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Use the easy links below to send an emailed message of support to both committees on the Data Center Reform legislation bills coming up for a vote on Monday and those coming up for a vote sometime next week. You can read the message when accessing the links to register your signature. Please add your name supporting these consequential bills:
The Senate Local Government Committee is voting on the three bills included below (SB899, SB1045, SB1046) on Monday, January 27. Use this link NOW to email all members of that committee.
The Senate Commerce and Labor Committee will be voting on the four bills included below (SB960, SB1047, SB1049, SB1243) as early as next week. Use this link to email all members of that committee.
Please forward this email to EVERYONE you know in Virginia! This is NOT just about Prince William County.
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These three bills below (SB899, SB1045, SB1046) are being voted on on Monday, January 27 by the Senate Local Government Committee.
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SB899 – Zoning; data centers; water use.
Patron: Richard H. Stuart (Chief Patron)
Summary As Introduced
Zoning; data centers; water use. Authorizes a locality to include in its zoning ordinance provisions for (i) requiring proposed data center developments to submit water use estimates and (ii) considering water use when making rezoning and special use permit decisions related to data center development.
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SB1045 – Siting of data centers; property classified for industrial use.
Patron: Danica A. Roem (Chief Patron)
Summary As Introduced
Siting of data centers; property classified for industrial use. Requires that any local government land use application for the siting of a data center shall only be approved if such application is for a data center located on property classified by local ordinance for industrial use. This section shall only apply to such applications submitted on or after July 1, 2025.
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SB1046 – Data centers; noise abatement.
Patron: Danica A. Roem (Chief Patron)
Summary As Introduced
Data centers; noise abatement. Provides that any local government land use application required for the siting of a data center shall be approved only in accordance with certain notice and noise abatement requirements. The bill provides that residents within a half-mile radius of the parcel shall receive notice of the proposed data center and that the data center operator shall hold two neighborhood meetings. The bill requires a data center operator to design and build the data center to incorporate sound mitigation methods sufficient to prevent the sound levels emanating from the data center from exceeding the ambient noise levels that were observed in a baseline study, as determined by a third-party acoustic engineer. The bill also provides that upon issuance of a certificate of occupancy, and for five years thereafter, the data center operator shall conduct a noise study performed by a third-party acoustical engineer to document noise levels emanating from the data center measured at the property line of the nearest property to the data center property that is planned or zoned for residential land uses, or other noise-sensitive use as reasonably determined by the locality, during peak operation of the data center mechanical equipment. The bill also provides that if the data center operator intends to use backup power generators on the parcel, the operator shall maintain a public website announcing the times when the generators will be in operation. Finally, the bill provides that any noise ordinance adopted by a locality shall set maximum allowable sound levels for data centers, including by (i) using alternative low frequency noise metrics and (ii) setting noise rules and enforcement mechanisms in its zoning ordinance, separate from existing noise ordinances.
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These four bills below (SB960, SB1047, SB1049, SB1243) are being voted on as early as next week by the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee.
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SB960 – Electric utilities; data center cost allocation.
Patron: Russet Perry (Chief Patron)
Summary As Introduced
Electric utilities; data center cost allocation. Directs the State Corporation Commission to initiate proceedings to determine if the current allocation of costs among different customer classifications of electric utilities requires customers that are not data centers to unreasonably subsidize the costs of customers that are data centers. If the Commission determines that the current allocation of costs requires customers that are not data centers to unreasonably subsidize the costs of customers that are data centers, the bill directs the Commission to promulgate such rules as necessary to eliminate or minimize such unreasonable subsidies to the maximum possible extent. The bill directs the Commission to complete such proceedings prior to January 1, 2026.
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SB1047 – Electric utilities; demand response programs for certain customers.
Patron: Danica A. Roem (Chief Patron)
Summary As Introduced
Electric utilities; demand response programs for certain customers. Requires each investor-owned utility to implement a demand response program under which any customer whose demand during the most recent calendar year was 25 megawatts or greater or whose anticipated annual demand is 25 megawatts or greater is required to participate. The bill requires each utility to petition the State Corporation Commission for approval of its demand response program by January 1, 2026, and requires that the petition include a reasonable timeline for the implementation of the program and participation by all such customers. Under the bill, any such demand response program must (i) meet the minimum reliability and resource adequacy standards set by the regional transmission entity of which the utility is a member, (ii) reduce customers’ energy consumption during the grid’s emergency events or when called upon, (iii) not increase local air pollution through the use of fossil fuels generators, and (iv) be cost-effective. The Commission is required issue its final order regarding the petition within six months following the date of the filing.
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SB1049 – Electric utilities; approval required for construction of certain electrical transmission lines.
Patron: Danica A. Roem (Chief Patron)
Summary As Introduced
Electric utilities; approval required for construction of certain electrical transmission lines. Prohibits the construction of a new transmission line overhead unless the State Corporation Commission first determines that the construction of such transmission line in whole or in part underground is not in the public interest.
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SB1243 – Electric utilities; electric distribution infrastructure serving data centers.
Patron: Richard H. Stuart (Chief Patron)
Summary As Introduced
Electric utilities; electric distribution infrastructure serving data centers. Prohibits the costs associated with the construction or extension of any electric distribution infrastructure that primarily serves the load of a data center from being recovered from any other customer.