Skip to content
NewsRegulation

California Creates First US AI Auditor Registry With Newsom Signing of SB 813 and AB 1405

· by Pondero Newsdesk

The short version

Governor Gavin Newsom signed two bills on September 9, 2026 that establish a state registry for AI auditors and a framework for independent verification of AI systems, the first such laws in the United States.

California Creates First US AI Auditor Registry With Newsom Signing of SB 813 and AB 1405

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed two bills on September 9, 2026 that together create the first government-run registry for AI auditors and an independent verification framework in the United States. Both Anthropic and OpenAI backed the legislation before the signing.

What the bills do

Senate Bill 813, authored by Senator Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton), tasks the California Government Operations Agency with selecting and regulating "independent verification organizations" (IVOs). Per the governor's press release, an IVO must demonstrate expertise in assessing the risks posed by an AI system or model and identifying the metrics and methodologies that underpin that assessment. The bill also establishes the California Artificial Intelligence Standards and Safety Commission, which will develop voluntary AI safety standards.

Assembly Bill 1405, authored by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda), requires the same Government Operations Agency to establish an AI Auditor Registry and set standards for auditor independence, transparency, and integrity. The registry gives companies and regulators a way to verify whether a third-party auditor meets state-recognized qualifications before commissioning an audit. Per Stauss PLLC's legislative summary, the bills were part of a broader package in which the California legislature passed sixteen AI bills before closing its 2026 session on August 31.

Industry support was unusual

Both Anthropic and OpenAI endorsed the legislation before the signing, a departure from the industry opposition that blocked SB 1047 in 2024. Gizmodo reported that OpenAI published a statement of support from Chief of Public Affairs Chris Lehane in the hours before the signing. Anthropic had endorsed the bills earlier, per Politico, noting that "the world would benefit from the industry adopting a lawful, verifiable way to work together to pace how we release powerful models."

Senator McNerney framed the signing as a direct response to recent AI safety incidents, saying the legislation "sends a clear message that California is taking the lead on assessing AI's safety risks, since Washington, D.C., is unable or unwilling to do so." Bauer-Kahan said the registry addresses the problem of AI developers "grading their own homework."

Why it matters

The auditor registry and IVO framework are structural, not aspirational. An AI developer deploying a high-risk system in California will now be able to point to a state-recognized auditor rather than a self-selected one, which changes the evidentiary weight of any audit in a dispute or regulatory review. That distinction matters for buyers of AI systems in regulated sectors such as healthcare, financial services, and government contracting: a registry-credentialed audit provides a clearer compliance anchor than a vendor-commissioned assessment from an uncredentialed firm.

For AI-tool operators, the more immediate signal is the bipartisan and industry-backed character of these two bills. The audit ecosystem SB 813 and AB 1405 create is the kind that enterprise procurement teams are likely to start asking vendors about. Operators selling AI-assisted services to California enterprises should expect questions about third-party audits from credentialed IVOs within the next 12 to 18 months.

Newsom paired the signing with a call for federal action, saying "the federal government must step forward with robust, national regulations that match the urgency of this moment."

What to watch next

The Government Operations Agency now faces the task of writing the specific standards for IVO designation and the auditor registry. No timeline for those regulations was stated in the signing announcement. California's prior AI transparency law, SB 53 (signed in 2025), required frontier AI developers to disclose safety frameworks publicly; SB 813 and AB 1405 add a third-party verification layer on top of that self-disclosure requirement.

Sources