California Establish AI Safety Commission Initiative (2026)
| California Establish AI Safety Commission Initiative | |
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| Election date |
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| Topic Business regulations |
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| Status |
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| Type Initiated state statute |
Origin |
Not on the ballot
The California Establish AI Safety Commission Initiative (#25-0034) is not on the ballot in California as an initiated state statute on November 3, 2026.
Measure design
- See also: Text of measure
The initiative would have created the California AI Safety Commission as an independent body with the power to register AI companies, issue capability licenses, evaluate protection plans, process or deny capability expansion, impose civil penalties, conduct audits, and adopt implementing regulations. The initiative would have also required each AI company to create and maintain a Protection Plan with the objectives of ensuring displaced workers and the public benefit from AI; establishing means of humans monitoring the behavior of AI and capabilities to shut it down; and distributing governance over AI systems.[1]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title was as follows:[2]
| “ | Regulates certain large artificial intelligence (AI) companies. Initiative statute.[3] | ” |
Petition summary
The summary provided for inclusion on signature petition sheets was as follows:[2]
| “ | Creates new state agency, the California AI Safety Commission, comprised of seven appointed members with specified expertise, to regulate companies that develop or control advanced AI systems and meet other specified criteria. Regulated companies must: (1) submit safety plan to Commission addressing specified categories of potential harm, including workforce displacement, safety, and loss of human control; and (2) notify Commission before expanding AI system capabilities. Requires Commission to publish best practices for mitigating potential harms of AI; authorizes Commission to limit expansion of AI system capabilities if company’s safety plan is inadequate.[3] | ” |
Full text
The full text of the initiative can be read here.
Path to the ballot
An initiated state statute is a citizen-initiated ballot measure that amends state statute. There are 21 states that allow citizens to initiate state statutes, including 14 that provide for direct initiatives and nine (9) that provide for indirect initiatives (two provide for both). An indirect initiated state statute goes to the legislature after a successful signature drive. The legislatures in these states have the option of approving the initiative itself, rather than the initiative appearing on the ballot.
In California, the number of signatures required for an initiated state statute is equal to 5% of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election. A simple majority vote is required for voter approval. The requirements to get initiated state statutes certified for the 2026 ballot:
- Signatures: 546,651 valid signatures are required.
- Deadline: The deadline for signature verification is June 25, 2026. However, the secretary of state suggested deadlines for turning in signatures of January 12, 2026, for initiatives needing a full check of signatures and April 17, 2026, for initiatives needing a random sample of signatures verified.
Initiative #25-0034
The following is the timeline of the initiative:[2]
- December 1, 2025: Alexander Oldham filed the initiative with the California Attorney General's Office.[1]
- February 5, 2026: The initiative was cleared for signature gathering.
- February 26, 2026: The initiative was withdrawn.
See also
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 California Secretary of State, "Initiative 25-0034 text," accessed December 3, 2025
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 California Secretary of State, "Initiative and Referendum Qualification Status," accessed December 3, 2025
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
