The Data Center Transparency Act (HB 1517)

Where This Stands

Introduced

Committee

Floor Vote

Passed

Signed

Currently Died in Economic Infrastructure Subcommittee. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Floor Vote.

Procedural history

6 actions

Jan 15, 2026House
Now in Economic Infrastructure Subcommittee
Jan 15, 2026HouseCommittee
Referred to Commerce Committee
Jan 15, 2026HouseCommittee
Referred to State Affairs Committee
Jan 15, 2026HouseCommittee
Referred to Economic Infrastructure Subcommittee
Jan 13, 2026HouseIntroduced
1st Reading (Original Filed Version)
Jan 9, 2026HouseIntroduced
Filed

Version history

Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.

View official text →

The Frame

What this does

The bill aimed to ensure that local residents and businesses are informed about the resource demands and environmental footprint of large data centers, potentially impacting how these facilities are approved and taxed in their communities.

Who is mentioned in the record

Potentially affected actors named in the source documents. Mention is not a position.

Data center operators

Must comply with new reporting requirements, noise standards, and disclosure mandates or face fines and loss of tax incentives.

Local residents and businesses

Would receive written notice of nearby data center projects and have access to detailed environmental and resource usage data.

Department of Environmental Protection

Required to collect, host, and publish data center disclosures on its website.

What changed

Current stage: Died in Economic Infrastructure Subcommittee.

What's next

Floor Vote.

Summary

This bill would have required data centers to publicly disclose detailed information about their energy use, water consumption, waste management, and environmental impact. It also mandated that these facilities notify nearby residents and businesses of their operations and prohibited them from claiming trade secret exemptions to avoid transparency.

Key Facts

You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.

Frequently Asked Questions

What information would data centers have to share?

They would have to disclose energy sources, water consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, waste management plans, environmental impact studies, and any economic incentives or tax credits received.

How would residents know if a data center is being built nearby?

The bill requires written notice to be sent to all landowners and renters within a 5-mile radius of a proposed facility.

Can data centers keep this information private as a 'trade secret'?

No, the bill explicitly prohibits exemptions for trade secrets or confidentiality agreements regarding this information.

Why It Matters

The bill aimed to ensure that local residents and businesses are informed about the resource demands and environmental footprint of large data centers, potentially impacting how these facilities are approved and taxed in their communities.

News Coverage

No news coverage found yet. Articles are indexed twice daily.

Discoveries

Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.

policy shift90% confidence

Transparency over Trade Secrets

The bill explicitly prioritizes public transparency over standard corporate protections like trade secrets, which is a notable regulatory stance for industrial facilities.

Department of Environmental Protection

Connected Entities

otherEconomic Infrastructure Subcommittee“Committee to which the bill was referred”Map →

otherCommerce Committee“Committee to which the bill was referred”Map →

otherState Affairs Committee“Committee to which the bill was referred”Map →

Sources

Open source document

openstates.org

Analysis Score

0–100

Significance65
How much this matters to a regular citizen
Controversy50
Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
Entertainment10
Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
Buzz20
Current news / social attention level