California's state senate has approved SB 53, a revised AI safety bill targeting companies with over $500 million in revenue, mandating safety reports, incident disclosures, and whistleblower protections. Endorsed by Anthropic and designed to avoid burdening startups, this legislation could become law and set a precedent for state-level checks on AI power. Amid stalled federal regulation, SB 53 represents a strategic pivot in the battle to govern rapidly advancing AI technologies.