First Partner Siebel Newsom, Governor Newsom, and #HalfTheStory launch California’s first Teen Tech Council
A proven model
California is the second flagship state to adopt the Teen Tech Council, serving as the blueprint for national scale. In 2025, #HalfTheStory launched the first Teen Tech Council in New York in partnership with Secretary Hillary Clinton and Governor Kathy Hochul. The New York Teen Tech Council successfully trained more than 70 youth leaders across 13 regions in New York state, from Buffalo to the Bronx, and reached more than 17,000 students during the last school year.
Leading responsible innovation in the Golden State
Last December, Governor Newsom launched the California Innovation Council, which leverages the collective knowledge of the nation’s top tech policy experts to help California develop and strengthen its technology policy. Through four working groups, the Council tackles issues ranging from empowering workers to countering tech fraud to protecting children online. The First Partner leads the Protecting Child Online Safety and Countering Image-Based Abuse working group, which includes councilmember and #HalfTheStory Founder Larz May, linking the Teen Tech Council directly to the state’s broader work on responsible technology.
The other working groups target statewide efforts in different areas impacted by evolving technology including:
- Countering Tech Fraud (led by the Business and Consumer Services Agency)
- Modernizing Government Service Delivery (led by the Government Operations Agency, including the California Department of Technology and the Office of Data and Innovation)
- Technology, Economic Development, and Workforce (led by the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development and the Labor and Workforce Development Agency)
A commitment to children’s online safety
California has long been a leader in protecting children from the danger of emerging technology. Starting this school year (2026-27), the Phone-Free School Act, which Governor Newsom signed in 2024, requires every school district, charter school and county office of education to develop a policy limiting the use of smartphones. Last fall, Governor Newsom signed landmark legislation strengthening protections for children online and adding safeguards for emerging technologies, including age verification, protocols to address suicide and self-harm, warnings regarding social media and companion chatbots, and stronger penalties for those who profit from illegal deepfakes.
Birthplace of modern tech
California is home to 33 of the top 50 private AI companies in the world, and no state has taken more aggressive action to strengthen the safety, security, and consumer privacy of technology and online platforms.
In 2023, Governor Newsom made California the first state to take action on Generative AI policy, announcing an executive order to both responsibly adopt this technology in state government and begin studying its risks. The Governor convened world-leading academic experts to draft the California Report on Frontier AI Policy, providing the state with policy recommendations that helped lead to the Governor’s signature on the first state legislation nationwide, the Transparency in Frontier Technology Act (Senate Bill 53, Wiener) to help ensure that this technology moves forward responsibly. The law has since been replicated and modeled in similar laws adopted in other states.
In addition, it supplements the Governor’s March 2026 executive order, which strengthened civil rights and privacy in California’s procurement of AI technology and expanded California’s adoption of AI to improve government services.
How to get involved
Apply now to join the California Teen Tech Council, or nominate a star student to help shape the future.
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