SB 903 would preserve administrative uses of artificial intelligence but require licensed-professional oversight for specified clinical functions—a consequential distinction for a region addressing a documented behavioral-health workforce shortage.
California lawmakers are considering legislation that would define which functions artificial intelligence may perform in psychotherapy and which require a licensed professional’s oversight.
The debate matters in San Diego, where clinicians and health systems must balance patient safety with limited behavioral-health capacity.
A 2022 San Diego Workforce Partnership study estimated that approximately 17,000 people worked across priority behavioral-health occupations in the region—about 8,000 fewer than the estimated need at that time. The study projected that San Diego needed to educate, train, attract, employ, and retain approximately 18,500 professionals between 2022 and 2027. That estimate included replacing 7,800 workers expected to leave the workforce, filling the existing shortage, and meeting projected growth—not simply adding 18,500 net-new positions.
San Diego County responded in July 2025 by launching the $75 million ELEVATE program, which supports training, tuition assistance, career advancement, and workforce incentives.
Under the August 21 version of SB 903, organizations could not advertise or present companion-chatbot services as psychotherapy. When providers use AI in psychotherapy, screening, or triage, they cannot allow it to make therapeutic decisions, generate diagnoses or treatment plans, detect mental states, or determine the urgency or level of care without review and approval by a licensed professional.
The bill would continue to permit AI-supported scheduling, billing, documentation, clinician-reviewed progress analysis, and mechanical scoring of standardized questionnaires. AI could not interpret questionnaire results or use them to determine a patient’s condition, urgency, or level of need without professional review. The bill also includes a limited exception for direct psychotherapeutic interaction by systems approved or cleared by the FDA for that use and compliant with HIPAA.
Patients would have to give clear, informed, voluntary, documented, and revocable consent before AI records or transcribes psychotherapy communications or participates in screening or triage.
Employers would bear responsibility for the compliant deployment of required AI systems. Clinicians would receive limited protection from discipline or enforcement under SB 903 when an employer-mandated feature outside their control solely causes a violation. The provision does not create broader immunity from professional or civil liability.
As of August 22, 2026, SB 903 remains an active bill in the Assembly floor process. The Senate passed it 39-0 in May; the Assembly amended it on August 21 and ordered it to third reading. It has not become law.
The bill does not specify precisely when professional review must occur or prescribe a detailed workflow for incorporating that review into high-volume clinical settings. Its effects on clinician workload, patient wait times, reimbursement, and access, therefore, remain uncertain.