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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 10950 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 10950
To require sponsors of large data centers to file public disclosure
statements with the Secretary of Energy, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 29, 2026
Mr. Vindman introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require sponsors of large data centers to file public disclosure
statements with the Secretary of Energy, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Data Center Oversight Act''.
SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE STATEMENT REQUIRED.
(a) Filing Required.--
(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), the sponsor of a
covered facility shall file a complete and accurate disclosure
statement with the Secretary--
(A) not later than 30 days before the date on which
the sponsor commences construction of the covered
facility;
(B) not later than 30 days after the date on which
the covered facility commences operation; and
(C) not later than March 1 of each of the 10
calendar years following the calendar year in which the
covered facility commences operation, with respect to
the preceding calendar year.
(2) Applicability.--
(A) New facilities.--Paragraph (1) applies with
respect to each covered facility on which construction
commences on or after the date that is 1 year after the
date of enactment of this Act (in this paragraph
referred to as the ``applicability date'').
(B) Existing facilities.--The sponsor of a covered
facility on which construction commenced before the
applicability date shall file--
(i) an initial disclosure statement not
later than 90 days after the applicability
date;
(ii) if the covered facility had not
commenced operation before the applicability
date, a disclosure statement under paragraph
(1)(B); and
(iii) disclosure statements under paragraph
(1)(C), except that a covered facility that
commenced operation before the applicability
date shall be treated, for purposes of
paragraph (1)(C), as having commenced operation
on the applicability date.
(b) Contents.--A disclosure statement filed by a sponsor under
subsection (a) with respect to a covered facility shall contain, in the
form prescribed by the Secretary, the following:
(1) Identification.--A statement of--
(A) the name of the sponsor;
(B) the name of each person that, directly or
indirectly, through any contract, arrangement,
understanding, relationship, or otherwise, owns or
controls not less than 10 percent of the ownership
interests in--
(i) the sponsor, if the sponsor is not an
individual;
(ii) the covered facility; or
(iii) any real property comprising the
site;
(C) the location of the covered facility, including
the street address, county, State, and geographic
boundaries of the site;
(D) the facility load of the covered facility; and
(E) the name of each serving electric utility.
(2) Cost allocation.--A statement of--
(A) the actual or estimated cost to construct,
expand, or upgrade, in whole or in part, each electric
generating unit, transmission facility, distribution
facility, and interconnection facility that has been or
will serve the covered facility;
(B) the portion of the cost of constructing,
expanding, or upgrading each such facility that the
sponsor has agreed in writing to bear, including
through financial assurances or contributions, net of
any refund, credit, or reimbursement received or
expected, and, with respect to each such agreement--
(i) the parties to the agreement and the
date on which the agreement was executed;
(ii) any docket or other identifying number
under which the agreement was filed with, or
approved by, the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission or a State commission; and
(iii) whether the agreement requires the
sponsor to continue to bear that portion of the
cost if the sponsor terminates the agreement or
ceases to purchase electric energy before that
cost has been fully recovered; and
(C) for any portion of such cost that the sponsor
has not agreed to bear, an identification of--
(i) each person or class of electric
consumers expected to bear that portion of the
cost, including through the allocation of
transmission costs by a Transmission
Organization, and the amount each such person
or class is expected to bear; and
(ii) each rate or charge through which that
portion of the cost is expected to be
recovered, and the tariff or rate schedule
containing such rate or charge.
(3) Rate effect.--A statement of--
(A) the projected effect of electric service to the
covered facility, for each of the 10 calendar years
following the calendar year in which the statement is
filed, on--
(i) the rates and charges paid by, and the
average monthly bill of, each class of electric
consumers served by each serving electric
utility, stated separately for generation,
transmission, and distribution service;
(ii) the rates and charges for generation
service, including any default service or
standard offer service, paid by residential
electric consumers in the service territory of
each serving electric utility; and
(iii) if the covered facility is
interconnected to a transmission system
operated by a Transmission Organization, the
costs allocated by the Transmission
Organization among electric utilities or
electric consumers in its region, including the
costs of transmission facilities, and the
clearing prices in any capacity market
administered by the Transmission Organization;
(B) the assumptions and methodology on which such
projected effect relies; and
(C) the effect described in subparagraph (A) during
the preceding calendar year.
