. As noted, these laws have not been amended in nearly 20 years and require felony defendants to serve their sentence in state prison – rather than county jail, when not otherwise specified. In this case, many of the offenses are straight felonies – meaning that short of additional statutory language, they are subject to a state prison sentence. ↑

 THIRD READING  

Bill No: SB 1276

Author: Rubio (D)

Introduced: 2/20/26

Vote: 21

SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE: 6-0, 4/14/26

AYES: Arreguín, Seyarto, Caballero, Cortese, Pérez, Wiener

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/14/26

AYES: Cervantes, Seyarto, Cabaldon, Dahle, Grayson, Richardson, Wahab

SUBJECT: Crimes: sexual exploitation of a child

SOURCE: Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto

DIGEST:

This bill expands the crime of sexual exploitation of a child to include downloading, streaming, or accessing through electronic or digital media specified depictions of a minor engaged in an act of sexual conduct, and broadens the definition of “sexual exploitation” for the purposes of the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA) to include digitally altered or artificial-intelligence generated matter depicting a minor engaged in an act of sexual conduct, as specified.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Prohibits, except as provided, the act of knowingly sending or causing to be sent, or bringing or causing to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or possessing, preparing, publishing, producing, developing, duplicating, or printing in this state any representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to specified media, or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, with intent to distribute or to exhibit to, or to exchange with, others, or offering to distribute, distributing, or exhibiting to, or exchanging with, others, any obscene matter, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age, or contains digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated data depicting what appears to be a person under 18 years of age, engaging in or simulating sexual conduct, as defined, punishable as a wobbler. (Penal (Pen.) Code, § 311.1, subdivision (subd.) (a).)
2. Prohibits the act of knowingly sending or causing to be sent, or bringing or causing to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or possessing, preparing, publishing, producing, developing, duplicating, or printing in this state, with intent to distribute or exhibit to others, or offering to distribute, distributing, exhibiting to others any obscene matter, punishable as a misdemeanor. (Pen. Code, § 311.2, subd. (a).)
3. Provides that every person who knowingly sends or causes to be sent, or brings or causes to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or in this state possesses, prepares, publishes, produces, develops, duplicates, or prints any representation of information, data, or image, including specified media that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, with intent to distribute or to exhibit to, or to exchange with, others for commercial consideration, or who offers to distribute, distributes, or exhibits to, or exchanges with, others for commercial consideration, any obscene matter, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age personally engaging in or personally simulating sexual conduct or that it contains a digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated depiction of what appears to be a person under 18 years of age engaging in such conduct is guilty of a felony. (Pen. Code, § 311.2, subd. (b).)
4. Provides that every person who knowingly sends or causes to be sent, or brings or causes to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or in this state possesses, prepares, publishes, produces, develops, duplicates, or prints any representation of information, data, or image, including specified media or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, with intent to distribute or exhibit to, or to exchange with, a person 18 years of age or older, or who offers to distribute, distributes, or exhibits to, or exchanges with, a person 18 years of age or older any matter, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age personally engaging in or personally simulating sexual conduct, or any obscene matter that contains a digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated depiction of what appears to be a person under 18 years of age engaging in such conduct, shall be guilty of a crime, punishable as a wobbler. (Pen. Code, § 311.2, subd. (c).)
5. Prohibits knowingly sending or causing to be sent, or bringing or causing to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or possessing, preparing, publishing, producing, developing, duplicating, or printing in this state any representation of information, data, or image, including specified media or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, with intent to distribute or exhibit to, or to exchange with, a person under 18 years of age, or offering to distribute, distributing, or exhibiting to, or exchanging with, a person under 18 years of age any matter, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age personally engaging in or personally simulating sexual conduct, or any obscene matter that contains a digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated depiction of what appears to be a person under 18 years of age engaging in such conduct, punishable as a felony. (Pen. Code, § 311.2, subd. (d).)
6. Provides that every person who, with knowledge that a person is a minor under 18 years of age, or who, while in possession of any facts on the basis of which they should reasonably know that the person is a minor under 18 years of age, knowingly promotes, employs, uses, persuades, induces, or coerces a minor under 18 years of age, or any parent or guardian of a minor under 18 years of age who is under their control who knowingly permits the minor, to engage in or assist others to engage in either posing or modeling alone or with others for purposes of preparing any representation of information, data, or image, including specified media or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, or live performance, involving sexual conduct by a minor under 18 years of age alone or with other persons or animals, is guilty of a felony. (Pen. Code, § 311.4, subd. (c).)
7. Provides that a person is guilty of sexual exploitation of a child if that person knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, or exchanges any representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to, any film, filmstrip, photograph, negative, slide, photocopy, videotape, video laser disc, computer hardware, computer software, computer floppy disc, data storage media, CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read-Only Memory), or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct, punishable as a misdemeanor for a first offense and as a felony for any second or subsequent offense. (Pen. Code, § 311.3, subd. (a).)
8. Specifies that it is not necessary to prove that the matter is obscene in order to establish the violation above. (Pen. Code, § 311.3, subd. (b).)
9. Provides that the crime of sexual exploitation of a child does not apply to law enforcement and prosecution agencies, to legitimate medical, scientific, or education activities, or to lawful conduct between spouses. (Pen. Code, § 311.3, subd. (d).)
10. For the purposes of the crime of sexual exploitation of a child, defines “sexual conduct” as any of several enumerated sexual acts. (Pen. Code, § 311.3, subd. (c).)
11. Establishes the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA) which is generally intended to protect children from abuse and neglect with a focus on the needs of the victim. (Pen. Code, § 11164.)
12. Defines “neglect” under CANRA as the negligent treatment or the maltreatment of a child by a person responsible for the child’s welfare under circumstances indicating harm or threatened harm to the child’s health or welfare. The term includes both acts and omissions on the part of the responsible person. (Pen. Code, § 11165.2)
13. Defines “severe neglect” under CANRA as the negligent failure of a person having the care or custody of a child to protect the child from severe malnutrition or medically diagnosed nonorganic failure to thrive. “Severe neglect” also means those situations of neglect where any person having the care or custody of a child willfully causes or permits the person or health of the child to be placed in a situation such that his or her person or health is endangered, as specified, including the intentional failure to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical care. (Pen. Code, § 11165.2, subd. (a).)
14. Defines “child abuse or neglect” under CANRA to include physical injury or death inflicted by other than accidental means upon a child by another person, sexual abuse as defined, neglect as defined, the willful harming or injuring of a child or the endangering of the person or health of a child as defined, and unlawful corporal punishment or injury. “Child abuse or neglect” does not include a mutual affair between minors. “Child abuse or neglect” does not include an injury caused by reasonable and necessary force used by a peace officer acting within the course and scope of his or her employment as a peace officer. (Pen. Code, § 11165.6.)
15. Requires any mandated reporter who has knowledge of or observes a child, their professional capacity or within the scope of their employment whom they know or reasonably suspect has been the victim of child abuse or neglect, to report it as specified, to any police or sheriff's department, a county probation department if designated by the county to receive mandated reports, or the county welfare department. (Pen. Code, §§ 11166, subd. (a), 11165.9.)
16. For the purposes of CANRA, specifies that “sexual abuse” means sexual assault or sexual exploitation as defined by the following:
    1. “Sexual assault” means illegal sexual conduct as defined in several specified sections of the Penal Code, including provisions criminalizing rape, statutory rape, rape in concert, incest, sodomy, oral copulation, lewd or lascivious acts upon a child, sexual penetration, or child molestation, as specified.
    2. “Sexual exploitation” refers to the following:
       1. Conduct involving matter depicting a minor engaged in obscene acts in violation of the existing prohibition against preparing, selling or distributing obscene matter (Pen. Code, § 311.2) or against the employment of a minor to perform obscene acts (Pen. Code, § 311.4).
       2. A person who knowingly promotes, aids, or assists, employs, uses, persuades, induces, or coerces a child, or a person responsible for a child’s welfare, who knowingly permits or encourages a child to engage in, or assist others to engage in, prostitution or a live performance involving obscene sexual conduct, or to either pose or model alone or with others for purposes of preparing a film, photograph, negative, slide, drawing, painting, or other pictorial depiction, involving obscene sexual conduct. For the purpose of this provision, “person responsible for a child’s welfare” means a parent, guardian, foster parent, or a licensed administrator or employee of a public or private residential home, residential school, or other residential institution.
       3. A person who depicts a child in, or who knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, downloads, streams, accesses through any electronic or digital media, or exchanges, a film, photograph, videotape, video recording, negative, or slide in which a child is engaged in an act of obscene sexual conduct, except as provided. (Pen. Code, § 11165.1.)

