Governor Newsom signs first-of-its-kind executive order to prepare workers and businesses for potential AI disruption

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT STATE OF CALIFORNIA EXECUTIVE ORDER N-6-26 WHEREAS California is the largest economy in the nation, the world’s preeminent innovation ecosystem, and an incubator for new technologies, as well as the businesses that create and scale those technologies; and WHEREAS since taking office in 2019, my Administration has focused on growing and sustaining California’s economic and technological leadership, all while working closely with industry, labor, academia, and civil society to ensure emerging technologies are developed and deployed safely and responsibly; and WHEREAS the artificial intelligence (AI) industry has grown exponentially, with conservative estimates placing it at approximately $375 billion annually worldwide, and AI now deployed in industries as diverse as transportation, retail, manufacturing, energy, education, healthcare, and IT & telecom; and WHEREAS California has dominated AI innovation, with 33 of the top 50 private AI companies in the world based in California, even as no state has taken more aggressive action to strengthen the safety, security, and consumer privacy of technology and online platforms, including AI; and WHEREAS on September 6, 2023, I issued Executive Order N-12-23 directing how the State would safely innovate to use AI for the benefit of Californians, as well as identify potential risks to individuals, communities, state government, and state workers; and WHEREAS in response to Executive Order N-12-23, my Administration established guidelines for public sector procurement of AI products, uses, and required trainings; published guidelines for State agencies and departments to analyze the impact of AI tools on marginalized and vulnerable communities; published reports on building and supporting a AI-ready state workforce; and launched pilots of AI projects to help improve public services; and WHEREAS in 2025, a group of world-leading AI researchers and experts— convened at my request—released a first-in-the-nation report on sensible frontier AI guardrails, based on empirical, science-based analysis of the capabilities and attendant risks of frontier models, including recommendations on ensuring evidence-based policymaking, balancing the need for transparency, safety, and trust with innovation; and WHEREAS in partnership with the Legislature, I have signed legislation addressing frontier AI trust and safety, children's safety online, data privacy, cybersecurity, and consumer protection, proving that innovation and economic growth are fully compatible with common sense guardrails; and WHEREAS on March 30, 2026, I issued Executive Order N-5-26 directing my Administration to ensure AI procurement and adoption protect civil rights, civil liberties, and privacy, while reinforcing the importance of transparent, safe, and responsible AI adoption to make government more efficient, effective, and engaged; and WHEREAS the private sector’s ability to raise substantial capital and invest in developing and scaling emerging technologies has facilitated the rapid development of AI technology and its deployment for varied use cases across sectors; and WHEREAS due to the market incentives that shape private-sector decision making, development and deployment of AI to advance the public good may not be prioritized or, in some cases, pursued at all, especially when coupled with the concentration of computing power among a handful of private actors and prohibitive costs of developing AI ecosystems at scale; and WHEREAS government can play a key role in ensuring access to AI infrastructure for the public good, including support for development and deployment of AI technology to address critical issues like AI safety, improving governmental services, mitigating climate change, and meeting basic human needs like clean air, clean water, food security, and health; and WHEREAS since taking office, I have also championed historic investments and initiatives to expand economic opportunity for all Californians, through our public TK-12 school and higher education systems; initiatives creating clear pathways to good paying jobs integrated under California’s Master Plan for Career Education; region-specific, bottom-up economic development plans and investments through Jobs First and the Economic Blueprint; and expanded universal access to capital through CalKIDS college and career savings accounts; and WHEREAS in alignment with the Master Plan for Career Education, my Administration has prioritized jobs and workers, creating wide-reaching worker training programs and supported more than 674,000 earn-and-learn training opportunities, including over 250,000 registered apprenticeships statewide, and worked with industry and labor to build the skills for today and tomorrow, developing training programs alongside existing programs such as the Employment Training Panel, the University of California’s Extension program and the Community College System that support the workforce development that is vital to the California economy; and WHEREAS the University of California’s Extension program serves over 300,000 people every year, the California State University system also offers extended education programs at every campus, and these programs support Californians to learn new skills relevant to their fields, earn certificates or transition into new fields and offer a comprehensive range of educational opportunities tailored to the needs of the community and working professionals; and WHEREAS the University of California launched Degree Plus in 2025, a two- year pilot program that combines a UC bachelor’s degree with skills-based certificates and paid internships to strengthen workforce readiness and connect students with employers; and WHEREAS through the Jobs First initiative, for the first time, California provided regions across the state funding to develop their own data-driven, community-led economic plans, including identifying strategic industry sectors; and WHEREAS in 2025 alone, these efforts under the Jobs First initiative supported nearly $1.6 billion in investments across all 13 economic regions in