Mental Health

Chatbot Bans

The wave is ~10+ enacted instruments in two species (crawl 2026-07-22 corrected the "7 states" seed — TN unverified, VT unconfirmed): practice-laws (CO's real-time-therapist mandate, IL/NV/UT, VT?) vs companion-safety laws (CA/CT/GA/NH/WA/NY-disclosure/RI). Watch: Hochul on S9051B/S9408A; Green on HI SB 3001; VT confirmation; first ENFORCEMENT action under any enacted law (none found yet); whether DOJ's preemption track reaches these laws (so far only xAI v. Colorado's discrimination law); Colorado-mandate copycats.

STATUS · OPEN OPENED · 2026-07-22 LAST SEEN · 2026-07-28

Character.AI

This week's evidence

Reuters: state AGs are using traditional consumer-protection frameworks on AI business practices — the mechanism behind PA-v-Character.AI-type actions, ahead of any AI statute. (Reuters) 2026-07-27

SB 903 corrected, primary-sourced: the "July Assembly hearing" we tracked happened 07-01 (Privacy & Consumer Protection), re-referred to Appropriations 07-02; legislature in recess until 08-03; fiscal deadline 08-14 — the ledger's 07-31 date could never have fired. Rewritten as a correction, not a slip. (leginfo.ca.gov) 2026-07-28 · NEW

2026-07-22 — Hawaii turns out to already be resolved; NY’s real deadline found

Correction: Hawaii’s SB 3001 was already signed — Gov. Green signed it July 14 as Act 248 (AI-companion disclosures, self-harm response protocols, annual BHA reports); the ledger had this as still-pending until this pass found it. (West Hawaii Today) ⟨daily 2026-07-22⟩
NY’s Hochul still hasn’t acted on S9051B/S9408A — and her actual statutory deadline is Dec 31, 2026, not the ~Aug 31 placeholder the ledger carried; corrected in upcoming.yaml. (multistate.ai) ⟨daily 2026-07-22⟩

← Backstory (crawl 2026-07-22 → artifacts/findings/state-therapy-chatbot-bans-2026-07-22.md)

⚠ Correction to the seed picture

The “7 states” framing was wrong in both directions — Tennessee is unverified (no source found); Vermont’s enactment unconfirmed past its 05-07 pending stage; IL/NV/UT bill numbers unfound. Meanwhile the wave was undercounted: CO/CT/GA/CA/TX/NH/WA/ID/IA all have enacted instruments, and NY’s companion-disclosure law has been effective since 2025-11 (separate from the pending under-18 ban). Full corrected ledger in the finding. ⟨crawl 2026-07-22⟩

2026-07 — The July instruments

Rhode Island enacted its two-bill package 07-06 — chatbot safety (crisis protocols, AG reporting, 3-hr disclosure) + mental-healthcare AI (informed consent, AI barred from treatment decisions). (Progressive Charlestown) ⟨crawl 2026-07-22⟩
NY’s S9051B (under-18) + S9408A (AI toys) still awaited Hochul’s signature as of 07-10; Hawaii’s SB 3001 awaited Green’s decision. (JD Supra) ⟨crawl 2026-07-22⟩

2026-05→06 — The spring instruments

Colorado HB26-1195 signed 06-03 — the strictest practice-law: bars unsupervised AI-delivered psychotherapy; real-time therapist mandate. (Forbes) ⟨crawl 2026-07-22⟩
Connecticut’s omnibus SB 5 signed 05-27 (PA 26-15) — companion provisions effective 2027-01-01; private right of action. (JD Supra) ⟨crawl 2026-07-22⟩

2026-01 — The floor was already moving

California’s SB 243 and New Hampshire’s child-endangerment law took effect in January; Google/Character.AI settled the Setzer wrongful-death case the same month — the marquee case behind the wave. (ABA Journal) ⟨crawl 2026-07-22⟩

The preemption track (context)

DOJ’s AI Litigation Task Force backs xAI’s 07-12 suit against Colorado’s algorithmic-discrimination law — no suit found against any therapy/companion chatbot law yet. (Westword) ⟨crawl 2026-07-22⟩

The Projection