Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and vests the commission with various responsibilities with respect to developing and implementing the states energy policies. Existing law requires the commission to biennially adopt an integrated energy policy report, as specified, and to make the reports accessible to state, local, and federal entities and to the general public.

This bill would require the commission to establish a process for the owner or operator of a data center, as defined, to submit specified information to the commission, including, among other information, the data centers location and size, the data centers power usage effectiveness, as defined, and the quantity of fuel consumed by onsite generators or other fuel-based energy systems, as specified. The bill would require the owner or operator of a data center to submit the required information in the manner and timeframe specified by the commission. The bill would require the commission, beginning with the 2029 integrated energy policy report, and in subsequent biennial reports thereafter as determined by the commission, to include an assessment of electrical load trends for data centers, as provided. The bill would require the commission to annually publish the information submitted in an anonymized and aggregated format on its internet website. The bill would require the commission to establish a process for the owner or operator of a data center to identify information that the owner or operator claims is exempted or prohibited from disclosure pursuant to federal or state law, as provided.

The bill would require the owner or operator of a data center, upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization required for the construction or operation of the data center, to submit to the applicable local agency, as defined, specified information, including the expected annual energy consumption, as specified, and the expected sound levels attributable to the operation of the data center, as provided. The bill would authorize the local agency to use this information for various purposes, including, but not limited to, land use planning, infrastructure planning, energy supply assessment, and environmental review.

The bill would exempt a publicly funded research facility, public safety facility, publicly funded national security facility, publicly owned facility, or other utility facility, as provided, from the above-described provisions.

The bill would prohibit the commission or a local agency from disclosing the information described above in a manner that would result in the disclosure of personally identifiable information or energy consumption data for a data center customer, as provided.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and vests the commission with various responsibilities with respect to developing and implementing the states energy policies. Existing law requires the commission to biennially adopt an integrated energy policy report, as specified, and to make the reports accessible to state, local, and federal entities and to the general public.

This bill would require the commission to establish a process for the owner or operator of a data center, as defined, to submit specified information to the commission, including, among other information, the data centers location and size, the data centers power usage effectiveness, as defined, and the quantity of fuel consumed by onsite generators or other fuel-based energy systems, as specified. The bill would require the owner or operator of a data center to submit the required information in the manner and timeframe specified by the commission. The bill would require the commission, beginning with the 2029 integrated energy policy report, and in subsequent biennial reports thereafter as determined by the commission, to include an assessment of electrical load trends for data centers, as provided. The bill would require the commission to annually publish the information submitted in an anonymized and aggregated format on its internet website. The bill would require the commission to establish a process for the owner or operator of a data center to identify information that the owner or operator claims is exempted or prohibited from disclosure pursuant to federal or state law, as provided.

The bill would require the owner or operator of a data center, upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization required for the construction or operation of the data center, to submit to the applicable local agency, as defined, specified information, including the expected annual energy consumption, as specified, and the expected sound levels attributable to the operation of the data center, as provided. The bill would authorize the local agency to use this information for various purposes, including, but not limited to, land use planning, infrastructure planning, energy supply assessment, and environmental review.

The bill would exempt a publicly funded research facility, public safety facility, publicly funded national security facility, publicly owned facility, or other utility facility, as provided, from the above-described provisions.

The bill would prohibit the commission or a local agency from disclosing the information described above in a manner that would result in the disclosure of personally identifiable information or energy consumption data for a data center customer, as provided.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and vests the commission with various responsibilities with respect to developing and implementing the states energy policies. Existing law requires the commission to biennially adopt an integrated energy policy report, as specified, and to make the reports accessible to state, local, and federal entities and to the general public.

This bill would require the commission to establish a process for the owner or operator of a data center, as defined, to submit specified information to the commission, including, among other information, the data centers location and size, the data centers power usage effectiveness, as defined, and the quantity of fuel consumed by onsite generators or other fuel-based energy systems, as specified. The bill would require the owner or operator of a data center to submit the required information in the manner and timeframe specified by the commission. The bill would require the commission, beginning with the 2029 integrated energy policy report, and in subsequent biennial reports thereafter as determined by the commission, to include an assessment of electrical load trends for data centers, as provided. The bill would require the commission to annually publish the information submitted in an anonymized and aggregated format on its internet website. The bill would require the commission to establish a process for the owner or operator of a data center to identify information that the owner or operator claims is exempted or prohibited from disclosure pursuant to federal or state law, as provided.

The bill would require the owner or developer operator of a data center, upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization required for the construction or operation of the data center, to submit to the applicable local agency, as defined, specified information, including the expected annual energy consumption, as specified, and the expected sound levels attributable to the operation of the data center, as provided. The bill would authorize the local agency to use this information for various purposes, including, but not limited to, land use planning, infrastructure planning, energy supply assessment, and environmental review.

The bill would prohibit the commission or a local agency from disclosing the information described above in a manner that would result in the disclosure of personally identifiable information or energy consumption data for a data center customer, except as provided. The bill would require the commission to establish a process for the owner of a data center to obtain an exemption from reporting data that would jeopardize trade secrets if disclosed. customer, as provided.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and vests the commission with various responsibilities with respect to developing and implementing the states energy policies. Existing law requires the commission to biennially adopt an integrated energy policy report, as specified, and to make the reports accessible to state, local, and federal entities and to the general public.

This bill would require the commission to establish a process for the owner of a data center, as defined, to submit specified information to the commission, including, among other information, the data centers location and size, the data centers power usage effectiveness, as defined, and the quantity of fuel consumed by onsite generators or other fuel-based energy systems, as specified. The bill would require the owner of a data center to submit the required information in the manner and timeframe specified by the commission. The bill would require the commission, beginning with the 2029 integrated energy policy report, and in subsequent biennial reports, reports thereafter as determined by the commission, to include an assessment of electrical load trends for data centers, as provided. The bill would require the commission to annually publish the information submitted in an anonymized and aggregated format on its internet website.