California, that helped create more than 61,000 new jobs and train more than 142,000 workers; and WHEREAS California is leading the country with policies to support portable benefits for workers and families, including universal access to retirement savings, through Cal Savers, universal school meals, universal TK, access to low and no-cost before and after-school childcare, and up to $1,500 invested for all Californian children through CalKIDS, to name a few; and WHEREAS this comprehensive approach has provided a foundation to support Californians in pursuing economic opportunity and prosperity in the face of an evolving economy, including adapting to potential economic impacts caused by AI and other emerging technologies; and WHEREAS California must continue to lead, both in supporting responsible growth of emerging technologies and addressing their impacts on society and maintaining economic opportunity for all Californians, including by reviewing and updating, as needed, existing protections and exploring other tools for more broadly sharing the economic benefits with workers in industries and businesses impacted by AI and other emerging technologies; and WHEREAS California already has robust worker protection laws that apply to firms adopting emerging technologies, such as anti-discrimination and retaliation protections and layoff and closure notices to workers, and has existing programs, such as the Work Sharing program, that provide alternatives to layoffs in the face of changing market conditions and help businesses keep trained employees and recover when business conditions improve, but these programs are currently underutilized; and WHEREAS existing collective bargaining agreements often include measures to ensure consultation, consent, and compensation with respect to the adoption of new systems, standards, and technologies; and WHEREAS California is implementing several initiatives that address potential risks and opportunities associated with AI and other new technologies, including: • Memorandums of understanding with NVIDIA, Adobe, Google, IBM, and Microsoft—in collaboration with California State University and the California Community Colleges—to expand AI literacy trainings; and • Strengthening employee protections, such as California Civil Rights Department regulations prohibiting discrimination in employment through Automated Decision Systems and California Privacy Protection Agency regulations strengthening employee and consumer privacy protections with respect to automated decision-making technology; and WHEREAS workers and consumers should have a voice in the future of broad-based technological adoption; and WHEREAS I have empowered Californians to help inform policy decisions through the country’s first deliberative democracy platform, Engaged California, and launched the Innovation Council, Emerging Technology Accelerator, and Breakthrough Project to ensure my Administration continues to leverage the expertise of Californians; and WHEREAS I launched a new round of Engaged California earlier this month focused on the economic and labor impacts of AI to gather input directly from Californians; and WHEREAS while new technologies present opportunities, it is in our collective interest to take proactive steps to manage and mitigate potential disruptions to our workforce, education systems, and economy, alongside harnessing opportunities, through ongoing study and recommendations to help guide future policymaking and regulations to protect the public, workers, and our economy. NOW, THEREFORE, I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, in accordance with the authority vested in me by the State Constitution and statutes of the State of California, do hereby issue the following Order to become effective immediately: IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT: 1. Within 90 days of the issuance of this Order, the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, GO-Biz, and the Department of Finance, in consultation with academic and relevant industry partners and other state agencies, as appropriate, shall provide to the Governor a review of the emerging body of academic research identifying the potential workforce impacts of technological shifts, including AI’s impact on California’s labor market and potential disproportionate impacts on demographic groups. Analysis should include best practices—to the extent practicable—on early economic warning signals of future labor disruptions. 2. Within 180 days of the issuance of this Order, LWDA shall review and provide to the Governor recommendations on revisions and updates to the California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act in a manner that is responsive to, and effectively provides early warning data on, emerging industry trends. 3. Within 180 days of the issuance of this Order, the Labor and Workforce Development Agency shall: a. Submit to the Governor a review of policies and practices that provide displaced workers with a safety net, including severance and other forms of compensation such as stock or other forms of equity, and any recommendations for incorporating such policies or strengthening existing programs, including a review of temporary subsidized employment programs like CalWORKs/JobsNOW, in coordination with relevant agencies. This review should include, to the extent practicable, a comparative analysis of policies or common practices in other countries. b. Submit to the Governor a workplan for expanding awareness of and enrollment in employment insurance programs such as employment stability payments through Work Share. c. In coordination with the Governor’s Office of Service and Community Engagement (GO-Serve) and other relevant agencies, identify, promote and enhance service opportunities, including through California Volunteers, for those experiencing long-term unemployment and other potential employment disruptions, and explore options to amplify and expand the California Service Corps and Corps to Careers to leverage opportunities for all Californians to provide work experience relevant to their future career paths. d. In coordination with the Jobs First Council, submit to the Governor recommendations on options for improving efforts to connect unemployed workers to opportunities for training and upskilling, including but not limited to through the Workforce Pell Grant program. 