Governor Newsom signs most comprehensive data center laws in the nation, providing communities more control on water, electricity, and land use

As the innovation economy continues to grow, data centers are being presented as a solution, but with little thought or oversight of what that means for nearby communities. Today’s announcement helps communities take a stronger role in the decision-making process and protects working families from shouldering the cost as industry reaps massive profits.

California is implementing stronger reporting requirements, giving communities more information about the water, electricity, and land use of proposed data centers. With these new laws, California is helping to ensure that communities have more information they need to decide whether data centers are right for them, including:

⚡Electricity, by making data centers pay their fair share of grid update costs, while preventing cost shifts to low-income customers. The new laws will also ensure data centers comply with California energy procurement requirements, bring new clean energy supply onto the grid, and pay for any upgrade costs. This legislation will prevent data centers from shifting costs onto everyday ratepayers.

🚰Water, by requiring that proposed data centers provide information to local governments and water suppliers about water use, supply, efficiency and drought planning. Any upgrades needed to supply water would be paid for by the data center.

🏞️Land use, by making data centers ineligible for blanket environmental exemptions and instead requiring data centers to demonstrate that the project will not shift costs to ratepayers, but will meet state standards on energy, water, and fuel consumption before any judicial streamlining could be approved.

The Governor has signed the following bills:

AB 1577 by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda). Data centers: reporting
AB 2383 by Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Hollywood). Electricity: data centers.
AB 2469 by Assemblymember Diane Papan (D-San Mateo). Data centers: water use disclosures.
AB 2619 by Assemblymember Diane Papan (D-San Mateo). Water resources: data center.
SB 886 by Senator Steve Padilla (D-San Diego) and Senator Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton). California Technology Innovation and Ratepayer Protection Act.
SB 887 by Senator Steve Padilla (D-San Diego). California Environmental Quality Act: environmental leadership development projects: data centers: geothermal power plant projects.
SB 1168 by Senator Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton). Data centers: Rate structures.

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.