Locally sponsored bills addressing data centers pass state House

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives has passed two key bills, HB 2150 and HB 2151, as part of a legislative package designed to regulate the rapidly growing data center industry in the state. The legislation is a direct response to a proliferation of data center proposals, particularly in Lackawanna County, which has spurred significant local opposition. HB 2150, sponsored by State Rep. Kyle Mullins, mandates annual reporting from data centers on their water and energy consumption, outlining specific data points to be collected and imposing a $10,000 per day penalty for non-compliance. It also requires the Department of Environmental Protection and the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to publish their own annual reports on state data center consumption trends and environmental impacts. HB 2151, co-sponsored by State Rep. Kyle Donahue, seeks to establish an optional model data center zoning ordinance for municipalities, a resource intended to help local governments, many of whom lack the expertise and funding, in developing appropriate land-use regulations. This bill explicitly states it does not supersede local control. Additional bills in the package include HB 1834, which passed the House and directs the PUC to create a regulatory framework for data centers, prohibiting utilities from passing certain data center interconnection and service costs to customers and requiring large data centers to contribute to a low-income energy assistance program. HB 2359, co-sponsored by Mullins, Donahue, and Haddock, would ban non-disclosure agreements between government agencies and data centers. Furthermore, a bill is being co-sponsored to allow municipalities to enact a 180-day moratorium on data center applications, while the State Senate is also considering a statewide three-year moratorium. While environmental and conservation groups support these legislative efforts, the Data Center Coalition, representing major tech companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, has expressed opposition. The local