This bill:

1. Expands the crime of sexual exploitation of a child to apply to anyone who downloads, streams, or accesses through electronic or digital media any representation of information, data, or image, as specified above, that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct.
2. Specifies that the crime of sexual exploitation of a child does not apply to a child under 18 years of age alleged to have solely engaged in viewing sexual conduct through a video stream.
3. Expands the definition of “sexual exploitation” for the purposes of CANRA to include a person who depicts a child in , or who knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, downloads, streams, accesses through any electronic or digital media, or exchanges digitally altered or artificial-intelligence- generated matter that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct.

Comments

California law includes a robust statutory scheme prohibiting the creation, possession, and transfer of obscene matter and child pornography. Among these laws is the crime of sexual exploitation of a child (Pen. Code, § 311.3), which was added to the existing statutory scheme in 1981 to target individuals who contribute to the proliferation of child pornography. Section 311.3 specifically prohibits the knowing development, duplication, printing or exchanging of any representation of information, data or image that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct.

Under Section 311.3, a violation of the proscribed conduct is punishable as an aggravated misdemeanor by one year in county or a fine of $2,000 or both, and as a state prison felony if the person was previously convicted of a crime involving obscene matter. Other provisions include a definition of “sexual conduct” for the purposes of the statute, and several narrow exceptions to liability for specified entities and conduct, including for matter that is unsolicited and is received without knowledge or consent through a facility, system, or network over which the person or entity has no control. It should be noted that a conviction under section 311.3 requires sex offender registration.

This bill expands the scope of conduct rendering one liable for the crime of sexual exploitation of a child to include knowingly downloading, streaming or accessing through electronic or digital media, any of the content listed in section 311.3. Notably, this addition harmonizes the conduct constituting sexual exploitation of a child with that described in the definition of that crime that is used in CANRA, which was amended in 2014 to include downloading, streaming or accessing prohibited content through electronic or digital media. The bill additionally creates an exemption to the crime of sexual exploitation of a minor for a child under 18 years of age alleged to have solely engaged in viewing sexual conduct through a video stream.

