At the September 30, 2026 bill-signing deadline, California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed AB 1940. The bill would have added perimenopause, menopause, postmenopause and related medical conditions to the definition of "sex" in the state's Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), making menopause-related discrimination in employment and housing explicitly illegal. Bloomberg Law reported the veto on October 1. Newsom said he supported the bill's intent of protecting workers from menopause-related bias, but that it would "substantially increase the risk of litigation without meaningfully increasing protections." He argued the conditions are already covered by existing state civil-rights law.

Why It Matters

Menopause is now a large consumer and telehealth market, covering HRT telehealth, vaginal-dryness products, sexual-function treatments and wearables. The policy framework that gives employers a reason to take it seriously is still unsettled. A protected-category law in California, the largest US labor market, would likely have pushed menopause accommodations into HR policies and benefits. Benefit vendors such as Maven, Peppy, Midi and Gennev have been pitching exactly that. The veto leaves menopause bias handled under general sex and disability discrimination law, which plaintiffs' lawyers say is harder to litigate and employers find easier to overlook. The research money is the counterweight. A funded SWAN with brain-imaging data will give the next round of menopause products, from HRT to cognitive and sexual-health claims, a stronger evidence base. Supporters can bring AB 1940 back next session under a new governor. Expect the "already covered" argument to be tested in the first menopause-related FEHA claim.

It was one of only two vetoes among the roughly twenty employment bills tracked by the California Employment Law Report. The other was a hotel immigration-enforcement disclosure bill. Ogletree Deakins' October 6 roundup counts more than twenty employment bills signed since late June, covering workplace AI and surveillance, pay-equity enforcement, leave expansions and immigration-related retaliation, most taking effect January 1, 2027. Fisher Phillips called the menopause veto the main exception to an otherwise worker-friendly session.

The federal picture moved the other way the same week. On October 5–6, UCLA Health and APA Services reported that the NIH has awarded $44.4M over five years to the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN), the 30-year longitudinal cohort that tracks women through and after the menopause transition, across seven research sites. For the first time the funding adds neuroimaging to study links between menopause symptoms, brain aging and stroke risk. APA Services credited advocacy by Rep. Andrea Salinas, an original cosponsor of the Advancing Menopause Care and Mid-Life Women's Health Act (S. 4503 / H.R. 9090).

Sources

Update — 2026-10-08

Initial entry — story first created.