California Governor Newsom Signs Executive Order Pushing for AI Kill Switch and Federal Oversight Framework
Newsom’s order gives a state expert panel two months to propose AI safety rules, including verified kill switches, onsite independent audits and reporting of “loss-of-control incidents.” It also advances California’s AI auditor registry and verifier framework.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order on Friday, September 19, 2026, directing the state to take the lead on AI oversight — including the potential mandate of a “kill switch” for frontier AI models.
The order instructs the state to convene a panel of experts that will deliver recommendations within two months on how to strengthen AI safety measures in state law. Specifically, Newsom wants the group to consider requiring AI companies to embed independent verification groups onsite for regular audits, subject their transparency reports and risk assessments to independent auditor standards, create a “kill switch” routinely verified as effective, and mandate reporting of “loss-of-control incidents” — such as the OpenAI attack on Hugging Face — as critical safety incidents.
The order also directs a state agency to accelerate implementation of two recently signed laws: one creating a framework for independent verifiers to assess AI safety, and another establishing a state registry of AI auditors.
Newsom is explicitly positioning the order as a model for national action, calling on Congress and President Trump “to review and adopt the state’s framework, or use its nation-leading regulation as a floor, not a ceiling, for the benefit and safety of all Americans.” On Wednesday, he had also floated the possibility of calling California lawmakers into a special legislative session on AI.
The move comes amid heightened concern in Washington following former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon’s post warning of a greater than 10 percent chance that AI “could kill all humans” within a decade. However, with the House on recess until November and midterm elections approaching, significant federal legislation appears unlikely in the near term. President Trump has stated that the only guardrails AI needs is “a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT.”
“The federal government’s abject failure to create any form of meaningful AI oversight or accountability should alarm every American, especially when AI CEOs themselves are begging for regulation,” Newsom said in a statement. “We’re not waiting to act.”