CANRA was enacted in 1980 for the purpose of protecting children from abuse and neglect, which it seeks to accomplish via a comprehensive reporting scheme aimed toward increasing the likelihood that child abuse victims will be identified. CANRA requires persons in positions where abuse is likely to be detected – known as “mandated reporters” – to promptly report all suspected and known instances of child abuse and neglect to the relevant authorities, and identifies nearly 50 separate categories of mandated reporters, including teachers, school employees, doctors, athletic coaches, police officers, firefighters, social workers, and persons whose duties require direct contact with and supervision of minors, among many others. A mandated reporter must make a report when they have knowledge of or observe a child whom the mandated reporter knows or reasonably suspects has been the victim of child abuse or neglect.

For the purposes of CANRA, “child abuse or neglect” is defined to include physical injury or death inflicted by other than accidental means upon a child by another person, sexual abuse as defined, neglect as defined, the willful harming or injuring of a child or the endangering of the person or health of a child, as defined, and unlawful corporal punishment or injury as defined. CANRA defines “sexual abuse” broadly, both by reference to existing crimes and by establishing definitions for “sexual assault” and “sexual exploitation,” both of which fall under the ambit of “sexual abuse.”

This bill modifies the definitional provision in the third bullet point immediately above to harmonize it with the definition of sexual exploitation in section 311.3. Specifically, the bill adds “digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter” to the list of media depicting a person under 18, and strikes the term “obscene” in favor of defining sexual conduct in reference to the definition of that term in section 311.3. The practical effect of this modification is that because mandated reporters must report all instances of sexual exploitation, and the reporting requirement is triggered by the nature of the material or conduct and not the ability to identify a specific victim or perpetrator, the bill requires mandated reporters to report any knowledge or reasonable suspicion of digitally altered or artificial-intelligence generated matter that depicts a person under 18 engaged in sexual conduct.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:

Cost pressures to the courts to adjudicate charges pertaining to AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM), possibly in the hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. Actual costs will depend on the number of charges filed and the amount of time needed to adjudicate each case. Although courts are not funded based on workload, increased pressure on the Trial Court Trust Fund may create a need for increased funding for courts from the General Fund. The Governor’s 2026-27 budget proposes $70 million ongoing from the General Fund to backfill declining revenue to the Trial Court Trust Fund.

Costs to the counties and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to incarcerate people convicted of CSAM offenses through AI-generated content. Actual incarceration costs will depend on the number of convictions, the length of each sentence, and whether each sentence must be served in county jail or state prison. The average annual cost to incarcerate one person in county jail ranges up to $80,000. The average annual cost to incarcerate one person in state prison is $138,000 for 2026-27 (local funds, General Fund).

In 2023, CDCR admitted more than 100 people to state prison whose principal offense was one of the crimes affected by this bill. If 10 to 20 additional people are admitted to CDCR for AI-generated CSAM offenses, CDCR will incur incarceration costs of $1,380,000 to $2,760,000 annually for each year of their incarceration, collectively.

SUPPORT: (Verified 5/14/26)

Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto (Source)

American Association of University Women - California

California District Attorneys Association

California Family Resource Association

California State Sheriffs' Association

California Teachers Association

Child Abuse Prevention Center and its affiliates

City of Sunnyvale

Sistahfriends

Strength United

The California Baptist Capitol Ministry

OPPOSITION: (Verified 5/14/26)

California Attorneys for Criminal Justice

Prepared by: Alex Barnett / PUB. S. /

5/16/26 11:02:17

**** END ****

SENATE COMMITTEE ON

Senator Sabrina Cervantes, Chair

2025 - 2026 Regular Session

SB 1276 (Rubio) - Crimes: sexual exploitation of a child

Bill Summary:

SB 1276 would expand the crime of sexual exploitation of a child to include downloading, streaming, or accessing through electronic or digital media specified depictions of a minor. A person who downloads, streams or accesses the specified depictions through electronic or digital media would be guilty of a misdemeanor or a felony.

Fiscal Impact:

• Cost pressures to the courts to adjudicate charges pertaining to AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM), possibly in the hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. Actual costs will depend on the number of charges filed and the amount of time needed to adjudicate each case. Although courts are not funded based on workload, increased pressure on the Trial Court Trust Fund may create a need for increased funding for courts from the General Fund. The Governor’s 2026-27 budget proposes $70 million ongoing from the General Fund to backfill declining revenue to the Trial Court Trust Fund.

Costs to the counties and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to incarcerate people convicted of CSAM offenses through AI-generated content. Actual incarceration costs will depend on the number of convictions, the length of each sentence, and whether each sentence must be served in county jail or state prison. The average annual cost to incarcerate one person in county jail ranges up to $80,000. The average annual cost to incarcerate one person in state prison is $138,000 for 2026-27(local funds, General Fund).

In 2023, CDCR admitted more than 100 people to state prison whose principal offense was one of the crimes affected by this bill. If 10 to 20 additional people are admitted to CDCR for AI-generated CSAM offenses, CDCR will incur incarceration costs of $1,380,000 to $2,760,000 annually for each year of their incarceration, collectively.

Although county incarceration costs are generally not considered reimbursable state mandates pursuant to Proposition 30 (2012), overcrowding in county jails creates cost pressure on the General Fund because the state has historically granted new funding to counties to offset overcrowding resulting from 2011 public safety realignment.

