Pleasanton, California — Governor Gavin Newsom has enacted a comprehensive package of seven statutes establishing statewide environmental and utility regulations for data centers across California. The newly signed measures mandate detailed public reporting on industrial power and water consumption while establishing legal safeguards to prevent commercial energy expenses from being transferred onto residential utility customers.
Under the new framework, computing facilities must fund their own electrical interconnection and transmission improvements rather than relying on broader utility ratepayer subsidies. The statutes also require facility developers to submit comprehensive water usage, cooling efficiency, and drought contingency evaluations directly to local governments and regional water utilities before commencing construction.
The legislation eliminates blanket exemptions under the California Environmental Quality Act for major data center developments, requiring operators to demonstrate strict compliance with state clean energy and water conservation benchmarks before qualifying for any expedited judicial review.
> "With these laws, we are ensuring that Californians remain in the driver’s seat — and that those profiting from data centers aren’t doing so at our expense." — Governor Gavin Newsom
Among the measures signed into law are Senate Bill 1168 and Senate Bill 886, which require public utility regulators to structure commercial power contracts so that heavy digital infrastructure projects pay their full share of electrical service costs.
> "Governor Newsom’s signing of my SB 1168 helps ensure that data centers absorb the costs of their energy use and any utility upgrades they require, not ratepayers." — Senator Jerry McNerney