The bill would require the owner or developer of a data center, upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization required for the construction or operation of the data center, to submit to the applicable local agency, as defined, specified information, including the expected annual energy consumption, as specified, and the expected sound levels attributable to the operation of the data center, as provided. The bill would authorize the local agency to use this information for various purposes, including, but not limited to, land use planning, infrastructure planning, energy supply assessment, and environmental review.

The bill would prohibit the commission or a local agency from disclosing the information described above in a manner that would result in the disclosure of identifiable information or energy consumption data for a data center customer, except as provided. The bill would require the commission to establish a process for the owner of a data center to obtain an exemption from reporting data that would jeopardize trade secrets if disclosed.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and vests the commission with various responsibilities with respect to developing and implementing the states energy policies. Existing law requires the commission to biennially adopt an integrated energy policy report, as specified, and to make the reports accessible to state, local, and federal entities and to the general public.

This bill would require the commission to establish a process for the owner of a data center, as defined, to submit specified information to the commission, including, among other information, the data centers location and size, the data centers power usage effectiveness, as defined, and the quantity of fuel consumed by onsite generators or other fuel-based energy systems, as specified. The bill would require the owner of a data center to submit the required information in the manner and timeframe specified by the commission. The bill would require the commission, beginning with the 2029 edition of the integrated energy policy report, and in subsequent editions as deemed appropriate by the commission, biennial reports, to include an assessment of electrical load trends for data centers, as provided. The bill would require the commission to annually publish the information submitted in an anonymized and aggregated format on its internet website.

The bill would require the owner or developer of a data center, upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization required for the construction or operation of the data center, to submit to the applicable local agency, as defined, specified information, including the expected annual energy consumption, as specified, and the expected sound levels attributable to the operation of the data center, as provided. The bill would authorize the local agency to use this information for various purposes, including, but not limited to, land use planning, infrastructure planning, energy supply assessment, and environmental review.

The bill would prohibit the commission or a local agency from disclosing the information submitted to the commission on a monthly basis or to the applicable local agency upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization, as described above, described above in a manner that would result in the disclosure of identifiable information or energy consumption data for a data center customer, except as provided. The bill would require the commission to establish a process for the owner of a data center to obtain an exemption from reporting data that would jeopardize trade secrets if disclosed.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and vests the commission with various responsibilities with respect to developing and implementing the states energy policies. Existing law requires the commission to biennially adopt an integrated energy policy report, as specified, and to make the reports accessible to state, local, and federal entities and to the general public.

This bill would require the commission to establish a process for the owner of a data center, as defined, to submit specified information to the commission, including, among other information, the data centers location and size, the data centers power usage effectiveness, as defined, and the quantity of fuel consumed by onsite generators or other fuel-based energy systems, as specified. The bill would require the owner of a data center to submit the required information in the manner specified by the commission. The bill would require the commission, beginning with the 2029 edition of the integrated energy policy report, and in subsequent editions as deemed appropriate by the commission, to include an assessment of electrical load trends for data centers, as provided. The bill would require the commission to annually publish the information submitted in an anonymized and aggregated format on its internet website.

The bill would require the owner or developer of a data center, upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization required for the construction or operation of the data center, to submit to the applicable local agency, as defined, specified information, including the expected annual energy consumption, as specified, and the expected sound levels attributable to the operation of the data center, as provided. By imposing a new duty on local agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize the local agency to use this information for various purposes, including, but not limited to, land use planning, infrastructure planning, energy supply assessment, and environmental review.

The bill would prohibit the commission or a local agency from disclosing information submitted to the commission on a monthly basis or to the applicable local agency upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization, as described above, in a manner that would result in the disclosure of identifiable information or energy consumption data for a data center customer, except as provided.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) and vests the commission with various responsibilities with respect to developing and implementing the states energy policies. Existing law requires the commission to biennially adopt an integrated energy policy report, as specified, and to make the reports accessible to state, local, and federal entities and to the general public.

This bill would require the commission to establish a process for the owner of a data center, as defined, to submit specified information to the commission, including, among other information, the data centers location and size, the data centers power usage effectiveness, as defined, and the quantity of fuel consumed by onsite generators or other fuel-based energy systems, as specified. The bill would require the owner of a data center to submit the required information in the manner specified by the commission. The bill would require the commission, beginning with the 2029 edition of the integrated energy policy report, and in each subsequent edition, editions as deemed appropriate by the commission, to include an assessment of electrical load trends for data centers, as provided. The bill would require the commission to annually publish the information submitted in an anonymized and aggregated format on its internet website.

The bill would require the owner or developer of a data center, upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization required for the construction or operation of the data center, to submit to the applicable local agency, as defined, specified information, including the expected annual energy and water consumption, as specified, and the expected sound levels attributable to the operation of the data center, as provided. By imposing a new duty on local agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize the local agency to use this information for various purposes, including, but not limited to, land use planning, infrastructure planning, energy and water supply assessment, and environmental review.

The bill would prohibit the commission or a local agency from disclosing information submitted to the commission on a monthly basis or to the applicable local agency upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization, as described above, in a manner that would result in the disclosure of identifiable information or energy consumption data for a data center customer, except as provided.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) and vests the commission with various responsibilities with respect to developing and implementing the states energy policies. Existing law requires the commission to biennially adopt an integrated energy policy report, as specified, and to make the reports accessible to state, local, and federal entities and to the general public.

