Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gave his stamp of approval on a law that aims to tighten regulations on large-scale data centers and prevent consumers from picking up their tabs.
The bill, signed by the governor at Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland on Thursday, protects ratepayers, the environment and local communities from harm caused by the massive facilities’ utility demands, Mr. DeSantis said.
“These are much-needed protections for taxpayers and our natural resources,” he said in a statement.
The governor added that this bill ensures local governments maintain the authority to reject data center development in their communities, prevent data center costs, including electricity, from being passed on to consumers, and protect Florida’s water resources from data center consumption.
The law is intended to ensure that hyperscale data centers, rather than residents and businesses, bear the costs of their services through tariffs. The legislation will implement large-load customer tariff and service requirements for public electric utilities, including provisions to prevent a public utility from providing electric service to a foreign data center.
“You should not pay one more red cent for electricity because of a hyperscale data center as an individual,” Mr. DeSantis, a prominent critic of the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence, said during the bill signing. “That’s just not right for the most wealthy companies in the history of the world to come in and have individual Floridians or Americans subsidize these hyperscale data centers.”
It also maintains the authority of local governments over land development approvals and regulations regarding large-scale developments. A dedicated permitting process is included in the bill, which also requires that large-scale data centers use some portion of reclaimed water as part of permitting.
“We know it’s taken water, we know it has taken electricity, what is it producing in terms of jobs and economic development?” the governor said during the signing. “It really is kind of the one-shot build.”
Current law includes a yearlong public records exemption for certain information when a Florida business is considering locating, relocating or expanding. This bill eliminates the extension for data centers.
