California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued executive order N-9-26 directing the Government Operations Agency to convene national experts on independent AI oversight and a frontier-model kill switch, with recommendations due November 16, 2026 — not an immediate mandate.
On Friday, September 18, 2026, Newsom signed executive order N-9-26 directing the Government Operations Agency, in consultation with the Office of Emergency Services, to bring together national experts on frontier AI safety and oversight (Governor’s Office). Recommendations are due November 16, 2026. Bloomberg, the Los Angeles Times, and CBS Sacramento confirmed the order the same day.
The brief under study includes four tracks: embedding independent verification organizations onsite at frontier labs for periodic audits; independently verifying the safety frameworks, transparency reports, and risk assessments companies file; advancing creation of a “kill switch” for frontier models with ongoing independent verification that it works; and updating critical safety incident definitions to cover loss-of-control events, including incidents such as the Hugging Face attack.
The order also accelerates implementation timelines for SB 813, which creates independent verification organizations, and AB 1405, an AI auditor registry — both signed last week. It does not immediately require companies to install a kill switch.
The kill-switch concept revisits SB 1047, the 2024 California AI safety bill Newsom vetoed. That bill would have required prompt full shutdown capability for covered models. Context for the new order includes recent AI incidents and industry calls to pace development, with California positioning the framework as a potential national model.