Yes. On September 18, 2026, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Executive Order N-9-26 directing the Government Operations Agency, working with the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, to submit recommendations by November 16, 2026 on strengthening state AI safety law. Those recommendations must address requiring a verified “kill switch” for frontier models, embedding independent verification organizations onsite at frontier labs, verifying safety frameworks and risk assessments, and expanding critical safety incident reporting to cover loss-of-control events.
The order also accelerates implementation timelines for SB 813 and AB 1405, California’s independent AI oversight and auditor-registry laws. It does not itself create a working kill switch or require companies to install one immediately; it orders a study-and-recommend process on whether and how such a requirement should be written into state law.
Source: Governor Newsom issues executive order… — Office of Governor Gavin Newsom