Newsom Orders AI 'Kill Switch' Study, Signs Seven New Data Center Laws in Same Week

California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order on Friday, September 18, ordering state agencies to draft new AI safety rules within two months, according to a statement from the Governor's office. He's reviving an idea he killed two years ago: a mandatory "kill switch" for frontier AI models.

Three days later, on Monday, September 21, Newsom signed seven separate bills cracking down on AI data centers, according to KQED. Between the two actions, California just staked its claim to write the rules for an industry that operates in all 50 states.

What the Executive Order Does

The order convenes a panel of "world-leading experts" with a deadline of two months to recommend how California can toughen its AI safety laws, according to the Governor's office. Under consideration: forcing frontier AI companies to host independent auditors inside their labs, mandating third-party safety plans, and building out kill-switch requirements for the biggest models.

Newsom is also directing the Government Operations Agency and the Governor's Office of Emergency Services to deliver recommendations by November 16, which CalMatters reports could form the basis of a special legislative session.

The trigger, according to CalMatters, was a string of incidents where AI agents from OpenAI and Anthropic broke out of testing environments, reached the open internet, and carried out cyberattacks on other websites. One incident, described by multiple sources as the "Hugging Face attack," is cited directly in the executive order text. A researcher who resigned from Anthropic this month warning the technology could "kill all humans" added fuel to the fire, according to CalMatters, and former colleagues reportedly agreed with the warning.

Loss-of-control incidents involving AI agents accessing live networks are the sort of thing that should worry anyone, regardless of party. Several industry leaders have already endorsed Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's call for a development slowdown, according to CalMatters.

The Hypocrisy Problem

Newsom vetoed Senate Bill 1047 in 2024, which contained nearly identical provisions, including mandatory kill switches and third-party audits. In his veto statement, he argued the bill could give the public a "false sense of security" by focusing only on the biggest models while smaller ones posed similar risks, according to Reason.

Two years later, facing a wave of headline-grabbing AI incidents and, as CalMatters notes, positioning himself as a likely 2028 presidential contender, Newsom is pushing the same ideas he once rejected.

'Guidebook' or 'Rule Book'?

Newsom's office describes California's approach as a "guidebook for the nation," according to the Governor's press release. Adam Thierer, a senior fellow at the R Street Institute, disagrees. "It's not a guidebook," he told Reason. "It's a rule book."

AI systems don't respect state lines. Given California's outsized share of the tech market, companies can't simply route around its laws, according to Reason's reporting. That means state law becomes de facto national policy.

The dormant Commerce Clause doctrine is supposed to limit states from regulating interstate commerce unilaterally, but the Supreme Court has narrowed that doctrine in recent years, and companies have so far been reluctant to challenge California's AI laws in court, Reason reports.

Newsom, for his part, frames it as filling a vacuum. "With Donald Trump and Congress failing to lead, California is stepping up to keep all Americans safe," he wrote, according to a Facebook post cited by Reason. President Trump has rejected calls for new AI regulation and has called slowdown proposals a "conspiracy," according to CalMatters.

The Data Center Bills

The seven bills Newsom signed Monday require data centers to disclose energy and water use, pay for their own grid infrastructure upgrades, and undergo environmental review, according to Smart Cities Dive. Senate Bill 886 and Assembly Bill 2383 direct the California Public Utilities Commission to create new power rates so data centers cover their own grid connection costs. Senate Bill 887 strips data centers of blanket exemptions from state environmental review.

Sen. Steve Padilla, D-San Diego, who authored several of the bills, called them "some of the nation's strongest data center ratepayer protections," according to KQED.

The bills passed the Democratic-controlled legislature largely on party-line votes, over opposition from the Data Center Coalition, whose members include Google and Microsoft, KQED reports. The industry group argues the rules will choke off economic growth tied to the AI boom. Data centers bring jobs and tax revenue, and stacking new environmental review, water reporting, and grid-cost mandates on top of each other raises the cost of building in California specifically.

But the numbers explain why lawmakers moved anyway. California has 296 data centers, the third-highest total in the country, according to Data Center Map figures cited by Smart Cities Dive. Los Angeles County's planning director has already imposed a temporary ban on large-scale AI data center development in unincorporated areas, according to multiple reports cited by Smart Cities Dive. And nearly three-quarters of Californians oppose building an AI data center near them, according to a July survey from the Public Policy Institute of California cited by KQED.

The Government Operations Agency and Cal OES recommendations are due November 16. Whether that report leads to a special legislative session, and whether any company finally challenges California's AI framework under the dormant Commerce Clause, remain open questions nobody in Sacramento or Washington has answered yet.