Background:

Existing law establishes the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act which is intended to protect children from abuse and neglect with a focus on the needs of the victim.

Proposed Law:

This bill expands the definition of “sexual exploitation” for the purposes of CANRA to include a person who depicts a child in , or who knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, downloads, streams, accesses through any electronic or digital media, or exchanges digitally altered or artificial-intelligence- generated matter that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct.

A person guilty of CSAM through the use of AI altered or generated matter shall be punished by a fine of not more than $2,000 or by incarceration in county jail for not more than one year, or both. A person previously convicted of this or a similar violation specified in Penal Code 311.3 shall be incarcerated in state prison.

For a felony second offense, Penal Code 311.3 sets punishment to be 16 months in jail or 2 or 3 years in state prison (though Three Strikes law and other enhancements may up that prison stay). However, the estimates for incarceration should consider not only Penal Code 311.3 but all offenses in Chapter 7.5 of Title 9 of Part 1 of the Penal Code.

Related Legislation:

SB 1381 (Wahab), Chapter 929/2026 expands existing provisions of law related to child pornography and obscene matter depicting a minor engaged in sexual conduct to include matter that is digitally altered or generated by the use of artificial intelligence.

SB 933 (Wahab) 2024, proposed that the Penal Code statutes related to CSAM define “computer-generated images” to include images generated by AI depicting a person under the age of 18. The bill required the Department of Justice (DOJ) to include information about violations that involve AI-generated CSAM in its annual crime reports. SB 933 was held on the Assembly Appropriations Committee Suspense File.

AB 1831 (Berman), Chapter 926/2024 would add to the definition of "obscene matter" and "matter," any "digitally-altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter," as it pertains to images of persons under the age of 18 engaged in sexual conduct, as specified.

SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY

Senator Jesse Arreguín, Chair

2025 - 2026 Regular

Bill No: SB 1276 Hearing Date: April 14, 2026

Subject: Crimes: sexual exploitation of a child

HISTORY

Source: Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto

Prior Legislation: SB 1381 (Wahab), Ch. 929, Stats. of 2024

SB 933 (Wahab), held in Assembly Appropriations, 2024

AB 1831 (Berman), Ch. 926, Stats. of 2024

AB 1775 (Melendez), Ch. 264, Stats. of 2014

AB 1734 (Frusetta), Ch. 1079, Stats. of 1996

AB 927 (Honeycutt), Ch. 55, Stats. of 1994

Support: California District Attorneys Association; California Family Resource Association; California State Sheriffs’ Association; California Teachers Association; Child Abuse Prevention Center; Prevent Child Abuse California; Safe Kids California; Sistahfriends; Strength United; The California Baptist Capitol Ministry

Opposition: None known

PURPOSE

The purpose of this bill is to expand the crime of sexual exploitation of a child to include downloading, streaming, or accessing through electronic or digital media specified depictions of a minor engaged in an act of sexual conduct, and to broaden the definition of “sexual exploitation” for the purposes of the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act to include digitally altered or artificial-intelligence generated matter depicting a minor engaged in an act of sexual conduct, as specified.

Existing law prohibits, except as provided, the act of knowingly sending or causing to sent, or bringing or causing to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or possessing, preparing, publishing, producing, developing, duplicating, or printing in this state any representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to, any film, filmstrip, photograph, negative, slide, photocopy, videotape, video laser disc, computer hardware, computer software, computer floppy disc, data storage media, CD-ROM, or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, with intent to distribute or to

exhibit to, or to exchange with, others, or offering to distribute, distributing, or exhibiting to, or exchanging with, others, any obscene matter, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age, or contains digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated data depicting what appears to be a person under 18 years of age, engaging in or simulating sexual conduct, as defined, punishable as a wobbler. (Pen. Code, § 311.1, subd. (a).)

Existing law prohibits the act of knowingly sending or causing to be sent, or bringing or causing to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or possessing, preparing, publishing, producing, developing, duplicating, or printing in this state, with intent to distribute or exhibit to others, or offering to distribute, distributing, exhibiting to others any obscene matter, punishable as a misdemeanor. (Pen. Code, § 311.2, subd. (a).)

Existing law provides that every person who knowingly sends or causes to be sent, or brings or causes to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or in this state possesses, prepares, publishes, produces, develops, duplicates, or prints any representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to, any film, filmstrip, photograph, negative, slide, photocopy, videotape, video laser disc, computer hardware, computer software, computer floppy disc, data storage media, CD-ROM, or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, with intent to distribute or to exhibit to, or to exchange with, others for commercial consideration, or who offers to distribute, distributes, or exhibits to, or exchanges with, others for commercial consideration, any obscene matter, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age personally engaging in or personally simulating sexual conduct or that it contains a digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated depiction of what appears to be a person under 18 years of age engaging in such conduct is guilty of a felony. (Pen. Code, § 311.2, subd. (b).)

Existing law provides that every person who knowingly sends or causes to be sent, or brings or causes to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or in this state possesses, prepares, publishes, produces, develops, duplicates, or prints any representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to, any film, filmstrip, photograph, negative, slide, photocopy, videotape, video laser disc, computer hardware, computer software, computer floppy disc, data storage media, CD-ROM, or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, with intent to distribute or exhibit to, or to exchange with, a person 18 years of age or older, or who offers to distribute, distributes, or exhibits to, or exchanges with, a person 18 years of age or older any matter, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age personally engaging in or personally simulating sexual conduct, or any obscene matter  that contains a digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated depiction of what appears to be a person under 18 years of age engaging in such conduct, shall be guilty of a crime, punishable as a wobbler. (Pen. Code, § 311.2, subd. (c).)