This bill would require the commission to establish a process for the owner of a data center, as defined, to submit specified information to the commission, including, among other information, the data centers location and size, the data centers power usage effectiveness, as defined, water usage effectiveness, as defined, and total water consumption, and the quantity of fuel consumed by onsite generators or other fuel-based energy systems, as specified. The bill would require the owner of a data center to submit the required information in the manner and timeframe specified by the commission. The bill would require the commission, beginning with the 2029 edition of the integrated energy policy report, and in each subsequent edition, to include an assessment of electrical load trends for data centers, as provided. The bill would require the commission to annually publish the information submitted in an anonymized and aggregated format on its internet website.

The bill would require the owner or developer of a data center, upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization required for the construction or operation of the data center, to submit to the applicable local agency, as defined, the information described above, specified information, including the expected annual energy and water consumption, as specified, and the expected sound levels attributable to the operation of the data center, as provided. By imposing a new duty on local agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize the local agency to use this information for various purposes, including, but not limited to, land use planning, infrastructure planning, energy and water supply assessment, and environmental review.

The bill would prohibit the commission or a local agency from disclosing information submitted to the commission on a monthly basis or to the applicable local agency upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization, as described above, in a manner that would result in the disclosure of personally identifiable information or energy consumption data for a specific utility data center customer, except as provided.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) and vests the commission with various responsibilities with respect to developing and implementing the states energy policies. Existing law requires the commission to biennially adopt an integrated energy policy report, as specified, and to make the reports accessible to state, local, and federal entities and to the general public.

This bill would require the commission to establish a process for the owner of a data center, as defined, to submit specified information to the commission on a monthly basis, commission, including, among other information, the data centers location and size, the data centers power usage effectiveness, as defined, water usage effectiveness, as defined, and total water consumption consumption, and the quantity of fuel consumed by onsite generators or other fuel-based energy systems, as specified. The bill would require the owner of a data center to submit the required information in the manner and timeframe specified by the commission. The bill would require the commission, as part of beginning with the 2029 edition of the integrated energy policy report, and in each subsequent edition, to include an assessment of electrical load trends for data centers, as provided. The bill would require the commission to annually publish the information submitted in an anonymized and aggregated format on its internet website.

The bill would require the owner or developer of a data center, upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization required for the construction or operation of the data center, to submit to the applicable local agency, as defined, the information described above, as provided. By imposing a new duty on local agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize the local agency to use this information for various purposes, including, but not limited to, land use planning, infrastructure planning, energy and water supply assessment, and environmental review. The bill would further authorize a lead local agency to use this information in the preparation of environmental documentation pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act.

The bill would prohibit the commission or a local agency from disclosing information submitted on a monthly basis or upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization, as described above, in a manner that would result in the disclosure of personally identifiable information or energy consumption data for a specific utility customer. customer, except as provided.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) and vests the commission with various responsibilities with respect to developing and implementing the states energy policies. Existing law requires the commission to biennially adopt an integrated energy policy report, as specified, and to make the reports accessible to state, local, and federal entities and to the general public.

This bill would require the commission to establish a process for the owner of a data center, as defined, to submit specified information to the commission on a monthly basis, including, among other information, the data centers power usage effectiveness, as defined, water usage effectiveness, as defined, and total water consumption and the quantity of fuel consumed by onsite generators or other fuel-based energy systems, as specified. The bill would require the owner of a data center to submit the required information in the manner and timeframe specified by the commission. The bill would require the commission, as part of the 2029 edition of the integrated energy policy report, to include an assessment of electrical load trends for data centers, as provided. The bill would require the commission to annually publish the information submitted in an anonymized and aggregated format on its internet website.

The bill would require the owner or developer of a data center, upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization required for the construction or operation of the data center, to submit to the applicable local agency, as defined, the information described above, as provided. By imposing a new duty on local agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize the local agency to use this information for various purposes, including, but not limited to, land use planning, infrastructure planning, energy and water supply assessment, and environmental review. The bill would further authorize a lead local agency to use this information in the preparation of environmental documentation pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act.

The bill would prohibit the commission or a local agency from disclosing information submitted on a monthly basis or upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization, as described above, in a manner that would result in the disclosure of personally identifiable information or energy consumption data for a specific utility customer.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS

CSA1 Bill Id:AB 1577

Author:(Bauer-Kahan)

As Amended Ver:August 21, 2026

Majority vote

SUMMARY

This bill requires data centers to report energy usage and efficiency information to the California Energy Commission (CEC). The CEC must integrate this data into the 2029 Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR) and annually publish the data in an anonymized and aggregated format for the public. Additionally, data centers must submit similar energy and efficiency information to local agencies when requesting authorization to construct or operate a data center.

Senate Amendments

1. Move data center reporting requirements related to local agencies to the Government Code, along with relevant data privacy requirements.
2. Modify the definition of data center to be a facility with an electrical capacity of more than 10 megawatts and specifies that publicly funded research facilities, public safety facilities, publicly funded national security facilities, publicly owned facilities, or other utility facilities, including, but not limited to, telecommunication facilities are not included in the definition of data center.
3. Make minor and clarifying changes to the definition of “owner” of a data center, and “onsite generation.”
4. Remove requirements to report of waste heat reused by the data center.
5. Clarify that the CEC should establish reporting requirements that not only reduce duplicative filings and facilitate the submission of substantially similar information but also account for reasonable delays in reporting the required information.
6. Clarify that data center owners or operators submit required information at least annually following energization with data disaggregated by month, unless otherwise specified by the CEC.
7. Require the CEC to establish a process for a data center to identify information that the owner or operator claims is exempted or prohibited from disclosure pursuant to federal or state law.

