Independent Verification Organizations Act (SB 813)

Cal. Gov. Code Sections 8898 to 8898.4 (SB 813, Ch. 179, Stats. 2026)

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In force in 100 days, effective 1 January 2027.

An AI governance rule binding public and private bodies.

As of 15 September 2026.

What it requires

This law is enacted but does not take effect until 2027-01-01; what follows applies from that date.
This chapter does not require you to engage an independent verification organization (IVO) or undergo a covered AI audit as a condition of developing, deploying, or operating an AI system or model in California; doing so is voluntary.
If you want to be designated as an IVO, apply once the Government Operations Agency publishes its application requirements and designation criteria, due by January 1, 2028.
If you are a designated IVO, submit an annual report on your standards, methodologies, governance changes, and conflicts of interest to the agency and the Legislature, starting no sooner than 12 months after your designation.
If a court considers whether your AI system or model caused harm, an audit performed to a standard identified under this chapter is relevant to, but not conclusive of, that action; the chapter creates no safe harbor or affirmative defense.

If you get it wrong

Private right of actionNo

Who enforces it

Enforcement body

California Government Operations Agency, which designates independent verification organizations and may suspend or terminate that designation; the chapter states no penalty against a developer, deployer, or operator of an AI system or model.

What it reaches

Obligation class

Governance, Reporting, Licensing, Disclosure

What it makes you log

Who may demand the log

Regulator

Log retention

Section 8898.3(c)'s five-year floor applies to the unredacted version of information an IVO redacts from its annual report; it does not apply to a report the IVO never redacts. The annual report's own content (summaries of standards and methodologies, governance and funding changes, application-information changes) names no record contents.

Unit: Years
As of: 21 September 2026
Basis: Fixed
Minimum value: 5

Logging duty

A designated IVO must submit an annual report on its standards, methodologies, governance, and conflicts of interest to the agency and the Legislature, and the chapter separately lists "failure to maintain adequate documentation" as a ground to suspend or terminate an IVO's designation (Section 8898.1(b)(4)). Neither provision uses the words log, record, event recording, or audit trail; both use maintain and report. This is a distinct question from whether a developer or deployer of an AI system is expected to have its own AI system audited; this duty is the designated IVO's own reporting and documentation obligation about itself.

Kind: Implicit
As of: 21 September 2026
Provision: Section 8898.3

Who checks it

Audit expectation

none

Who audits it

Registered or designated auditor

What this law does

Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.

SB 813 was chaptered on 9 September 2026 and carries no urgency clause, so it takes effect on 1 January 2027 under California's default operative date.

It directs the California Government Operations Agency to develop, by January 1, 2028, application requirements, suspension and termination procedures, and designation criteria for independent verification organizations (IVOs), private AI auditors the agency designates as qualified to assess the risks posed by an AI system or model, but the chapter does not require any person, partnership, or corporation that develops, deploys, or operates an AI system or model to engage an IVO or undergo a covered AI audit.

A designated IVO must submit an annual report on its standards, methodology, governance, and conflicts of interest to the agency and the Legislature, starting no sooner than 12 months after its designation, and if an audit performed to the chapter's standards is later invoked in a civil action alleging that an AI system or model caused harm, the chapter makes it relevant to, but not conclusive of, that action.

When LexLint raises it

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Read the law

California Legislative Information (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov), chaptered bill text, Ch. 179, Stats. 2026

Every line above is drawn from the primary source linked here, read on the date shown. This is a research summary, not legal advice.

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