California Launches Consumer Agency Led by Rohit Chopra

California’s Business and Consumer Services Agency is a new cabinet-level body created through a state government reorganization to consolidate licensing, enforcement and market oversight. Its remit spans financial services, health care, real estate, retail, hospitality, agriculture and higher education. The agency is intended to improve coordination across regulators, protect households and small businesses, and promote fair competition as California expands its response to hidden fees, deceptive marketing and other harmful market practices.

Governor Gavin Newsom formally launched the BCSA on July 1, 2026, and swore in former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra as its inaugural secretary. The agency includes eight major entities, among them the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, Department of Consumer Affairs and Department of Real Estate, while overseeing dozens of related boards and bureaus. Chopra led the CFPB from 2021 to 2025, when the watchdog recovered nearly $10 billion in consumer refunds and penalties from companies that violated the law.