COMMENTS

By 2030, data centers are predicted to use 11.8% of forecasted U.S. electricity. The speed at which the data center industry is growing has led to a sudden unpredictability in the future energy market. This growth is occurring alongside other changes to electricity demand, such as enhanced electrification in the building and transportation sectors, and climate change induced extreme events. There is little transparency into data center energy usage; transparency which would enable understanding or predicting market dynamics. Most tech companies and data center operators don’t volunteer their energy usage information.

Through the CEC’s Energy Benchmarking Program, buildings with more than 50,000 square feet of gross floor area must submit relevant energy performance data annually to the CEC. Data centers meeting this size, or housed within a building of this size or greater, are required to report on their energy usage information. Additionally, utilities submit information regarding existing and potential data centers for the IEPR’s Data Center Demand Forecast. Based on the information currently received by the CEC, the prediction is that data center peak demand will start to plateau by the mid-2030s. Given the many unknowns and possibility for exponential growth, more information will be necessary to see if this prediction holds.

This uncertainty has rippling effects – limiting the state energy planners’ abilities to accurately forecast grid system needs, limiting academic researchers from investigating a rapidly evolving technology and field, and stoking uncertainty and distrust among Californians. The goal of this bill is to address this dearth of information by increasing the transparency of data center energy usage and efficiency information.

According to the Author

According to the author, “The rapid growth of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry is driving the construction of large, energy-intensive data centers across California. Increased energy demand, combined with grid infrastructure development needed to serve these facilities, risks increasing energy costs for Californians. At present, California lacks accurate statewide information on how many data centers exist, where they are located, how much energy they consume, how efficiently they operate, and how they affect California’s power grid. This limits the ability of state and local agencies to plan infrastructure, evaluate efficiency opportunities, and protect ratepayers. AB 1577 closes this information gap by requiring data centers to report specified energy usage and efficiency information to the California Energy Commission on a monthly basis, and requiring proposed data centers to provide estimated information to local agencies prior to beginning construction.”

Arguments in Support

The bill is supported by the California Association of Counties, which, echoing the author, describes the bill as “equip[ing] local governments with the data needed to make informed decisions about project siting, infrastructure investments, and long-term sustainability planning…[to] ensure reliable energy availability for residents and businesses.”

Ava Community Energy writes in support that this bill “will require new responsibilities for the CEC, [but] those investments are justified by the significant long-term planning benefits the bill provides.”

Arguments in Opposition

The Chamber of Commerce and Data Center Coalition, among others from industry, write in opposition to the bill that the requirements are “administratively burdensome, technologically impractical, and pose significant security risks to critical infrastructure.” Additionally, they argue that data centers “are part of a larger portfolio driving increased electricity demand” and “should not be singled out for different and disparate treatment.”

FISCAL COMMENTS

According to the Senate Committee on Appropriations, the CEC estimates one-time costs of about $1.3 million to incorporate the required information into the 2029 IEPR and ongoing costs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

VOTES:

ASM UTILITIES AND ENERGY: 13-5-0

YES: Petrie-Norris, Boerner, Calderon, Mark González, Harabedian, Hart, Irwin, Kalra, Papan, Rogers, Schiavo, Schultz, Zbur

NO: Patterson, Chen, Davies, Ta, Wallis

ASM NATURAL RESOURCES: 9-4-1

YES: Bryan, Connolly, Haney, Kalra, Muratsuchi, Pellerin, Schultz, Wicks, Zbur

NO: Ellis, Alanis, Hoover, Macedo

ABS, ABST OR NV: Garcia

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 11-4-0

YES: Wicks, Aguiar-Curry, Calderon, Caloza, Fong, Mark González, Krell, Pacheco, Pellerin, Sharp-Collins, Solache

NO: Hoover, Dixon, Ta, Tangipa

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 57-16-7

YES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Ahrens, Alvarez, Arambula, Ávila Farías, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Caloza, Carrillo, Connolly, Elhawary, Fong, Gabriel, Gallagher, Garcia, Jeff Gonzalez, Mark González, Haney, Harabedian, Hart, Irwin, Jackson, Kalra, Krell, Lee, Lowenthal, McKinnor, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Patel, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ransom, Michelle Rodriguez, Rogers, Blanca Rubio, Sanchez, Schiavo, Schultz, Sharp-Collins, Solache, Soria, Stefani, Ward, Wicks, Wilson, Zbur, Rivas

NO: Alanis, Castillo, Chen, Davies, DeMaio, Dixon, Ellis, Hadwick, Hoover, Johnson, Lackey, Macedo, Patterson, Ta, Tangipa, Wallis

ABS, ABST OR NV: Flora, Gipson, Muratsuchi, Nguyen, Ramos, Celeste Rodriguez, Valencia

SENATE FLOOR: 29-10-1

YES: Allen, Archuleta, Arreguín, Ashby, Becker, Blakespear, Cabaldon, Caballero, Cervantes, Cortese, Durazo, Gonzalez, Grayson, Hurtado, Laird, Limón, McGuire, McNerney, Menjivar, Padilla, Pérez, Reyes, Rubio, Smallwood-Cuevas, Stern, Umberg, Wahab, Weber Pierson, Wiener

NO: Alvarado-Gil, Choi, Dahle, Grove, Jones, Niello, Ochoa Bogh, Seyarto, Strickland, Valladares

ABS, ABST OR NV: Richardson

UPDATED

VERSION: August 21, 2026

CONSULTANT: Alexa Cohill-Milanick / U. & E. / (916) 319-2083 FN: 0004336

 THIRD READING  

Bill No: AB 1577

Author: Bauer-Kahan (D)

Amended: 8/21/26 in Senate

Vote: 21

SENATE ENERGY, U. & C. COMMITTEE: 13-4, 6/24/26

AYES: Allen, Archuleta, Arreguín, Becker, Caballero, Gonzalez, Hurtado, McNerney, Reyes, Richardson, Rubio, Stern, Wahab

NOES: Ochoa Bogh, Dahle, Grove, Strickland

SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 11-2, 6/30/26

AYES: Umberg, Allen, Ashby, Caballero, Durazo, Laird, Reyes, Stern, Wahab, Weber Pierson, Wiener

NOES: Niello, Valladares

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 57-16, 5/26/26 - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Data centers: reporting

SOURCE: Author

DIGEST:

This bill 1) requires the owner of a data center to submit specified information regarding the data center’s energy consumption and operations to the California Energy Commission (CEC) and the local agencies permitting the construction of the data center; 2) sets limitations on the ability of the CEC and local agencies to disclose information submitted by data centers; and 3) requires the CEC report on load impacts of data centers in the Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR).

