Training just got harder to fake: California’s in-person mandate is here.

The story

California’s entry training for security guards has tightened. Under SB 652, in effect as of January 1, 2026, the state standardized the 40-hour training curriculum and the Power to Arrest and Appropriate Use of Force course, with the use-of-force portion delivered through live instruction. As training providers tracking the rollout report, the initial 8-hour course can no longer be completed entirely online — a portion must now be taken in person, in a classroom with a live instructor. Operators should confirm the exact current breakdown with BSIS, since the agency has revised these requirements more than once.

My take

I’m for this, with my eyes open. For years the entry training drifted online, which made it cheap, convenient, and easy to phone in with a video playing on a second screen. Pushing part of it back into a real classroom raises the floor, because it’s a lot harder to fake a person sitting in a room.

Yes, it adds cost and scheduling friction, and high-volume operators will feel it most. But that friction is a feature, not a bug. It pushes out the license mills and rewards the companies that actually train.

In California, every rising standard is a moat. If you build a real training operation now, the next requirement won’t scare you — it will thin your competition for you.