(4) Generation.--A statement identifying each electric
generating unit that is located on the site, or that is
constructed, expanded, upgraded, or contracted to serve the
covered facility, including, for each such unit--
(A) the nameplate capacity, the fuel or resource
type, and whether the unit is a backup generating unit;
(B) whether the unit is behind-the-meter generation
or grid-connected generation; and
(C) for the preceding calendar year, the net
electricity generation of the unit, stated separately
for electric energy consumed by the covered facility
and electric energy delivered to the transmission or
distribution system of an electric utility, and, for a
backup generating unit, the number of hours the unit
operated.
(5) Water and cooling.--A statement of--
(A) whether all cooling of information technology
equipment at the covered facility is or will be
provided by an internal liquid cooling system and, if
not, a description of each cooling method used;
(B) the source of all water withdrawn by the
covered facility, including the name of any public
water system supplying that water;
(C) the volume of water withdrawn by, consumed by,
and discharged from the covered facility, projected for
each year of the period described in paragraph (3)(A)
and during the preceding calendar year; and
(D) the destination of any water discharged from
the covered facility, including the number of any
permit issued for that discharge under section 402 of
the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C.
1342).
(6) Siting near protected areas.--A list of each protected
area any portion of which is located within 1,000 feet of the
boundary of the site, identifying for each such protected area
the category of protected area under section 4(18) and the
shortest distance, in feet, between the boundary of the site
and the boundary of the protected area, except that, for real
property described in section 4(18)(E), the list shall state
only the number of such properties and the shortest distance to
any such property, and may not identify any such property by
address or owner.
(7) Labor.--A statement on--
(A) whether construction of the covered facility is
or will be performed under a project labor agreement or
other collective bargaining agreement;
(B) whether laborers and mechanics employed in such
construction are or will be paid wages at rates not
less than the rates determined by the Secretary of
Labor for the locality and type of construction under
section 3142 of title 40, United States Code; and
(C) the projected or actual number and percentage
of construction labor hours performed by workers
covered by such an agreement.
(8) Nondisclosure agreements.--A statement of whether the
sponsor, or any person acting on behalf of the sponsor, has
entered into a nondisclosure agreement relating to the covered
facility with any officer, employee, or agent of a Federal,
State, Tribal, or local government.
(9) Preceding calendar year.--Information required under
this subsection with respect to a preceding calendar year is
required only in a statement filed under subsection (a)(1)(C).
(c) Public Availability.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 15 days after receiving a
disclosure statement, the Secretary shall include the
disclosure statement in the database established under section
3.
(2) Redacted statements.--A disclosure statement from which
any information required under subsection (b) is withheld,
redacted, or designated as confidential shall not be considered
a complete and accurate disclosure statement for purposes of
this section. The Secretary shall make any such statement
available under paragraph (1), identify it in the database
established under section 3 as incomplete, and provide written
notice of the deficiency to the sponsor.
(d) Enforcement.--
(1) In general.--A disclosure statement required under this
section shall be treated as a report required under section
13(b) of the Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974 (15
U.S.C. 772(b)), and the failure to file a complete and accurate
disclosure statement, or the filing of a materially misleading
disclosure statement, shall be treated as a violation subject
to section 12 of that Act (15 U.S.C. 797).
(2) Amount.--Notwithstanding section 12 of that Act, the
civil penalty for a violation described in paragraph (1) shall
not exceed $1,000,000 for each day the violation continues.
(e) Regulations.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 9 months after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue regulations to
carry out this section, including regulations that--
(A) prescribe the form of a disclosure statement;
(B) further define the terms ``backup generating
unit'', ``behind-the-meter generation'', ``commence
construction'', ``consume'', ``grid-connected
generation'', ``information technology equipment'',
``internal liquid cooling system'', and ``withdraw'',
and define the term ``residential electric consumer''
and other technical terms used in subsection (b) that
are not defined in this Act; and
(C) ensure that disclosure statements, and any
terms defined or further defined under subparagraph
(B), clearly present the effect of the covered facility
on residential electric consumers, including on average
monthly bills and on rates attributable to the cost of
constructing, expanding, or upgrading transmission
facilities, in a form that is readily understandable to
the public.
