PRESS RELEASE
PR26-20
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 5, 2026
Contact: sospress@sos.ca.gov
Proposed Initiative Enters Circulation: Regulates Certain Large Artificial Intelligence (AI) Companies. Initiative Statute.
Sacramento, Calif. – California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D., announced that the proponent of a new initiative was cleared to begin collecting petition signatures on February 4, 2026.
The Attorney General prepares the legal title and summary that is required to appear on initiative petitions. When the official language is complete, the Attorney General forwards it to the proponent(s) and to the Secretary of State, and the initiative may be circulated for signatures. The Secretary of State then provides a calendar of deadlines to the proponent(s) and to county elections officials. The Attorney General’s official title and summary for the measure is as follows:
REGULATES CERTAIN LARGE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) COMPANIES. INITIATIVE STATUTE. 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. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: Increased state costs that would likely be in the tens of millions of dollars annually to establish and operate a new regulatory commission overseeing certain frontier AI companies. These costs would generally be covered by new revenues from registration fees, annual assessments, and civil penalties paid by entities subject to the measure. (25-0034A1.)
The Secretary of State’s tracking number for this measure is 2011 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 25-0034A1.
The proponent of the measure, Alexander Oldham, must collect signatures of 546,651 registered voters (five percent of the total votes cast for governor in the November 2022 general election) in order for the measure to become eligible for the ballot. The proponent has 180 days to circulate petitions for the measure, meaning the signatures must be submitted to county elections officials no later than August 3, 2026. The address for the proponent is 1201 Brickyard Cove Way #218, Point Richmond, CA 94801. The proponent may also be contacted at (510) 685-7847 and californiaaiact@proton.me.
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