Governor Gavin Newsom signed Executive Order N-5-26 on March 30, 2026, directing state agencies to overhaul AI procurement standards and requiring AI companies seeking state contracts to certify that their systems include safeguards against misuse, bias, discrimination, and civil rights violations.
The order gives the Department of General Services and the Department of Technology 120 days to submit recommendations for new vendor certifications. Areas of required disclosure include protection against the spread of illegal or exploitative content, mitigation of harmful bias, and civil rights compliance.
The order also directs the California Department of Technology to develop best practices for watermarking AI-generated images and video, described as the first such state-level directive in the United States.
The executive order builds on more than 20 AI laws that took effect in California on January 1, 2026, including the AI Transparency Act (SB 942) requiring AI-generated content labelling, and the GAI Training Data Transparency Act (AB 2013) requiring developers to publish training data summaries.
Score note: dimension 10 updates toward a stronger advisory/oversight function (procurement oversight and vendor standards; still advisory rather than a dedicated enforcement regulator). Dimension 11 is not directly affected (this EO covers vendor certification, not civil servant training). No score changes warranted given current calibration.