California Attorney General Rob Bonta sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services opposing a proposed rule that would eliminate model card requirements for AI tools in healthcare, warning that such rollbacks could lead to biased and unsafe healthcare decisions by reducing transparency.
In-house legal teams should review vendor agreements with healthcare AI software developers and customer agreements with healthcare providers deploying AI tools. Focus on clauses governing AI tool certification, transparency documentation (e.g., model cards), bias testing requirements, and data usage disclosures. Given the proposed federal rollback, contracts may need amendments to explicitly mandate model card provisions, require regular bias audits, and ensure compliance with state-level transparency standards to mitigate risks of unsafe or discriminatory healthcare decisions.
Entity
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Also known as: Department of Health and Human Services
Industry
OtherOfficial Press Release
https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-opposes-trump-administration%E2%80%99s-proposed-slashing
CA AGO ONC Model Card Letter 02.27.26
https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/CA%20AGO_ONC%20Model%20Card%20Letter_02.27.26.pdf
California Attorney General Enforcement Page
https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/privacy-enforcement-actions
"U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)"
"The Affordable Care Act"
"California law"
"New and emerging AI tools are used by many healthcare providers to make life-changing decisions, such as which patients to refer to specialists, which diseases to screen a patient for, or whether a reaction to an infection might be deadly."
Attorney General Weiser joined a coalition of attorneys general in suing to block new unlawful conditions on Title X funding imposed by HHS, which would penalize states and providers that refuse to abandon nondiscrimination initiatives or conform to the administration's ideological vision of family planning. The lawsuit argues the conditions conflict with federal law, violate the Administrative Procedure Act, and are unconstitutionally vague.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, alongside attorneys general from New York, Colorado, Illinois, and Minnesota, filed a motion for preliminary injunction to continue blocking the Trump Administration's unlawful freeze of $10 billion in federal funding for child care and family assistance programs and to prevent broad data requests for personally identifiable information of millions of residents. The funding freeze targets five Democratic-led states without evidence of fraud, and the data requests are part of the challenged unlawful actions. A temporary restraining order was previously granted blocking these measures.
Civil rights and health enforcement action where Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, joined by 11 other states, sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) over a policy that conditions federal health, education, and research funding on states' agreement to discriminate
Governor Newsom signed the Expanding Privacy Rights Act (SB 923), expanding CCPA deletion rights to cover personal information obtained from third parties and requiring online-only businesses to offer an online method for submitting privacy requests. The law takes effect January 1, 2027, and allows businesses to maintain suppression lists to help keep deleted information from being reacquired.
The California Privacy Protection Agency announced that the California State Legislature approved the Expanding Privacy Rights Act (SB 923), which expands the CCPA's right to delete to cover all non-exempt personal information a business holds about a consumer, including data originally collected from third parties. The bill also requires online-only businesses with a direct relationship to consumers to provide online methods, such as webforms, for submitting access, deletion, and correction requests, and expressly permits businesses to retain suppression lists so deleted information stays deleted. The bill, authored by Senator Becker and sponsored by CalPrivacy, now goes to the Governor for consideration.
A bipartisan coalition of 33 state attorneys general, led by Minnesota AG Keith Ellison, began trial against Meta Platforms, Inc., alleging the company knowingly designed and deployed harmful features on Facebook and Instagram that drive children and teens to use the platforms compulsively, while falsely assuring parents and the public that its platforms were safe for young users. The states also allege Meta illegally collected personal information from children under 13 without parental consent, violating COPPA. The trial opened before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, with the states seeking monetary penalties and injunctive relief.