California Executive Order N-9-26: Accelerating Independent AI Oversight and an AI Emergency Shutoff Mechanism

Properties

jurisdiction: US, California
level: state
domain: safety
status: in-effect
scope: Executive order directing the California Government Operations Agency, in consultation with the Governor's Office of Emergency Services, to accelerate implementation of SB 813 and AB 1405 and to develop recommendations for an AI emergency shutoff ('kill switch') mechanism for frontier AI models with ongoing verification.
obligations: Directs the Government Operations Agency to accelerate the implementation timelines for SB 813 and AB 1405; convene national experts within two months to develop recommendations for strengthening state law; propose requirements for independent verification organizations to conduct onsite audits at frontier AI companies; and advance the creation of an emergency shutoff mechanism for AI models, with ongoing verification. Directed at state agencies; does not itself impose new binding obligations on private AI developers beyond accelerating the schedule of the already-enacted statutes.
effectiveDate: 2026-09-18
enactedDate: 2026-09-18
appliesTo: California Government Operations Agency and the Governor's Office of Emergency Services (directly); frontier AI developers indirectly, through the accelerated SB 813/AB 1405 implementation and any future kill-switch rulemaking
officialUrl: https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/18/governor-newsom-issues-executive-order-to-accelerate-independent-oversight-and-advance-the-creation-of-an-ai-kill-switch/
notes: Issued by Governor Newsom on September 18, 2026 as Executive Order N-9-26 (EO number independently confirmed this round via a direct fetch of the gov.ca.gov press release, resolving the prior round's inability to locate a formal EO number); quote confirmed directly on the gov.ca.gov press release for this order. Secondary news coverage (CNN, CNBC, NBC News, Fox Business) also describes this executive order on AI oversight and a kill switch. Distinct from ca-sb813 and ca-ab1405 themselves (which this order directs agencies to implement faster) and from the federal EOs already tracked (eo-14409, eo-14365): this is a California state-level executive order, the first tracked state EO in this dataset specific to AI oversight infrastructure rather than a legislative enactment.

Properties

jurisdiction

US, California

level

state

domain

safety

status

in-effect

scope

Executive order directing the California Government Operations Agency, in consultation with the Governor's Office of Emergency Services, to accelerate implementation of SB 813 and AB 1405 and to develop recommendations for an AI emergency shutoff ('kill switch') mechanism for frontier AI models with ongoing verification.

obligations

Directs the Government Operations Agency to accelerate the implementation timelines for SB 813 and AB 1405; convene national experts within two months to develop recommendations for strengthening state law; propose requirements for independent verification organizations to conduct onsite audits at frontier AI companies; and advance the creation of an emergency shutoff mechanism for AI models, with ongoing verification. Directed at state agencies; does not itself impose new binding obligations on private AI developers beyond accelerating the schedule of the already-enacted statutes.

effectiveDate

2026-09-18

enactedDate

2026-09-18

appliesTo

California Government Operations Agency and the Governor's Office of Emergency Services (directly); frontier AI developers indirectly, through the accelerated SB 813/AB 1405 implementation and any future kill-switch rulemaking

officialUrl

https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/18/governor-newsom-issues-executive-order-to-accelerate-independent-oversight-and-advance-the-creation-of-an-ai-kill-switch/

notes

Issued by Governor Newsom on September 18, 2026 as Executive Order N-9-26 (EO number independently confirmed this round via a direct fetch of the gov.ca.gov press release, resolving the prior round's inability to locate a formal EO number); quote confirmed directly on the gov.ca.gov press release for this order. Secondary news coverage (CNN, CNBC, NBC News, Fox Business) also describes this executive order on AI oversight and a kill switch. Distinct from ca-sb813 and ca-ab1405 themselves (which this order directs agencies to implement faster) and from the federal EOs already tracked (eo-14409, eo-14365): this is a California state-level executive order, the first tracked state EO in this dataset specific to AI oversight infrastructure rather than a legislative enactment.