(2) Filing before issuance of regulations.--The
requirements of this section apply whether or not regulations
have been issued under paragraph (1). Any disclosure statement
required to be filed before such regulations take effect shall
be filed in writing, in any form, and shall contain the
information required under subsection (b).
(f) Rules of Construction.--
(1) No authority over construction or operation.--This Act
shall not be construed to authorize the Secretary to approve,
deny, condition, suspend, or delay the construction or
operation of a covered facility, or require any change to a
covered facility, and the filing of a disclosure statement
under this Act shall not be considered an application for a
permit or other authorization.
(2) Other law unaffected.--Nothing in this Act limits or
supersedes any requirement of Federal, State, Tribal, or local
law, or the authority of a State or State commission over
retail electric rates or retail electric service.
SEC. 3. PUBLIC DATABASE.
(a) Designation.--The Secretary shall carry out this Act acting
through the Administrator of the Energy Information Administration.
(b) Establishment.--The Secretary shall establish and maintain a
publicly accessible and searchable database on an internet website of
the Department of Energy that contains--
(1) the complete text of each disclosure statement, in the
form filed; and
(2) the information included in each disclosure statement,
presented as data fields that may be searched, sorted, and
filtered by each data field, including State, county, sponsor,
serving electric utility, and facility load.
(c) Access.--The Secretary shall make the database available
without charge and without any requirement that a user register or
identify himself or herself, through a direct link from the homepage of
the primary internet website of the Department of Energy, and in an
open format that permits bulk download of its complete contents.
(d) Aggregate Statistics.--The Secretary shall display on the
principal page of the database, and update not less frequently than
quarterly, aggregate statistics derived from disclosure statements,
stated for the Nation as a whole, for each State, and for each county
in which a covered facility is located, including--
(1) the number and total facility load of covered
facilities;
(2) the total actual or estimated cost described in section
2(b)(2)(A), and the portion of that cost not borne by sponsors;
and
(3) the total volume of water described in section
2(b)(5)(C) for the preceding calendar year.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Artificial intelligence.--The term ``artificial
intelligence'' has the meaning given such term in section 5002
of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020
(15 U.S.C. 9401).
(2) Backup generating unit.--The term ``backup generating
unit'' means an electric generating unit located on the site of
a data center that is operated only during an interruption of
electric service to the data center or for maintenance and
testing.
(3) Behind-the-meter generation.--The term ``behind-the-
meter generation'' means an electric generating unit that
serves the electric load of a covered facility and is located
on the covered facility's side of the point of interconnection
with the transmission or distribution system of an electric
utility.
(4) Commence construction.--The term ``commence
construction'', with respect to a covered facility, means to
begin physical construction of the covered facility on the
site.
(5) Commence operation.--The term ``commence operation'',
with respect to a covered facility, means the first date on
which the covered facility receives electric energy to operate
information technology equipment.
(6) Consume.--The term ``consume'', with respect to water,
means to withdraw water that is not returned or discharged,
including water evaporated for cooling.
(7) Covered facility.--The term ``covered facility'' means
a data center that has a facility load that equals or exceeds
20 megawatts.
(8) Data center.--
(A) In general.--The term ``data center'' means a
facility, or group of colocated facilities, the primary
purpose of which is to house computing, networking, or
data storage equipment used to process, store, or
transmit digital data, including equipment used for--
(i) artificial intelligence training or
inference;
(ii) cloud computing or data hosting; or
(iii) cryptocurrency mining or other
distributed-ledger or digital-asset
computation.
(B) Exclusion.--The term ``data center'' does not
include computing or data storage equipment that is
ancillary to a facility the primary purpose of which is
a commercial or industrial activity other than an
activity described in subparagraph (A).
(C) Treatment as single data center.--For purposes
of this Act, all buildings, structures, and
installations that are located on contiguous or
adjacent real property, or that are served through the
same substation, and that are under the ownership or
control of the same person or of persons under common
control with each other, shall be treated as a single
data center, without regard to whether they--
(i) are served under separate agreements or
at separate points of interconnection;
(ii) are constructed, energized, or placed
in service in phases; or
(iii) are held, leased, or operated through
separate legal entities.