Existing law prohibits knowingly sending or causing to be sent, or bringing or causing to be brought, into this state for sale or distribution, or possessing, preparing, publishing, producing, developing, duplicating, or printing in this state any representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to, any film, filmstrip, photograph, negative, slide, photocopy, videotape, video laser disc, computer hardware, computer software, computer floppy disc, data storage media, CD-ROM, or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, with intent to distribute or exhibit to, or to exchange with, a person under 18 years of age, or offering to distribute, distributing, or exhibiting to, or exchanging with, a person under 18 years of age any matter, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age personally engaging in or personally simulating sexual conduct, or any obscene matter that contains a digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated depiction of what appears to be a person under 18 years of age engaging in such conduct, punishable as a felony. (Pen. Code, § 311.2, subd. (d).)

Existing law provides that every person who, with knowledge that a person is a minor, or who, while in possession of any facts on the basis of which they should reasonably know that the person is a minor, hires, employs, or uses the minor to do or assist in specified acts relating to the creation and dissemination of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for up to one year, or by a fine not exceeding $2,000, or by both that fine and imprisonment, or by imprisonment in the state prison. (Pen. Code, § 311.4, subd. (a).)

Existing law provides that every person who, with knowledge that a person is a minor under 18 years of age, or who, while in possession of any facts on the basis of which they should reasonably know that the person is a minor under 18 years of age, knowingly promotes, employs, uses, persuades, induces, or coerces a minor under 18 years of age, or any parent or guardian of a minor under 18 years of age who is under their control who knowingly permits the minor, to engage in or assist others to engage in either posing or modeling alone or with others for purposes of preparing any representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to, any film, filmstrip, photograph, negative, slide, photocopy, videotape, video laser disc, computer hardware, computer software, computer floppy disc, data storage media, CD-ROM, or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, or live performance, involving sexual conduct by a minor under 18 years of age alone or with other persons or animals, for commercial purposes, is guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for three, six, or eight years. (Pen. Code, § 311.4, subd. (b).)

Existing law provides that every person who, with knowledge that a person is a minor under 18 years of age, or who, while in possession of any facts on the basis of which they should reasonably know that the person is a minor under 18 years of age, knowingly promotes, employs, uses, persuades, induces, or coerces a minor under 18 years of age, or any parent or guardian of a minor under 18 years of age who is under their control who knowingly permits the minor, to engage in or assist others to engage in either posing or modeling alone or with others for purposes of preparing any representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to, any film, filmstrip, photograph, negative, slide, photocopy, videotape, video laser disc, computer hardware, computer software, computer floppy disc, data storage media, CD-ROM, or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter, or live performance, involving sexual conduct by a minor under 18 years of age alone or with other persons or animals, is guilty of a felony. (Pen. Code, § 311.4, subd. (c).)

Existing law, for the purposes of all of the preceding provisions, defines “sexual conduct” as any of the following, whether actual or simulated: sexual intercourse, oral copulation, anal intercourse, anal oral copulation, masturbation, bestiality, sexual sadism, sexual masochism, penetration of the vagina or rectum by any object in a lewd or lascivious manner, exhibition of

the genitals or pubic or rectal area for the purpose of sexual stimulation of the viewer, any lewd or lascivious sexual act, as defined, or excretory functions performed in a lewd or lascivious manner, whether or not any of the above conduct is performed alone or between members of the same or opposite sex or between humans and animals. An act is simulated when it gives the appearance of being sexual conduct. (Pen. Code, § 311.4, subd. (d).)

Existing law provides that a person is guilty of sexual exploitation of a child if that person knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, or exchanges any representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to, any film, filmstrip, photograph, negative, slide, photocopy, videotape, video laser disc, computer hardware, computer software, computer floppy disc, data storage media, CD-ROM, or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film, filmstrip, or any digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct, punishable as a misdemeanor for a first offense and as a felony for any second or subsequent offense. (Pen. Code, § 311.3, subd. (a).)

Existing law specifies that it is not necessary to prove that the matter is obscene in order to establish the violation above. (Pen. Code, § 311.3, subd. (b).)

Existing law provides that the crime of sexual exploitation of a child does not apply to law enforcement and prosecution agencies, to legitimate medical, scientific, or education activities, or to lawful conduct between spouses. (Pen. Code, § 311.3, subd. (d).)

Existing law, for the purposes of the crime of sexual exploitation of a child, defines “sexual conduct” as any of the following:

• Sexual intercourse, including genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-genital, or oral-anal, whether between persons of the same or opposite sex or between humans and animals.
• Penetration of the vagina or rectum by any object.
• Masturbation for the purpose of sexual stimulation of the viewer.
• Sadomasochistic abuse for the purpose of sexual stimulation of the viewer.
• Exhibition of the genitals or the pubic or rectal area of any person for the purpose of sexual stimulation of the viewer.
• Defecation or urination for the purpose of sexual stimulation of the viewer. (Pen. Code, § 311.3, subd. (c).)