Senate Floor Amendments of 8/21/26 modify confidentiality protections for data center information submitted to the CEC, delete certain reporting requirements regarding waste heat and intake air temperature, and make various other clarifications.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Establishes the CEC, consisting of five members appointed by the Governor, and specifies the duties of the CEC. Every two years, the Governor must designate a chair and vice chair from the CEC’s membership. The CEC must appoint a public adviser every three years to carry out certain public engagement duties. (Public Resources Code §25200 et. seq.)
2. Requires the CEC to assess trends in energy consumption and analyze the social, economic, and environmental consequences of these trends. The CEC must establish energy conservation measures, including building and appliance energy efficiency standards, and recommend additional conservation measures to the Governor and the Legislature. (Public Resources Code §25216)
3. Requires the CEC to adopt an IEPR every two years, with an update published every year. Existing law specifies the contents of the IEPR and requires the CEC to report on major energy trends in the IEPR, including assessments of statewide electricity, natural gas and transportation fuel demands. (Public Resources Code §25302)
4. Establishes the CEC’s Building Energy Benchmarking Program, which requires owners of large commercial and multifamily buildings with 50,000 square feet of gross floor space to report specified energy use data to the CEC annually. (Public Resources Code §25402.10)
5. Defines “electrical or gas consumption data” as a customer’s electrical or natural gas usage that is made available as part of an advanced metering infrastructure and includes incremental and monthly meter-specific electricity data, to the extent produced by that infrastructure, and the name, account number, and address of the customer. Existing law prohibits electric and gas utilities from disclosing customers’ electrical or gas consumption data without the customer’s consent unless state law, federal law, or the CPUC orders the disclosure of the data. Utilities may also share customer consumption data with certain third parties for operational needs or implementation of certain utility programs if specific data protection requirements are met. (Public Utilities Code §8380)
6. Authorizes the CPUC to assess the extent to which electrical corporation costs for new loads from data centers result in cost shifts to other electrical corporation customers. Existing law specifies that this assessment must be published by January 1, 2027, and it must include the following:
   1. An analysis of potential electrical corporation costs associated with utility procurement for data center electricity consumption.
   2. An analysis of potential electrical corporation costs associated with new transmission and distribution assets to serve new data centers or expansions of existing data centers, as specified.
   3. Identification of opportunities to address any substantial cost shifts. (Public Utilities Code §913.22)

This bill:

1. Defines a data center as a facility, or part of a facility, housing computing equipment for the processing, storing, or distributing electronic data.
2. Excludes both of the following from this bill’s definition of a data center subject to data reporting requirements:
   1. A facility with an electrical load below 10 megawatts (MW).
   2. A publicly funded research facility, public safety facility, publicly funded national security facility, publicly owned facility, or other utility facility, including, but not limited to, a facility operated for the purpose of providing telecommunications services to the public by a terrestrial facilities-based telecommunications provider.
3. Requires the owner or operator of a data center to submit the following information to the CEC upon energization by the data center’s electric utility:
   1. The name and address of the data center and contact information for the data center’s owner and operator.
   2. The start date of the data center’s operation.
   3. Specified information about the data center’s floor area.
   4. The facility’s anticipated peak load from an interconnection request.
   5. The anticipated on-site electrical generation and consumption, including both behind-the-meter primary and backup power generation.
4. Requires the owner or operator of a data center to submit the following information to the CEC at least annually, disaggregated by month unless otherwise specified by CEC:
   1. Specified information about the data center’s electrical load, power usage effectiveness, and participation in any demand response program.
   2. Specified information about on-site generation and consumption.
5. Requires the CEC to limit duplicative reporting requirements and account for data submission delays associated with the time a data center owner or operator needs to obtain data from a utility or third party.
6. Requires the CEC to include the following in the 2029 IEPR, and in subsequent IEPRs as determined by the CEC:
   1. Projections of data center load trends, including peak load demands.
   2. Recommendations for mitigating data center load impacts on the electric grid, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and potential efficiency and demand response measures.
7. Requires the CEC to annually publish information submitted by data centers in an anonymized and aggregated format on the CEC’s website.
8. Requires the CEC to establish a process for the owner or operator to identify information that is protected from disclosure under state or federal law, including the Evidence Code.
9. Requires the owner or developer of a data center to submit specified information regarding the data center’s energy consumption, on-site generation, and sound emissions to a local government when applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization needed for the data center’s construction or operation.
10. Authorizes a local government to use information submitted by a data center pursuant to this bill for various purposes, including, but not limited to, land use planning, infrastructure planning, energy supply assessment, and environmental review.
11. Prohibits the CEC or a local agency from disclosing data center information collected pursuant to this bill in a manner that would result in the disclosure of personal identifiable information or energy consumption data for a specific data center customer.

Background

Bill expands access to information about data centers’ energy consumption and operations. This bill establishes the following three separate data reporting requirements for the owners of data centers with at least 10 MW of electricity consumption:

• A requirement to submit certain information about the data center’s building elements and anticipated energy consumption at the time the data center is energized by its electrical utility.
• A requirement to annually report the data center’s electricity consumption and certain operations of the data center at a monthly level of granularity.
• A requirement to submit information to a local permitting agency regarding the data center’s anticipated energy needs and noise levels at the time that permits are requested.

