The Assembly Higher Education Committee advanced SB 928 on June 9 after a hearing that focused on California State University’s reported OpenAI contract and whether faculty protections should be written into state law.

According to the committee hearing summary and entity extraction, the bill would require CSU faculty employees and instructors of record to be human and meet qualifications set by the system’s trustees, while still allowing AI to be used as a support tool. The summary says the measure was framed as a response to CSU’s AI rollout, including a reported $17 million OpenAI contract for ChatGPT Edu announced in February 2025 and a later three-year renewal that was described as costing about $13 million annually.

The hearing also touched on whether the bill could be read more broadly to affect non-faculty jobs. The retrieved summary says supporters responded that it was drafted to track the existing CSU faculty definition and would not include classified workers or administrators. A speaker who identified as a former adjunct professor at San Diego State and said the issue has become increasingly important also voiced support.

The committee then moved SB 928 out on a 10-0 vote, according to the archived hearing summary. The materials available here identify the hearing as part of a broader discussion of artificial intelligence in higher education, including SCR 82, but they do not include the official bill text or committee analysis.

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