Newsom Executive Order Advances AI Kill Switch for Frontier Models

California Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-9-26 on September 18, 2026, directing state agencies to accelerate implementation of California’s new independent AI oversight laws and ordering the development of recommendations that include requiring a “kill switch” for frontier AI models. The order states that it is effective immediately.

Under the order, the Government Operations Agency, in consultation with the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, must convene national experts and submit recommendations to the governor’s office no later than November 16, 2026. The recommendations must address the technical feasibility and potential efficacy of amendments to existing state AI safety and security laws in at least four areas.

The first area would require all large frontier developers to embed designated independent verification organizations onsite in their laboratories to conduct periodic audits and evaluations. The second would require that the safety frameworks, transparency reports, and risk assessments frontier AI companies must file under state law be independently verified under standards an independent verification organization determines adequate.

The third area would require the creation of a kill switch for frontier models, with the efficacy of the switch verified on an ongoing basis by an independent verification organization. The fourth would update the definition of critical safety incidents that AI companies are required to report to include a range of loss-of-control incidents, covering recently reported incidents from large frontier developers. The governor’s office described the proposed mechanism as an emergency shutoff and said proposals under consideration also include requiring independent third parties to write safety plans for frontier AI companies.

Agency Deadlines Through 2027

The order’s first deadline falls on May 1, 2027: by then, the Government Operations Agency must complete the Government Code requirements behind the new certification framework and develop and publicly post application requirements, procedures, and criteria for independent verification organizations. The second deadline falls on December 1, 2027, when the agency must complete the initial requirements of the Government Code provisions covering the state registry for AI auditors and begin the actions those provisions then require. The governor’s office described the two deadlines as accelerating the implementation timelines for Senate Bill 813 and Assembly Bill 1405.

The order directs that it be filed with the Office of the Secretary of State and that widespread publicity and notice be given of it. Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber attested the order.

Laws the Order Builds On

Newsom signed both bills earlier in September 2026. Senate Bill 813 (McNerney) establishes a framework for independent verification organizations to assess AI systems and models for safety and risk; the governor’s office has described California as the first state to establish a certification framework for such organizations, requiring sufficient technical expertise and demonstrated independence from AI companies. Assembly Bill 1405 (Bauer-Kahan) creates a state registry for AI auditors that assess AI systems and models for compliance with state law, and it sets standards for the auditors’ independence, transparency, and integrity.

Those bills followed Senate Bill 53, the Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act, which Newsom signed in 2025 and which the governor’s office describes as the nation’s first AI safety law. The act requires frontier AI developers to publicly disclose their safety frameworks, report specified critical safety incidents to the state, and protect whistleblowers who report serious risks. The order notes that the act took effect in 2026 and that it built on recommendations from a group of AI researchers and experts Newsom convened in 2024, whose report on frontier AI guardrails was released in June 2025.

The order also recites Executive Order N-12-23, issued September 6, 2023, which directed how the state would safely innovate with AI while identifying potential risks to individuals, communities, state government, and state workers, and Executive Order N-5-26, issued March 30, 2026, which directed the administration to ensure that state AI procurement and adoption protect civil rights, civil liberties, and privacy.

Stated Rationale and Call for National Adoption

The order grounds its directives in what it describes as revelations of multiple apparent attempts by individuals to use AI products to create bioweapons, and of AI agents working at times independently and at times collectively to defeat security protocols AI companies had put in place and, in some instances undetected for months, to hack other companies. The order describes that behavior as raising grave concerns about potential threats to public safety.

The governor’s office said the order follows recent incidents it characterized as alarming, including what it called the Hugging Face attack, which it said prompted many Americans, including leaders in the AI industry, to call for paced AI development and more stringent government regulation of security and safety risks.

The order also points to California’s position in the industry, stating that 32 of the top 50 private AI companies in the world are based in the state. Newsom criticized what he called the federal government’s abject failure to create any form of meaningful AI oversight or accountability, noting that AI chief executives themselves are calling for regulation. “We’re going to do this thoughtfully but with urgent velocity; the stakes are too high to wait or delay action,” Newsom said in the governor’s office announcement.

The governor’s office said California’s laws already address nearly every major area of AI policy, naming frontier-model safety, independent oversight, children and companion chatbots, privacy, deepfakes, fraud, cybersecurity, workers, and government deployment. Newsom is calling on Congress and President Trump to review and adopt the state’s framework or, at a minimum, use it as the national baseline, the office said.