Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has signed AB 1803, forcing organizations with five or more workers to add anti-hate speech instruction in their regular anti-harassment workplace training.
The new training is being mandated on the claim that one in three victims, out of 2.6 million Californians, reported at least one act of "hate" in 2022 and 2023, and said it happened at a business location.
Assembly Member Josh Lowenthal (Long Beach-D), who introduced the bill, said that California doesn’t tolerate hate speech and neither should the workplace.
“That’s why ensuring employees receive hate speech training is critical to making our workplaces safer for employees. When employees understand their rights and are empowered to report verbal harassment, hate loses the silent tolerance it depends on to persist,” Lowenthal said.
Gov. Gavin New signed the bill Sept. 27.
While California already has training against sexual and gender-based harassment and abusive conduct, AB 1803 also addresses hate speech targeting race, religion, ethnicity and national origin, which there was previously no training about.
Because the legislation lacks a clear legal definition for hate speech, critics worry it leaves an open door to penalize traditional beliefs that aren't welcome in the left-wing state.
Greg Burt, vice president of the California Family Council, warned the “Washington Watch” program that standard biological beliefs, and scriptural views on human sexuality, are frequently criticized by the other side as hateful.
“One of the issues that we brought up in our testimony was that... what does it mean to 'vilify'? What speech actually humiliates?” Burt, recalling the testimony, told the program.
Expressing deeply held religious beliefs regarding gender and biology, Burt said, is routinely labeled by progressive lawmakers as hateful, even when delivered with zero malice.
“That's farthest thing from my mind, but we are simply advocating for our view that sex is determined by biology and God created us both male and female. To many people, that is humiliating, and that incites hatred,” Burt explains.
With no exemptions carved out for religious groups, faith-based organizations and churches fear they could soon find themselves pressured to teach concepts that directly contradict Scripture.
California's track record on free speech isn't very good. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling, in 2018, overturned a state law that required pro-life pregnancy centers to post a notice about abortion services.
In the majority opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas rejected a lower court's view the notices were "professional speech" that is separate from First Amendment scrutiny.
