Executive Order N-5-26 (AI vendor safeguard certifications and civil liberties in state AI procurement)

Record US-CA-10 · Executive Order N-5-26

Issued by: Governor of California (Gavin Newsom)
Jurisdiction: California (US)
Level · region: Sub-national · North America
Country: United States
Published / adopted: 2026-03-30
In force: 2026-03-30
Language: English
Official identifier: Executive Order N-5-26

Summary

Directs California agencies on buying and using generative AI. Within 120 days, the Departments of General Services and Technology must recommend contract certifications in which vendors attest to and explain safeguards against misuse, such as exploitation or distribution of child sexual abuse material and non-consensual intimate imagery, models with harmful bias or no governance to reduce it, and violations of civil rights and civil liberties. GovOps must recommend contractor-responsibility reforms, the State CISO reviews federal supply-chain-risk designations, and the Department of Technology issues watermarking guidance for AI-generated or significantly manipulated images or video.

Safety topics

public-sector usedeepfakes & synthetic mediatransparency & labellingchild safety

Status notes

Signed and effective 30 Mar 2026. All its deadlines run 120 days from issuance. Besides the certifications, it orders reforms so that the state does not contract with entities judicially found to have unlawfully undermined privacy or civil liberties; employee access to vetted GenAI tools with privacy and cybersecurity safeguards; an updated State Digital Strategy; a GenAI pilot giving access to government services by life event; expanded training; and a data minimization toolkit. The watermarking guidance is to follow Business and Professions Code secs. 22757.2 and 22757.3. If the State CISO finds a federal supply-chain-risk designation of a company improper, DGS and CDT issue guidance so that agencies can keep buying from it. It builds on Executive Order N-12-23 of 6 Sep 2023, binds state agencies only and creates no enforceable rights.

Sources

Open the official source https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/3.30-FINAL-Trusted-AI-Procurement-EO-N-5-26.pdf

Secondary source: https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/03/30/as-trump-rolls-back-protections-governor-newsom-signs-first-of-its-kind-executive-order-to-strengthen-ai-protections-and-responsible-use/

Local copy

Archived. Last attempt 2026-10-17 23:06:27 UTC

Official source (third-party copy, not published) archive/_runs/2026-10-14-discover-leads-2026-10-14/C032/2026-10-14/official.pdf

Retrieved 2026-10-14 13:11:55 UTC

SHA-256 a9a571d88bcea991f360a176e37de9b73698acb4614c22ec1e39431330103acc

Secondary source (third-party copy, not published) archive/US-CA-10/2026-10-17/secondary.html

Retrieved 2026-10-17 22:16:21 UTC

SHA-256 387c2c564c937273e3755e2eee3ef4549f92fdf0be2842b5355caba096e81282

Verification

The instrument's own official text, or an official register, was stored and confirms the title, date and status. checked 2026-10-18 · official-url-fetched

Stored the signed order (gov.ca.gov PDF, 3 pages, copy of 14 Oct 2026), which confirms the number, every provision, immediate effect, the Governor's signature on 'this 30th day of March 2026' and the Secretary of State's attestation, and the Governor's release dated 30 Mar 2026 (gov.ca.gov), which confirms the issuance that day and links both the order and an attested copy (3.30-FINAL-Trusted-AI-Procurement-EO-N-5-26_ATTESTED.pdf, also stored; its OCR text matches the order). The release summarises the certification task as a plan by the Government Operations Agency, while the order assigns the recommendations to DGS and CDT; the record follows the order.

Second check: Independent check by Claude Code (claude-sonnet-5-5), 2026-10-18: 8 field(s) supported.

History

2026-10-18Re-verified against its sources, no change — pipeline run 2026-10-18-recheck-north-america-2 (recheck), candidate US-CA-102026-10-18-recheck-north-america-2 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
2026-10-14related: [{"id": "US-CA-09", "slug": "ca-eo-n-9-26"}, {"id": "US-CA-02", "slug": "ca-sb-9 → [{"id": "US-CA-09", "slug": "ca-eo-n-9-26"}, {"id": "US-CA-02", "slug": "ca-sb-9 — the two California executive orders on AI, as the checkers of run 2026-10-14-discover-leads-2026-10-14 named them (checks/C032.json, checks/C033.json)2026-10-14-discover-leads-2026-10-14 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
2026-10-14Added to the register — found in pipeline run 2026-10-14-discover-leads-2026-10-14, candidate C032 (US-CA/executive)2026-10-14-discover-leads-2026-10-14 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)

Related records

California EO N-9-26 California (US) · In force

California AI Transparency Act California (US) · Partially in force

California EO N-12-23 (generative AI) California (US) · In force

Citation

Governor of California (Gavin Newsom). Executive Order N-5-26 (AI vendor safeguard certifications and civil liberties in state AI procurement) [Executive Order N-5-26]. 2026-03-30. https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/3.30-FINAL-Trusted-AI-Procurement-EO-N-5-26.pdf. Status: In force; verified 2026-10-18 (level A). Local copy archive/_runs/2026-10-14-discover-leads-2026-10-14/C032/2026-10-14/official.pdf retrieved 2026-10-14 13:11:55 UTC, SHA-256 a9a571d88bcea991f360a176e37de9b73698acb4614c22ec1e39431330103acc. Every AI Policy Ever, version 1.18 (snapshot 2026-10-18), record US-CA-10.

Improve this record

Know of an amendment, a status change or an error? Report news or an error on GitHub; the form opens with this record filled in.