These requirements are intended to address concerns that state energy plans and local permitting reviews lack sufficient real-world data regarding data centers’ energy needs and building operations to adequately plan for those needs and potential local impacts. According to a May 2024 report from the CEC, data centers comprise approximately two percent of the state’s total annual electricity demand. The CEC anticipates that data centers’ electricity consumption may double in the next 10 years without implementation of any additional energy efficiency measures. Load growth from data centers has been substantially higher in other states. Pennsylvania – New Jersey – Maryland Interconnection (PJM) operates the largest regional grid in the United States. In January 2026, data from PJM indicated that 40% of its expected increased electricity demand will come from data centers. With this increase in electricity demands, PJM has seen record high costs for electricity to meet future reliability needs in addition to new transmission costs. Consumers in four states within PJM territory paid over $4 billion in 2024 alone for transmission projects serving data centers. California has not experienced the level of data center growth seen in some other states; however, a number of California’s utilities are projecting substantial data center load growth in the next four years.

Data centers are not uniform, and their impacts depend on many factors. Data center impacts largely depend on the size of the facility and location at which the data center is built. Not all data centers pose the same load planning challenges or provide the same services. While some data centers provide the computing power used to support artificial intelligence (AI) software, other data centers provide data storage and transit services, including data centers that comprise part of the backbone of the telecommunications system. Generally, data centers primarily supporting AI and supercomputing are associated with substantially higher rates of energy consumption due to the types of computer chips used and the volume of these chips needed to run AI software and supercomputers. However, the impact that a data center has on utility and local resources largely depends on the availability of existing resources in the location at which the data center is constructed. A 10 MW data center constructed in an area with excess electrical grid capacity may pose no major energy impacts and can support beneficial electrification if coordinated effectively with the utility. A similarly sized facility built in a grid-constrained area may create significant new challenges for that region’s utility. These challenges can also delay construction and energization of a data center.

The CEC may already have some of the data required by this bill. The CEC administers the Building Energy Benchmarking Program, which requires owners of commercial and multifamily buildings with at least 50,000 square feet of floor space to report specified information about the building’s energy use to the CEC on an annual basis. As a result, the CEC already collects energy consumption data from data centers with at least 50,000 square feet of floor space. This bill would require the owner of a data center with at least 10 MW of electricity consumption to submit a larger scope of information to the CEC regarding the energy consumption and operations of the facility. As a result, data centers would be required to report substantially more information to the CEC than other building owners in the Building Energy Benchmarking Program.

Existing prohibitions on sharing customers’ energy usage data. Existing law (Public Utilities Code §8380) prohibits electric and gas utilities from sharing customers’ consumption data unless the customer provides the utility with consent to share that information. Historically, customers’ metered energy consumption data and associated personal information has been protected by customer privacy restrictions placed on utilities. These privacy protections are intended to prevent third parties from using customer energy consumption to infer additional personal information or proprietary and confidential business information. Disclosure of certain energy consumption and trends in energy use for a specific customer can enable third parties to make certain assumptions about the customer’s behavior, technology use, and personal habits without the customer’s consent. This bill prohibits local agencies from disclosing information about data centers that would result in the release of personally identifiable information or information about a specific customer’s energy consumption. Under the Building Energy Benchmarking Program, a building owner may request a trade secret exemption from the executive director of the CEC. Upon receiving this exemption, the building owner may report certain characteristics about the building; however, the owner is not required to report energy use data. This bill does not extend this trade secret designation process to information submitted pursuant to this bill. As a result, data centers over 50,000 square feet may be able to request a trade secret designation for information under the existing benchmarking program; however, data centers with an energy consumption of at least 10 MW may not be able to request a similar exemption for reporting under this bill. While existing statute requires the CEC to establish a process for setting disclosure limitations on information reported to the CEC for the existing benchmarking program, the trade secret designation process is not specified in statute.

Related/Prior Legislation

SB 886 (Padilla, 2026) establishes requirements for a special rate structure for large data centers. The bill requires the CPUC to adopt a tariff for these data centers that prevents other customers from paying for certain electrical infrastructure and load costs for large, transmission-interconnected data centers. The bill is pending before the full Assembly.

SB 887 (Padilla, 2026) establishes certain environmental leadership permitting permissions for data centers that meet specified criteria. The bill is pending before the full Assembly.

SB 978 (Pérez, 2026) would have required the CPUC to create a special rate structure for large data centers to prevent cost shifts to other customers. The bill would have established labor requirements for the construction of facilities subject to the bill. The bill would have expanded existing CPUC reporting requirements to include a specified assessment about data center impacts to renewable procurement goals. The bill was held by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

AB 2383 (Zbur, 2026) requires the CPUC to adopt special tariffs for data centers. The bill specifies certain conditions these tariffs must meet, including preventing cost shifts between data centers and other utility customers. The bill is pending before the full Senate.

SB 57 (Padilla, Chapter 647, Statutes of 2025) authorized the CPUC to assess the extent to which electrical corporation costs for new loads from data centers result in cost shifts to other electrical corporation customers. The bill also required the CPUC to publish and submit a report regarding its assessment to the relevant legislative policy committees by January 1, 2027.

