Lawmakers Eye Data Center Bills in 2026
Tech companies spent at least $2.5 million in the first half of this year lobbying Sacramento. One of their biggest wins? Blocking legislation that would have regulated industry data centers’ massive energy use.
I’m Titus Wu, a Sacramento correspondent covering how California legislates and regulates tech issues like AI. I tracked several of the now-defunct state bills that would have overseen the data centers’ electricity and water usage, including by setting some of the nation’s first reporting requirements for these facilities.
Energy use by these data centers impacts everything from electricity rates ...