AB 1814 Call Script
Update: As of August 15, this bill will not be moving forward. Big thank you to everyone who called and sent emails to their lawmakers and state legislative leaders. To see more of our current actions, visit our Take Action page.
AB 1814 is so weak and poorly written that it would make California a sitting duck for surveillance authoritarianism. Abortion seekers, transgender people, immigrants, and others targeted by Project 2025 will be the most at risk. So far, California lawmakers have ignored their constituents & the more than 70 reproductive justice, LGBTQ, immigrant’s rights, privacy, & racial justice orgs who oppose AB 1814. The surveillance industry is powerful, and to stop it, we need to make our voices much, much louder.
CALL NOW to tell California state leaders NO on AB 1814:
HOTLINE #: 1-866-956-8590
Here is a script that you can use.
Hi, my name is _________ and I live in __________. I want to urge (The hotline will transfer your call to either Senate President Mike McGuire or Chair of Senate Appropriations Senator Anna Caballero) to hold AB 1814 in committee.
I am in opposition to AB 1814 because:
Choose the bullet points that are most personal to you. Personalize the script to fit your own voice.
- AB 1814 would be a dream come true for Project 2025. It would open state databases to facial recognition, putting all of us in perpetual virtual lineups.
- AB 1814 is one of the weakest facial recognition laws in the country. It would drag California down to the same level as Alabama.
- AB 1814 would let police use facial recognition in dangerous and anti-democratic ways. If it passes, it would be frightfully easy for a hostile presidential administration to use facial recognition to identify abortion seekers, LGBTQ people, activists, immigrants, students, and any other people they deem undesirable.
- Facial recognition is known to be racially biased, but instead of stopping this problem, AB 1814 all but ensures that Black people will continue to be wrongfully arrested. In fact, multiple survivors of wrongful facial recognition arrests oppose the bill, as do their lawyers.
- Facial recognition is incompatible with our democratic rights. It is among the most invasive surveillance technology that exists and would permanently undermine our ability to speak, travel, worship, and love freely.
- Half measures like AB 1814 make wrongful arrests inevitable. The only way to protect Californians is to prohibit police use of facial recognition.
- AB 1814 will open up state databases to build FRT databases for police use, placing anyone whose photograph is in a state or local database in a perpetual virtual lineup.
- AB 1814 will lead to the expansion of face surveillance technology, hurting Black and Brown people who already are subject to overpolicing and racial profiling.
- AB 1814 will allow law enforcement to use face surveillance to track the movements of those seeking refuge in California, including undocumented immigrants and people in need of reproductive and gender-affirming care.
- Face surveillance will cause significant harm and make racial disparities in the criminal legal system worse.
- Face surveillance is the digital equivalent of “stop and frisk” or “show your papers” laws. It lets the government do things that we’d never accept in the non-digital world.