AB 222 (Bauer-Kahan, 2025) would have required the CPUC to assess the extent to which electrical corporation costs for serving data centers result in cost shifts to other customers. The bill also would have required the CEC to establish a process for data centers to submit specified energy efficiency data to the CEC, and it required the CEC to assess data centers’ energy consumption. Certain provisions of the bill were substantially similar to provisions in this bill. The bill was held by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

SB 1298 (Cortese, 2024) would have increased the amount of thermal generation a data center could use as backup power from 100 MW to 150 MW without triggering the CEC’s power plant siting process. The bill would have also created conditions for data centers to use this exemption. The bill died in the Assembly.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:

• The CEC estimates one-time costs of about $1.3 million (Energy Resources Program Account [ERPA] or General Fund) to incorporate the required information regarding data centers into its biennial Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR) in 2029. 
• Ongoing costs, likely in the hundreds of thousands of dollars annually (ERPA or General Fund), for the CEC to include assessment of electrical load trends for data centers in its subsequent IEPRs should it determine to do so.

SUPPORT: (Verified 8/21/26)

Ava Community Energy

California Initiative for Technology & Democracy
California State Association of Counties
League of California Cities
Little Hoover Commission
Santa Monica Democratic Club
The Climate Reality Project, California State Coalition
The Greenlining Institute

Union of Concerned Scientists

OPPOSITION: (Verified 8/21/26)

Bay Area Council
Building Owners and Managers Association of California

CalAsian Chamber of Commerce

California African American Chamber of Commerce

California Business Properties Association

California Chamber of Commerce

California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

California Manufactures and Technology Association

CalBroadband
CTIA - the Wireless Association
Data Center Coalition

NAIOP California

Silicon Valley Leadership Group

TechCA

TechNet

US Telecom - the Broadband Association

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author:

The rapid growth of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry is driving the construction of large, energy-intensive data centers across California. Increased energy demand, combined with grid infrastructure development needed to serve these facilities, risks increasing energy costs for Californians. At present, California lacks accurate statewide information on how many data centers exist, where they are located, how much energy they consume, how efficiently they operate, and how they affect California’s power grid. This limits the ability of state and local agencies to plan infrastructure, evaluate efficiency opportunities, and protect ratepayers. AB 1577 closes this information gap by requiring data centers to report specified energy usage and efficiency information to the California Energy Commission on a monthly basis, and by requiring proposed data centers to provide estimated information to local agencies prior to beginning construction.

ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: In opposition, a coalition of real estate and business associations, including the Data Center Coalition, states:

The data center industry is committed to active partnerships with utilities, grid operators, and regulators to address load growth and facilitate effective planning. We advocate for enhanced communication, collaboration, and transparency among all stakeholders to ensure investments are data-driven, appropriately scaled, and protect all customers from unnecessary costs. Through continued collaboration among industry, policymakers, and other stakeholders, strategies can be effectively employed to promote responsible energy use while maintaining California as a key, competitive market in the global economy. AB 1577 imposes a heavy-handed and burdensome reporting regime that ignores the complexity of data center operations, and the security needs of our digital economy. We urge you to reconsider this approach in favor of a collaborative framework that leverages existing reporting requirements and cycles.

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 57-16, 5/26/26

AYES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Ahrens, Alvarez, Arambula, Ávila Farías, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Caloza, Carrillo, Connolly, Elhawary, Fong, Gabriel, Gallagher, Garcia, Jeff Gonzalez, Mark González, Haney, Harabedian, Hart, Irwin, Jackson, Kalra, Krell, Lee, Lowenthal, McKinnor, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Patel, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ransom, Michelle Rodriguez, Rogers, Blanca Rubio, Sanchez, Schiavo, Schultz, Sharp-Collins, Solache, Soria, Stefani, Ward, Wicks, Wilson, Zbur, Rivas

NOES: Alanis, Castillo, Chen, Davies, DeMaio, Dixon, Ellis, Hadwick, Hoover, Johnson, Lackey, Macedo, Patterson, Ta, Tangipa, Wallis

NO VOTE RECORDED: Flora, Gipson, Muratsuchi, Nguyen, Ramos, Celeste Rodriguez, Valencia

Prepared by: Sarah Smith / E., U. & C. / (916) 651-4107

8/24/26 10:58:19

**** END ****

 THIRD READING  

Bill No: AB 1577

Author: Bauer-Kahan (D)

Amended: 8/13/26 in Senate

Vote: 21

SENATE ENERGY, U. & C. COMMITTEE: 13-4, 6/24/26

AYES: Allen, Archuleta, Arreguín, Becker, Caballero, Gonzalez, Hurtado, McNerney, Reyes, Richardson, Rubio, Stern, Wahab

NOES: Ochoa Bogh, Dahle, Grove, Strickland

SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 11-2, 6/30/26

AYES: Umberg, Allen, Ashby, Caballero, Durazo, Laird, Reyes, Stern, Wahab, Weber Pierson, Wiener

NOES: Niello, Valladares

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-2, 8/13/26

AYES: Cervantes, Cabaldon, Grayson, Richardson, Wahab

NOES: Seyarto, Dahle

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 57-16, 5/26/26 - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Data centers: reporting

SOURCE: Author

DIGEST:

This bill (1) requires the owner of a data center to submit specified information regarding the data center’s energy consumption and operations to the California Energy Commission (CEC) and the local agencies permitting the construction of the data center; (2) sets limitations on the ability of the CEC and local agencies to disclose information submitted by data centers and requires the CEC report on load impacts of data centers in the Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR).