4. No later than October 15, 2026, the Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA), in consultation with labor organizations, employer groups, and relevant experts, shall review how the collective bargaining process is incorporating and addressing new technologies, such as AI, in ways tailored to the specific needs of workers and employers, including how worker voice is incorporated in adoption of emerging technologies, to identify what can be learned from unionized workplaces. 5. No later than October 15, 2026, the Labor and Workforce Development Agency shall review existing workforce training programs to ensure programs are fit for purpose and targeted towards growing industries and professions, in close coordination with the Jobs First Council, businesses, community colleges, labor unions, and other community organizations. The Employment Development Department, in partnership with local workforce development boards, shall develop an AI playbook to expand dislocated worker strategies for occupations exposed to AI and provide Local Boards with technical assistance on the utilization of Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act resources for AI literacy-related programs. 6. The Employment Development Department (EDD) shall include, as a part of the California Labor Market Review, a summary of feedback from businesses about the role of technological adoption in determining hiring or workforce decisions. Reporting shall occur twice per year through the end of 2027. 7. Within 90 days of the issuance of this Order, EDD shall launch a dashboard showing AI’s impacts on employment across various sectors using Unemployment Insurance data. EDD may consult with leading AI labs that have published related data to build out its dashboard. 8. The Jobs First Council shall work with local leadership on opportunities to support regions facing systemically high unemployment in a manner that is responsive to the regional plans and Jobs First sectors of focus, to the extent practicable. 9. No later than October 15, 2026, the Government Operations Agency shall, in consultation with academics and experts from the University of California system, Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, and the private sector, provide the Governor with options and recommendations for actions that could alter incentive structures and increase likelihood of AI development and deployments that advance the public good and address critical problems and emerging opportunities facing society. Recommendations may include, but should not be limited to, public-private partnerships, voluntary or mandatory programs that direct a portion of revenue generated by AI companies to support beneficial deployments of AI that otherwise would not be pursued based solely on market incentives, and securing dedicated access to computing power for research and development of AI that meets specified criteria for advancing the public good. 10. The Governor’s Office for Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) and its Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA) shall evaluate and, where appropriate, support opportunities to expand and enhance worker ownership models to support broad-based capital growth and build wealth from productivity gain among workers, including, but not limited to, exploring any existing regulatory barriers to employee-owned company structures, as well as best practices leveraged in other states to provide direct and indirect economic support for the formation of or conversion to employee-owned companies. 11. GO-Biz shall engage in educational and other initiatives to support business adoption of “opportunity AI.” This includes, but is not limited to, direct engagement through CalOSBA to support small business technology adoption and education on best practices and applications for using emerging technology, including AI, to support competition and broad-based economic growth while supporting workforce training and retention, and engagement with the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and the Employment Training Panel. 12. Institutions of higher education, in coordination, as appropriate, with the California Education Interagency Council, are requested to: a. Evaluate and, where appropriate, expand upon existing measures to support a workforce able to leverage the opportunities presented by technologies in the future while mitigating risks and potential harms. b. Evaluate opportunities to include on-the-job training as part of their comprehensive academic offerings, including but not limited to BA/AA programs, aligning apprenticeships and training that lead to employment for recent graduates. 13. The California Health and Human Services Agency, in coordination with the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, the Office of Data and Innovation (ODI), and other relevant departments and agencies, shall leverage ODI’s single online platform to enable Californians to more easily navigate government services and, ultimately, help Californians identify all social services for which they may be eligible. Agencies, in consultation with key stakeholders in the public and private sectors, shall identify opportunities for greater coordination and collaboration across programs and systems. 14. Departments and Agencies shall incorporate, to the extent practicable, the findings from Engaged California’s newly launched engagement around AI into all of the above work streams. I FURTHER DIRECT that as soon as hereafter possible, this Order be filed in the Office of the Secretary of State and that widespread publicity and notice be given of this Order. This Order is not intended to, and does not, create any rights or benefits, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity, against the State of California, its agencies, departments, entities, officers, employees, or any other person. IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 21st day of May 2026. _________________________ GAVIN NEWSOM Governor of California ATTEST: _____________________________ SHIRLEY N. WEBER, PH. D Secretary of State