House Bill 1007, filed this week by Rep. Philip “Griff” Griffitts, Jr., R-Panama City Beach, would impose a list of new rules that data center proposals would have to meet before the developments could begin construction.
Under the bill, the local government in the area of the project must approve it in a hearing that allows members of the public to speak. The government body must send certified mail notifying property owners who would live within a 10-mile radius of the proposed data center of the meeting at least 30 days in advance.
Once the local government approves the plan, it would then go to Gov. Ron DeSantis and Cabinet — made up of the attorney general, commissioner of agriculture and chief financial officer — for another vote. If those officials reject the proposal, there would be no avenue for the tech company to appeal.
The bill also takes steps toward limiting the costs associated with data centers, such as utility companies having to build a new power plant, from bleeding onto the electric bills of residents and other businesses.
“This appears to be a very strong piece of legislation,” said Tyson Slocum, the director of the energy program at Public Citizen, a national consumer advocacy group. “It subjects such proposed facilities to an array of agency and regulatory scrutiny on multiple levels, which is exactly what this type of project should entail.”
The bill is the result of a push by DeSantis, who has emerged in recent months as a prominent critic of the data centers and had promised that the state would set guardrails for consumers.
Florida has so far not been one of the hotspot states for data center construction, though there are signs they’re coming. A proposal for a 200-acre facility in Palm Beach County sparked local tensions last month, prompting the county commission to punt a decision until April.
House Bill 1007 also represents an unusually skeptical position from a state that has long embraced business-friendly policies, including when it comes to energy. Florida utility regulators have approve three base rate hike requests to Floridians’ electric bills in the past two years — one each from Florida Power & Light, Duke Energy and Tampa Electric.
“It is the policy of this state to empower and encourage the governing body of a local government to protect residents against the negative impacts of hyperscale data centers,” the bill reads.
Slocum said that so far, voters of all political stripes have been apprehensive about these facilities.
“I have been in communities across the country dealing with data centers,” he said. “When it comes to some out-of-state, powerful interest seeking to build something without adequate local public involvement, there’s pretty uniform outrage about that among Republicans and Democrats.”
As of Thursday, the bill had no companion version in the state Senate. Griffitts did not respond to a voicemail or text seeking comment. Tuesday marks the start of the 60-day Florida legislative session, the period when lawmakers pass bills in Tallahassee.
The Data Center Coalition, an industry group whose members include tech giants like Google and Amazon Web Services, criticized the bill.
“This legislation would send the wrong signal that Florida is closed for business, potentially missing out on economic development opportunities that are supporting millions of quality jobs and billions of dollars in tax revenue in states across the nation,“ said Dan Diorio, the group’s vice president of state policy, in a statement.
“We look forward to continuing to work with state and local leaders to ensure the continued responsible development of this critical 21st-century industry.”
In addition to addressing data centers’ energy use, House Bill 1007 would also set rules surrounding their voracious appetites for land and water.
It would ban companies from building data centers on Florida’s environmentally sensitive lands, including areas zoned for agriculture, conservation, mixed-use or residential. The centers would have to be built at least 500 feet away from neighboring properties, and the space in between would need to be landscaped with Florida-friendly plants plus a barrier as tall as the data centers themselves. Local government public hearings would also need to address the centers’ proposed water usage, which for larger facilities can add up to millions of gallons per day.
Tampa Bay Water is watching the bill closely, said Brandon Moore, spokesperson for the water utility, which provides drinking water to more than 2.6 million people in the Tampa Bay area. While the water utility doesn’t yet have an official stance on the bill, Moore said his initial impression is that the measure is taking steps in the right direction.
“It does seek to protect and conserve water resources, which is a good thing,” he said.
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