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⚖️ POLICY & REGULATION
Nvidia Starts a PAC: The chipmaker launched NVPAC on Thursday, an employee-funded committee that will give to federal candidates, Bloomberg first reported. It arrives while Congress and the administration are still fighting over a federal AI framework and a possible preemption of state AI laws, and while data centers turn into a live issue in midterm races. Nvidia has spent the year building out its Washington operation rather than relying on trade associations. Link
Meta Settles With 52 Attorneys General for Up to $18 Billion: The agreement announced Wednesday resolves state claims that Meta built Instagram to be addictive, exposed minors to mental-health harms and misled the public about platform safety; the company admits no wrongdoing. $16.7 billion settles the suit 29 states filed jointly in 2023, with participating states taking roughly $12.7 billion over ten years. Meta also has to ship product changes: a default two-hour daily limit for under-18s that only a parent can lift, a nighttime access block, and muted notifications during school hours. West Virginia’s share is $114 million; Hawaii’s runs up to $76 million. Link
California’s Data Center Water Bill Clears the Senate, One Vote From Newsom’s Desk: The Senate passed AB 2619 Thursday, requiring data centers to report water consumption annually; it now returns to the Assembly for concurrence in Senate amendments, with the session ending Monday. Assemblymember Diane Papan (D-San Mateo) wrote it after Newsom vetoed her AB 93 last October, saying he was “reluctant to impose rigid reporting requirements about operational details on this sector.” Papan split the idea into a two-bill package this year; the companion AB 2469, which would force projected water-demand disclosure and full infrastructure cost recovery before a local permit issues, is still on the floor. Link
Three California AI Bills Reach Newsom’s Desk, 21 More Wait on the Floor: AB 2025 (Pellerin) requires disclosure when AI digitally alters promotional material for a property sale and went to the governor August 25. AB 2392 (Fong) directs the community colleges and CSU to convene a joint working group on generative AI procurement standards and training by January 1, 2028. AB 2656 (Petrie-Norris) requires state and local employers to notify employee organizations at least 45 days before deploying generative AI that affects represented job classifications. The Legislature adjourns sine die August 31 and Newsom then has 30 days on each bill. Link
New Jersey Requires Data Centers to Report Water and Energy Use Twice a Year: Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed the reporting law Thursday in South Brunswick alongside new guidance for municipalities. Operators must file with the Board of Public Utilities twice a year: total energy consumption, energy used for cooling versus IT equipment, peak daily water use, water sources and backup power supplies. Sponsor Sen. Teresa Ruiz framed it as “the start of an ongoing public record” rather than a one-time disclosure, though a provision limits how much of the filed data can be released under the state Open Public Records Act, only summaries are published, which environmental groups say undercuts the transparency goal. It follows the End Data Center Tax Credits Act, which eliminated the remaining data center credits under the Next New Jersey Program. Link
Most trackers still show this bill mid-Assembly. It cleared the Senate yesterday.
AB 2619 — Water resources: data centers, by Assembly member Diane Papan, makes data center owners give their water supplier a sworn water-use estimate before applying for a local business license, report actual annual use at renewal, and puts state agencies on the hook for conservation best practices. Its last recorded action is August 21, “Read third time and amended, ordered to second reading” — the Senate passed it Thursday, and it now sits in the Assembly awaiting concurrence in Senate amendments, the last vote before it reaches the governor. Newsom vetoed the predecessor, AB 93, last October, so if concurrence lands before Monday’s adjournment, the 30-day clock that follows is the number to watch.
Beshear Calls for Repealing Kentucky’s Data Center Tax Incentives: “I don’t think data centers need incentives. I don’t think we should be providing them, and so I would certainly support rolling back any of that,” the governor said at his Thursday press conference. Kentucky created a sales and use tax exemption for data center equipment in 2024 and broadened it with HB 775 in the 2025 session; an analysis by the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy found the state could lose more than $2 billion in sales tax revenue if just four of the proposed projects are built. Republican Rep. Timmy Truett has also endorsed repeal and expects a bill. Beshear’s executive order three weeks ago already requires developers to show no ratepayer impact. Link
South Carolina Regulators Say a Self-Powered Data Center Escapes Siting Review: The Public Service Commission dismissed the Southern Environmental Law Center’s challenge to Valara Holdings’ $3 billion, 900,000-square-foot Spartanburg County project and its 457-megawatt on-site gas plant. SELC argued state law makes any “major utility facility” over 75 megawatts go through siting and environmental review; the commission accepted the developer’s reading that a generator becomes a utility only when it sells power to the public. No attorney or commissioner at the August 5 argument could name another data center seeking to self-generate above 75 megawatts, which is why the ruling sets the template for every self-powered campus that follows. Link
Austin Gives Itself Until December to Write Data Center Rules and Draw a Ban Line: Council voted unanimously Thursday to start land development code amendments defining which data centers are permitted inside city limits and which are prohibited, then amended staff’s recommendation to require binding regulations by the end of 2026. Members said they want the prohibition on larger facilities defined “as aggressively as possible.” Vanessa Fuentes, José Velásquez, Ryan Alter, Mike Siegel and Zo Qadri had pushed for an outright ban going in. Link
New York’s Moratorium Bill Sits on Hochul’s Desk While Her Executive Order Runs: State Sen. Kristen Gonzalez (D-Queens) spent this week touring regions of the state pressing the governor to sign the Responsible Data Center Development Act, S10642/A11560, which passed the Senate 44-16 and which advocates say closes gaps the executive order leaves open. Hochul’s July order created the first statewide moratorium on new hyperscale permits and is now in force; she has until the end of the year to act on the bill. Link
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