‘Right to Compute’ Bill Passes House, While Proposed Data Center Precautions Flop

The New Hampshire House of Representatives recently took up a series of bills related to data centers and technology regulation. House Bill 1124, sponsored by Republican Rep. Keith Ammon, passed by voice vote and proposes enshrining the 'right of New Hampshire residents to make use of computational tools' with limited exceptions where the government deems such use dangerous. This bill mirrors language from a model bill promoted by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council. Meanwhile, other bills aimed at restricting or regulating data centers failed. House Bill 1265, which would have imposed a one-year moratorium on new data center construction and studied the environmental impacts, was voted down. And House Bill 1722, proposed by Democratic Rep. Kat McGhee, sought to direct the Public Utilities Commission to establish a special electricity rate class for 'large-energy-use facilities' like data centers, in order to prevent them from driving up electricity costs for other ratepayers. However, Republican Rep. Michael Vose argued this bill would 'constrict the development of data centers in New Hampshire'.