(9) Disclosure statement.--The term ``disclosure
statement'' means a statement filed under section 2(a).
(10) Electric consumer.--The term ``electric consumer'' has
the meaning given the term in section 3 of the Public Utility
Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2602).
(11) Electric utility.--The term ``electric utility'' means
any person, State agency, or Federal agency that sells,
transmits, or distributes electric energy.
(12) Facility load.--The term ``facility load'', with
respect to a data center, means the greater of--
(A) the sum of--
(i) the maximum electric demand provided
for under all agreements for electric service,
including any contract demand, reserved demand,
subscribed capacity, or interruptible or
curtailable demand, whether or not that demand
is actually taken; and
(ii) the nameplate capacity of all electric
generating units located on the site or
dedicated to serving the data center, other
than backup generating units; and
(B) the maximum electric demand the data center is
designed to take at full build-out, which shall be not
less than the largest electric demand stated in any
request for electric service or in any application for
a Federal, State, Tribal, or local permit or approval.
(13) Grid-connected generation.--The term ``grid-connected
generation'' means an electric generating unit, other than
behind-the-meter generation, that is interconnected to, and
delivers electric energy to, the transmission or distribution
system of an electric utility.
(14) Information technology equipment.--The term
``information technology equipment'' means servers, storage
devices, and network devices, and the power conversion
equipment and enclosures serving such servers and devices.
(15) Interconnection facility.--The term ``interconnection
facility'' means a facility used exclusively to connect a
covered facility to the transmission or distribution system of
an electric utility.
(16) Internal liquid cooling system.--The term ``internal
liquid cooling system'' means a closed-loop system located on
the site that removes heat from information technology
equipment without evaporating, consuming, or discharging water,
other than water added for commissioning, leakage, or scheduled
maintenance.
(17) Project labor agreement.--The term ``project labor
agreement'' means a pre-hire collective bargaining agreement
with one or more labor organizations that establishes the terms
and conditions of employment for a specific construction
project and is an agreement described in section 8(f) of the
National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 158(f)).
(18) Protected area.--The term ``protected area'' means--
(A) real property comprising a public or private
elementary, vocational, or secondary school, or a
public or private college, junior college, or
university;
(B) a playground or youth center, as those terms
are defined in section 419(e) of the Controlled
Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 860(e));
(C) a unit of the National Park System, as defined
in section 100501 of title 54, United States Code;
(D) publicly owned land of a public park,
recreation area, or wildlife and waterfowl refuge of
national, State, or local significance, as described in
section 303(c) of title 49, United States Code;
(E) real property, other than real property
comprising the site, that under applicable State or
local law is zoned or otherwise designated principally
for residential use, or on which a dwelling (as defined
in section 802 of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (42
U.S.C. 3602)) is located;
(F) a hospital (as defined in section 1861(e) of
the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(e))); and
(G) a child care facility licensed or regulated
under State, Tribal, or local law.
(19) Public water system.--The term ``public water system''
has the meaning given the term in section 1401 of the Safe
Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300f).
(20) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Energy.
(21) Serving electric utility.--The term ``serving electric
utility'', with respect to a covered facility, means each
electric utility that sells, transmits, or distributes, or will
sell, transmit, or distribute, electric energy to the covered
facility.
(22) Site.--The term ``site'', with respect to a data
center, means all real property on which the data center is
located, including all contiguous or adjacent real property
under the ownership or control of a person that owns or
operates the data center or of a person under common control
with such a person.
(23) Sponsor.--
(A) In general.--The term ``sponsor'' means a
person that owns, operates, or proposes to construct a
covered facility.
(B) Multiple sponsors.--If a covered facility has
more than one sponsor, each sponsor is jointly and
severally liable for compliance with section 2. A
single disclosure statement filed on behalf of all
sponsors satisfies section 2(a) with respect to each
sponsor.
(24) State commission.--The term ``State commission'' has
the meaning given the term in section 3 of the Federal Power
Act (16 U.S.C. 796).
(25) Transmission organization.--The term ``Transmission
Organization'' has the meaning given the term in section 3 of
the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796).
(26) Withdraw.--The term ``withdraw'', with respect to
water, means to take water from a surface water source, a
groundwater source, or a public water system, whether or not
any portion of the water is returned or discharged.
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