Law / United States / 
California
California Executive Order N-5-26 (vendor certifications, supply chain review and contractor responsibility in state AI procurement)
In force since .
An AI governance rule binding government bodies.
- Obligation class
- Contract terms, Governance, Disclosure
- Audit expectation
- none
As of .
What it requires
- This order directs California state agencies and creates no right or duty enforceable against any person; it reaches you if you seek to do business with the State, through the certifications and contract provisions it asks state departments to recommend and develop (Paragraphs 1 to 4).
- If you seek to do business with the State of California, be ready to attest to and explain your policies and safeguards to protect public safety while preventing the misuse of your technology, where state contracting incorporates the certifications that Paragraph 1 asks for (Paragraph 1).
- Be ready to attest to and explain your policies and safeguards against the exploitation or distribution of illegal content such as child sexual abuse material and non-consensual intimate imagery, against the use of models that display harmful bias, and your governance to reduce the risk of such bias (Paragraph 1, points a and b).
- Be ready to attest to and explain your policies and safeguards against the violation of civil rights and civil liberties such as free speech, voting, human autonomy, and protections against unlawful discrimination, detention and surveillance (Paragraph 1, point c).
- Do not unlawfully undermine privacy or civil liberties: Paragraph 3 asks for recommendations on contractor responsibility reforms, including suspension and ineligibility, so that state entities do not contract with entities judicially determined to have done so (Paragraph 3).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
What it makes you log
Logging duty
Executive Order N-5-26 directs state departments to submit recommendations, review federal supply chain designations and publish guidance and a toolkit. It requires no log, record or audit trail of any vendor, and asks for recommendations on certifications that vendors would attest to.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Executive Order N-5-26 is an order of the Governor of California, dated . Paragraph 1 has the Department of General Services and the Department of Technology submit recommendations to the Governor for new certifications that may be incorporated into state contracting processes.
The certifications would allow entities seeking to do business with the state to attest to and explain their policies and safeguards to protect public safety while preventing the misuse of their technologies. The Order names exploitation or distribution of illegal content such as child sexual abuse material and non-consensual intimate imagery, models that display harmful bias or lack governance to reduce the risk of such bias, and violation of civil rights and civil liberties.
Paragraph 2 has the State Chief Information Security Officer review any new designation of a company as a supply chain risk by the federal government. If the State Chief Information Security Officer concludes that the designation is improper, the Department of General Services and the Department of Technology will jointly issue guidance ensuring that departments and agencies can continue to easily procure from that company.
Paragraph 3 has the Government Operations Agency submit recommendations on reforms to contractor responsibility provisions, including suspension and ineligibility authorities. Paragraph 4 has the Government Operations Agency and the bodies it names publish a data minimization toolkit for departments and agencies with best practices, templates, special contract provisions and program review checklists.
Paragraph 5 has the Department of Technology issue best practice guidance for departments and agencies to appropriately watermark AI-generated or significantly manipulated images or video. The Order does not create any rights or benefits, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity against the State of California or any other person.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app trains models or distributes a software product.