Governor Gavin Newsom signed seven bills imposing stricter regulations on California’s data center industry. The legislation mandates that facilities report water and electricity consumption to local governments.
Data centers must now fund the grid updates and power generation required for their operations. This shift aims to protect residential ratepayers from the costs of industrial infrastructure upgrades.
New laws grant local communities more oversight by requiring environmental reviews for new facilities. The package also eliminates several existing exemptions in the approval process.