Senate Education Committee Approves Cervantes’ Bill to Prevent California State University Faculty from Being Replaced by AI
Today, the Senate Education Committee approved Senate Bill 928 by Senator Sabrina Cervantes (D-Riverside) by unanimous vote. Senate Bill 928 is a California Faculty Association (CFA)-sponsored bill to prevent California State University (CSU) faculty from being replaced by AI. This bill would require that a faculty member and an instructor of record for a course must be human beings. SB 928 would protect the quality of education for students and teaching professionals, including CSU faculty.
“We cannot overstate the value of being taught by a person,” said Senator Cervantes. “AI must be used in ways that improve the lives of workers, not undermine them. SB 928 proactively ensures that CSU students will have access to teachers who are expert scholars in their fields.”
One impetus for introducing this measure was the February 2025 decision by CSU Chancellor Mildred García, without consulting faculty, staff, or students, to partner with technology companies, including Alphabet (Google), AWS, Microsoft, and OpenAI, to make the CSU the first AI-powered university.
“The chancellor’s decision was made recklessly and without any guardrails,” said Margarita Berta-Ávila, CFA president and Sacramento State professor. “There was no forethought on how this would impact faculty jobs, instruction, and research, or how AI perpetuates harmful racial and gender biases and may introduce new forms of discrimination that endanger students’ mental health. These large corporations only seek profit, and the chancellor’s decision, motivated largely by financial interests as well, has made it significantly easier for all of them to prey on our campus community.”
“SB 928 highlights the personal connection, guidance, and expertise our CSU faculty provides that simply cannot be replaced by automation or artificial intelligence. In order to protect good union jobs and preserve the human element that makes our educational institutions the best in the world, we must ensure that California keeps faculty human,” said Lorena Gonzalez, President of the California Federation of Labor Unions.
While CFA members do not inherently oppose the use of AI in the CSU system, they have expressed concerns about its potential role in faculty job replacement, violations of academic freedom and intellectual property, surveillance, and students’ critical thinking skills and emotional regulation.
Senator Cervantes, a strong advocate on this issue, previously authored two bills at the California Community College level—Assembly Bill 2370 and Senate Bill 241, both of which make clear that human beings must hold faculty and teaching positions. Governor Newsom signed both bills into law.
In addition to advocating for AI guardrails at the legislative level, the CFA Bargaining Team is currently proposing a new article to address AI concerns in its Collective Bargaining Agreement. This includes protections for the use or refusal of AI technology, protections for faculty intellectual property, and professional development resources to help faculty adapt their pedagogy to incorporate AI technology. CFA members will continue their work to hold CSU management accountable for upholding data privacy and ensuring that AI is used in ways that maintain academic integrity and enhance students’ creativity and critical thinking.
This bill is being co-sponsored by the California Federation of Labor Unions, which represents more than 1,300 unions and 2.3 million union members in manufacturing, retail, construction, hospitality, public sector, health care, entertainment, and other industries. SB 928 is part of the Labor Federation’s comprehensive AI package that aims to establish new labor standards for 21st-century worker technology rights.
Read more about the bill here. SB 928 will be next heard by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
About the California Faculty Association
The California Faculty Association is a union of 29,000 professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors, and coaches across the CSU system. CFA advocates for quality public higher education, fair working conditions, social justice, and expanded opportunities for the students and communities served by the CSU.
About California Federation of Labor Unions
The California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO represents over 1,300 affiliated unions in California with over 2.3 million union members in trucking, retail, hospitality, janitorial, construction, health care, local and state government, education, arts and entertainment, warehousing and logistics, manufacturing, and a variety of other sectors.
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