This bill expands the crime of sexual exploitation of a child to apply to anyone who downloads, streams, or accesses through electronic or digital media any representation of information, data, or image, as specified above, that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct.

This bill specifies that the crime of sexual exploitation of a child does not apply to a child under 18 years of age alleged to have solely engaged in viewing sexual conduct through a video stream.

Existing law establishes the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA) which is generally intended to protect children from abuse and neglect with a focus on the needs of the victim. (Pen. Code, § 11164.)

Existing law defines “neglect” under CANRA as the negligent treatment or the maltreatment of a child by a person responsible for the child’s welfare under circumstances indicating harm or threatened harm to the child’s health or welfare. The term includes both acts and omissions on the part of the responsible person. (Pen. Code, § 11165.2)

Existing law defines “severe neglect” under CANRA as the negligent failure of a person having the care or custody of a child to protect the child from severe malnutrition or medically diagnosed nonorganic failure to thrive. “Severe neglect” also means those situations of neglect where any person having the care or custody of a child willfully causes or permits the person or health of the child to be placed in a situation such that his or her person or health is endangered, as specified, including the intentional failure to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical care. (Pen. Code, § 11165.2, subd. (a).)

Existing law defines “child abuse or neglect” under CANRA to include physical injury or death inflicted by other than accidental means upon a child by another person, sexual abuse as defined, neglect as defined, the willful harming or injuring of a child or the endangering of the person or health of a child as defined, and unlawful corporal punishment or injury. “Child abuse or neglect” does not include a mutual affair between minors. “Child abuse or neglect” does not include an injury caused by reasonable and necessary force used by a peace officer acting within the course and scope of his or her employment as a peace officer. (Pen. Code, § 11165.6.)

Existing law requires any mandated reporter who has knowledge of or observes a child, their professional capacity or within the scope of their employment whom they know or reasonably suspect has been the victim of child abuse or neglect, to report it as specified, to any police or sheriff's department, a county probation department if designated by the county to receive mandated reports, or the county welfare department. (Pen. Code, §§ 11166, subd. (a), 11165.9.)

Existing law, for the purposes of CANRA, specifies that “sexual abuse” means sexual assault or sexual exploitation as defined by the following:

• “Sexual assault” means illegal sexual conduct as defined in several specified sections of the Penal Code, including provisions criminalizing rape, statutory rape, rape in concert, incest, sodomy, oral copulation, lewd or lascivious acts upon a child, sexual penetration, or child molestation, as specified.
• “Sexual exploitation” refers to the following:
  • Conduct involving matter depicting a minor engaged in obscene acts in violation of the existing prohibition against preparing, selling or distributing obscene matter (Section 311.2) or against the employment of a minor to perform obscene acts (Section 311.4).
  • A person who knowingly  promotes, aids, or assists, employs, uses, persuades, induces, or coerces a child, or a person responsible for a child’s welfare, who knowingly permits or encourages a child to engage in, or assist others to engage in, prostitution or a live performance involving obscene sexual conduct, or to either pose or model alone or with others for purposes of preparing a film, photograph, negative, slide, drawing, painting, or other pictorial depiction, involving obscene sexual conduct. For the purpose of this provision, “person

responsible for a child’s welfare” means a parent, guardian, foster parent, or a licensed administrator or employee of a public or private residential home, residential school, or other residential institution.

• • A person who depicts a child in, or who knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, downloads, streams, accesses through any electronic or digital media, or exchanges, a film, photograph, videotape, video recording, negative, or slide in which a child is engaged in an act of obscene sexual conduct, except as provided. (Pen. Code, § 11165.1.)

This bill expands the definition of “sexual exploitation” for the purposes of CANRA to include a person who depicts a child in , or who knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, downloads, streams, accesses through any electronic or digital media, or exchanges digitally altered or artificial-intelligence- generated matter that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct.

COMMENTS

1. Need For This Bill

According to the author:

Every child deserves to be safe and California law must reflect that without exception. As technology evolves, so do the methods predators use to exploit children. Livestreaming platforms and AI-generated content have created dangerous new loopholes that bad actors are actively using to harm minors, and our current laws have not kept pace. SB 1276, the End Child Exploitation Act, closes those loopholes once and for all. This bill amends the Penal Code to make clear that knowingly watching a livestream of a minor engaged in sexual conduct is a crime, full stop. It also updates the definition of sexual exploitation to specifically include AI-generated and digitally altered images or videos that depict minors in sexual acts. The technology may be new, but the harm is just as real, and the law should treat it that way. No technicality should stand between a child and justice. No predator should escape accountability simply because they exploited a gap in the law. SB 1276 sends an unambiguous message: California will not tolerate the sexual exploitation of children in any form. I am proud to author this bill and call on my colleagues to stand with California’s children. Protecting the most vulnerable among us is not a partisan issue, it is a moral obligation.

