Governor Gavin Newsom signed data center regulation laws requiring large server facilities to disclose their resource consumption and comply with environmental standards.
The legislation, which includes multiple bills, requires data centers to pay for utility infrastructure upgrades needed to handle their power demands, preventing those costs from being passed to other ratepayers. The laws impose transparency requirements on energy and water consumption and require compliance with environmental and air quality standards.
"Communities across California and the nation are increasingly concerned about skyrocketing utility bills due to the rapid growth of data centers and their energy use," said Senator Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, author of one measure. Data centers consume large amounts of electricity and often trigger utility infrastructure upgrades, he said.
The bills also require data centers to pay their share toward wildfire mitigation and other utility programs, giving local communities greater input on whether proposed projects can proceed.
Data centers have expanded rapidly across California as technology companies build server facilities to support growing computing demand.