AIBRIEF
Signed Sept. 9, SB 813 sets up state authorized independent AI assessors while AB 1405 sets up a registration regime for them; both plug into the Department of Technology's existing list of high risk automated decision tools.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 813 and AB 1405 on September 9, creating state-authorized outside review bodies for AI systems that sit apart from the labs whose products they evaluate. His office framed the package as "first-in-the-nation" safeguards.
The two bills split the work. SB 813 (McNerney) creates independent verification organizations, a new category of third-party reviewers. AB 1405 (Bauer-Kahan) sets up a registration regime for AI auditors. Both plug into the Department of Technology's existing inventory of high-risk automated decision systems, the state's running list of consequential automated tools, rather than building a parallel track.
The structural mechanics are now in code. What remains unresolved: whether the assessors will have authority to compel disclosure and require changes, or whether the regime mostly authorizes a process labs already say they run.