1. Sexual Exploitation of a Child

California law includes a robust statutory scheme prohibiting the creation, possession, and transfer of obscene matter and child pornography. Among these laws is the crime of sexual exploitation of a child (section 311.3 of the Penal Code), which was added to the existing statutory scheme in 1981 to target individuals who contribute to the proliferation of child pornography.^[1] It was around this time that the Supreme Court of the United States recognized that “the exploitive use of children in the production of pornography has become a serious national problem […] the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse of children constitutes a government objective of surpassing importance.^[2] Section 311.3 specifically prohibits the knowing development, duplication, printing or exchanging of any representation of information, data or image that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaged in an act of sexual conduct.^[3] The purpose of section 311.3 is:

To protect children from sexual abuse and invasion of their privacy rights through the development and duplication of photographs, movies and video tapes depicting them engaged in sexual conduct. Legally incapable of consent, these children are perpetually exploited, first by the original performance of these acts; then by the creation of a permanent record of the conduct; again each time that record is reproduced; and then again when that photograph, film or video tape is viewed or passed on to another. In addition, these materials are used to induce other children to engage in sexual activity.^[4]

Further, the legislative history of section 311.3 indicates that the law was designed “to deter pedophiles from exchanging pictures of minors and to prevent child molesters from using pictures of minors engaged in sexual conduct to suggest to their victims that such acts are acceptable.”^[5] In the mid 1990s, the law was updated to apply to new innovations in computer technology, prohibiting representations of information, data or images contained on a host of new media, including laser discs, computer hardware, computer software, CD-ROM, and others.^[6] In 2024, this provision of the statute was once again amended to bring it into alignment with modern technologies, prohibiting the aforementioned conduct (development, duplication, etc.) of representations of child pornography that incorporate any “digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter.”^[7]

Under Section 311.3, a violation of the proscribed conduct is punishable as an aggravated misdemeanor by one year in county or a fine of $2,000 or both, and as a state prison felony if the person was previously convicted of a crime involving obscene matter. While many of the other child pornography-related crimes in California law require that the matter in question meet a statutory definition of “obscenity” for criminal liability to attach, section 311.3 does not, specifying that it is not necessary for a prosecutor to prove that the matter is obscene in order to establish a violation.^[8] Other provisions include a definition of “sexual conduct” for the purposes of the statute, and several narrow exceptions to liability for specified entities and conduct, including for matter that is unsolicited and is received without knowledge or consent through a facility, system, or network over which the person or entity has no control.^[9] It should be noted that a conviction under section 311.3 requires sex offender registration.^[10]

This bill expands the scope of conduct rendering one liable for the crime of sexual exploitation of a child to include knowingly downloading, streaming or accessing through electronic or digital media, any of the content listed in section 311.3. Notably, this addition harmonizes the conduct constituting sexual exploitation of a child with that described in the definition of that crime that is used in the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA), which was amended in 2014 to include downloading, streaming or accessing prohibited content through electronic or digital media (see comment 3 for additional discussion).^[11] The bill additionally creates an exemption to the crime of sexual exploitation of a minor for a child under 18 years of age alleged to have solely engaged in viewing sexual conduct through a video stream.

Given that the bill seeks to criminalize additional conduct under section 311.3, and that the terms “download” and “stream,” while perhaps colloquially understood, are not clearly defined in statute, the author and Committee may wish to consider defining these terms to clarify exactly what conduct is proscribed. In Matthews v. Beccera (2019) 8 Cal.5th 756, the California Supreme Court heard a challenge to CANRA’s requirement that mandated reporters (in this case, psychotherapists) must disclose when patients communicate that they have developed, downloaded, streamed, or accessed child pornography through electronic or digital media on the basis that such a requirement violated a cognizable privacy interest under the California Constitution. The Court ruled that the mandated reporters in this case did have a protected privacy interest in their communications during voluntary therapy sessions, and, notably, did not seek to define “download” and “steam,” and expressed “no view on whether the term ‘duplicates’ as used in CANRA […] encompasses downloading or streaming a file from the internet.”^[12] The dissent, however, usefully expands on the precise definitions of “downloading” and “streaming” to argue that such actions inherently involve making a duplicate:

• Downloading is a “process by which a complete audio or video clip is delivered to and stored on a consumer’s computer,” and also means “to transmit a file or program from a central computer to a smaller computer or a computer at a remote site.”
• Streaming “content from the internet involves making a ‘temporary buffer’ copy of a video file, which is destroyed as the video is played,” and is also defined as “delivering audio or video signals in real time, without waiting for a while file to download before playing.”^[13]

Defining these terms would also be helpful in clarifying, for the purposes of the bill’s exemption for minors solely engaged in viewing sexual conduct through a video stream, how “streaming” may be distinct, if at all, from “accessing through electronic or digital media.”

1. The Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act

CANRA was enacted in 1980 for the purpose of protecting children from abuse and neglect, which it seeks to accomplish via a comprehensive reporting scheme aimed toward increasing the likelihood that child abuse victims will be identified.^[14] CANRA requires persons in positions where abuse is likely to be detected – known as “mandated reporters” – to promptly report all suspected and known instances of child abuse and neglect to the relevant authorities, and identifies nearly 50 separate categories of mandated reporters, including teachers, school employees, doctors, athletic coaches, police officers, firefighters, social workers, and persons whose duties require direct contact with and supervision of minors, among many others.^[15] A mandated reporter must make a report when they have knowledge of or observe a child whom the mandated reporter knows or reasonably suspects has been the victim of child abuse or neglect.^[16] The report must be made to one of several specified agencies designated to receive such reports, including police departments, sheriff’s departments, county probation departments, or county welfare offices, as specified.^[17] Failure to report as required under CANRA is a misdemeanor.^[18]

