Newsom targets data center costs, resource usage with bevy of bills

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed seven bills regulating the cost and environmental impact of data centers, covering electricity rates, water use, environmental review and public disclosure. The legislation responds to projections from the California Energy Commission showing data center energy demand rising sharply over the next decade.

Senate Bill 886 and Senate Bill 1168 aim to stop data center energy costs from being shifted onto other ratepayers, while Senate Bill 887 subjects data center projects to full environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act, following a judge's recent halt of a nearly 1 million-square-foot project in Imperial Valley. Other bills require data centers to report energy and water use to state and local authorities before approval.

Newsom's signing statement directly criticized the Trump administration's deregulatory approach to data centers, while Trump has previously said communities refusing data centers could become 'backwards and poor.'

The full dispatch is available from the source below.