For the purposes of CANRA, “child abuse or neglect” is defined to include physical injury or death inflicted by other than accidental means upon a child by another person, sexual abuse as defined, neglect as defined, the willful harming or injuring of a child or the endangering of the person or health of a child, as defined, and unlawful corporal punishment or injury as defined.^[19] CANRA defines “sexual abuse” broadly, both by reference to existing crimes and by establishing definitions for “sexual assault” and “sexual exploitation,” both of which fall under the ambit of “sexual abuse.”^[20] Of particular relevance to this bill, “sexual exploitation” under CANRA refers to any of the following:

• Conduct involving depicting a minor engaged in obscene acts, including preparing, selling or distributing obscene matter (in violation of Penal Code section 311.2) and employment of a minor to perform obscene acts (in violation of section 311.4).
• A person who knowingly promotes, aids, or assists, employs, uses, persuades, induces, or coerces a child, or a person responsible for a child’s welfare (parent, guardian, foster parent, or a specified employee of a residential home for children), who knowingly permits or encourages a child to engage in, or assist others to engage in, prostitution or a live performance involving obscene sexual conduct, or to either pose or model alone or with others for purposes of preparing a film, photograph, negative, slide, drawing, painting, or other pictorial depiction, involving obscene sexual conduct.
• A person who depicts a child in, or who knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, downloads, streams, accesses through any electronic or digital media, or exchanges, a film, photograph, videotape, video recording, negative, or slide in which a child is engaged in an act of obscene sexual conduct, except for individuals and activities exempted in section 311.3.^[21]

This bill modifies the definitional provision in the third bullet point immediately above to harmonize it with the definition of sexual exploitation in section 311.3. Specifically, the bill adds “digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter” to the list of media depicting a person under 18, and strikes the term “obscene” in favor of defining sexual conduct in reference to the definition of that term in section 311.3. The practical effect of this modification is that because mandated reporters must report all instances of sexual exploitation, and the reporting requirement is triggered by the nature of the material or conduct and not the ability to identify a specific victim or perpetrator,^[22] the bill requires mandated reporters to report any knowledge or reasonable suspicion of digitally altered or artificial-intelligence generated matter that depicts a person under 18 engaged in sexual conduct.

1. Argument in Support

According to the California District Attorneys Association:

Under existing law, Penal Code section 311.3 criminalizes conduct involving the sexual exploitation of a minor in the production of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Separately, CANRA defines “sexual exploitation” for purposes of mandatory reporting by professionals who are required to report suspected child abuse or neglect. Differences between these definitions can create confusion for mandated reporters and those responsible for enforcing the law.

SB 1276 resolves this inconsistency by harmonizing these definitions, ensuring that the conduct triggering mandatory reporting obligations aligns with the criminal statute addressing sexual exploitation. This clarification will promote more effective reporting, investigation, and prosecution of crimes involving the exploitation of children. Additionally, SB 1276 clarifies that a person who knowingly watches a video stream of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) falls within the scope of Penal Code section 311.3. As technology evolves, offenders increasingly access CSAM through live or streamed formats rather than through downloaded files. Ensuring that knowingly viewing such streamed material is covered by the statute closes a potential gap in the law and strengthens the ability of prosecutors to hold offenders accountable.

Protecting children from sexual exploitation is a critical priority for prosecutors and law enforcement across California. By improving statutory consistency and clarifying that streamed CSAM falls within the scope of Penal Code section 311.3, SB 1276 strengthens the framework that supports the identification and prosecution of those who exploit children.

-- END –

1. Ch. 1056, Stats. of 1981 ↑

2. New York v. Ferber (1982) 458 U.S. 747, 749, 757. ↑

3. Pen. Code, § 311.3, subd. (a). ↑

4. In re Duncan (1987) 189 Cal.App.3d 1348, 1358-59. ↑

5. Id. at p. 1359, citing Rep. of the Sen. Com. on Jud. on Sen. Bill No. 331 (1981-1982 Reg. Sess.), p. 2. ↑

6. AB 927 (Honeycutt), Ch. 55, Stats. of 1994 ↑

7. SB 1381 (Wahab), Ch. 926, Stats. of 2024. ↑

8. Pen. Code, § 311.3, subd. (b). ↑

9. Pen. Code, § 311.3, subds. (d), (f), (g). ↑

10. Pen. Code, § 290, subd. (c)(1). ↑

11. AB 1775 (Melendez), Ch. 264, Stats. of 2014; Pen. Code, §§ 11164 et. seq. ↑

12. Matthews v. Becerra, at p. 777. ↑

13. Id. at 793, citing Video Pipeline, Inc. v. Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc. (D.N.J. 2003) 275 F.Supp.2d 543, 549, fn. 2; Martin & Newhall, Criminal Copyright Enforcement Against Filesharing Services (2013) 15 N.C.J. L. & Tech. 101, 119, fn. 97; and Barron’s Dict. of Computer and Internet Terms (12th ed. 2017) pp. 152, 472. ↑

14. Ferraro v. Chadwick (1990) 221 Cal.App.3d 86, 90. ↑

15. Pen. Code, § 11165.7, subd. (a)(1)-(49). ↑

16. Pen. Code, § 11166, subd. (a). ↑

17. Pen. Code, §§ 11165.7, 11166, subd. (a). ↑

18. Pen. Code, § 11166, subd. (c). ↑

19. Pen. Code, § 11165.6 ↑

20. Pen. Code, § 11165.1, subds. (a), (b). ↑

21. Pen. Code, § 11165.1, subd. (c). ↑

22. See Pen. Code, § 11167. ↑