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Establishes the CEC, consisting of five members appointed by the Governor, and specifies the duties of the CEC. Every two years, the Governor must designate a chair and vice chair from the CEC’s membership. The CEC must appoint a public adviser every three years to carry out certain public engagement duties. (Public Resources Code §25200 et. seq.)
2. Requires the CEC to assess trends in energy consumption and analyze the social, economic, and environmental consequences of these trends. The CEC must establish energy conservation measures, including building and appliance energy efficiency standards, and recommend additional conservation measures to the Governor and the Legislature. (Public Resources Code §25216)
3. Requires the CEC to adopt an IEPR every two years, with an update published every year. Existing law specifies the contents of the IEPR and requires the CEC to report on major energy trends in the IEPR, including assessments of statewide electricity, natural gas and transportation fuel demands. (Public Resources Code §25302)
4. Establishes the CEC’s Building Energy Benchmarking Program, which requires owners of large commercial and multifamily buildings with 50,000 square feet of gross floor space to report specified energy use data to the CEC annually. (Public Resources Code §25402.10)
5. Defines “electrical or gas consumption data” as a customer’s electrical or natural gas usage that is made available as part of an advanced metering infrastructure and includes incremental and monthly meter-specific electricity data, to the extent produced by that infrastructure, and the name, account number, and address of the customer. Existing law prohibits electric and gas utilities from disclosing customers’ electrical or gas consumption data without the customer’s consent unless state law, federal law, or the CPUC orders the disclosure of the data. Utilities may also share customer consumption data with certain third parties for operational needs or implementation of certain utility programs if specific data protection requirements are met. (Public Utilities Code §8380)
6. Authorizes the CPUC to assess the extent to which electrical corporation costs for new loads from data centers result in cost shifts to other electrical corporation customers. Existing law specifies that this assessment must be published by January 1, 2027, and it must include the following:
   1. An analysis of potential electrical corporation costs associated with utility procurement for data center electricity consumption.
   2. An analysis of potential electrical corporation costs associated with new transmission and distribution assets to serve new data centers or expansions of existing data centers, as specified.
   3. Identification of opportunities to address any substantial cost shifts. (Public Utilities Code §913.22)

This bill:

1. Defines a data center as a facility, or part of a facility, housing computing equipment for the processing, storing, or distributing electronic data.
2. Excludes both of the following from this bill’s definition of a data center subject to data reporting requirements:
   1. A facility with an electrical load below 10 megawatts (MW).
   2. A publicly funded research facility, public safety facility, publicly funded national security facility, publicly owned facility, or other utility facility, including, but not limited to, a facility operated for the purpose of providing telecommunications services to the public by a terrestrial facilities-based telecommunications provider.
3. Requires the owner of a data center to submit the following information to the CEC upon energization by the data center’s electric utility:
   1. The name and address of the data center and contact information for the data center’s owner and operator.
   2. The start date of the data center’s operation.
   3. Specified information about the data center’s floor area.
   4. The facility’s anticipated peak load from an interconnection request.
   5. The anticipated on-site electrical generation and consumption, including type of generation.
4. Requires the owner of a data center to submit the following information to the CEC at least annually following the data center’s energization:
   1. Specified information about the data center’s electrical load, power usage effectiveness, and participation in any demand response program.
   2. Specified information about the data center’s waste heat, cooling mechanisms, and temperature of cooling used for the data center.
   3. Specified information about on-site generation and consumption.
5. Requires the CEC to limit duplicative reporting requirements and account for data submission delays associated with the time a data center owner needs to obtain data from a utility or third party.
6. Requires the CEC to include the following in the 2029 IEPR, and in subsequent IEPRs as determined by the CEC:
   1. Projections of data center load trends, including peak load demands.
   2. Recommendations for mitigating data center load impacts on the electric grid, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and potential efficiency and demand response measures.
7. Requires the CEC to annually publish information submitted by data centers in an anonymized and aggregated format on the CEC’s website.
8. Requires the CEC to establish a process for a data center to obtain an exemption from reporting data that would jeopardize trade secrets if disclosed.
9. Requires the owner or developer of a data center to submit specified information regarding the data center’s energy consumption, on-site generation, and sound emissions to a local government when applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization needed for the data center’s construction or operation.
10. Authorizes a local government to use information submitted by a data center pursuant to this bill for various purposes, including, but not limited to, land use planning, infrastructure planning, energy supply assessment, and environmental review.
11. Prohibits the CEC or a local agency from disclosing data center information collected pursuant to this bill in a manner that would result in the disclosure of identifiable information or energy consumption data for a specific data center customer.

Background

Bill expands access to information about data centers’ energy consumption and operations. This bill establishes the following three separate data reporting requirements for the owners of data centers with at least 10 MW of electricity consumption:

• A requirement to submit certain information about the data center’s building elements and anticipated energy consumption at the time the data center is energized by its electrical utility.
• A requirement to annually report the data center’s electricity consumption and certain operations of the data center at a monthly level of granularity.
• A requirement to submit information to a local permitting agency regarding the data center’s anticipated energy needs and noise levels at the time that permits are requested.

These requirements are intended to address concerns that state energy plans and local permitting reviews lack sufficient real-world data regarding data centers’ energy needs and building operations to adequately plan for those needs and potential local impacts. According to a May 2024 report from the CEC, data centers comprise approximately two percent of the state’s total annual electricity demand. The CEC anticipates that data centers’ electricity consumption may double in the next 10 years without implementation of any additional energy efficiency measures. Load growth from data centers has been substantially higher in other states. Pennsylvania – New Jersey – Maryland Interconnection (PJM) operates the largest regional grid in the United States. In January 2026, data from PJM indicated that 40% of its expected increased electricity demand will come from data centers. With this increase in electricity demands, PJM has seen record high costs for electricity to meet future reliability needs in addition to new transmission costs. Consumers in four states within PJM territory paid over $4 billion in 2024 alone for transmission projects serving data centers. California has not experienced the level of data center growth seen in some other states; however, a number of California’s utilities are projecting substantial data center load growth in the next four years.

Data centers are not uniform, and their impacts depend on many factors. Data center impacts largely depend on the size of the facility and location at which the data center is built. Not all data centers pose the same load planning challenges or provide the same services. While some data centers provide the computing power used to support artificial intelligence (AI) software, other data centers provide data storage and transit services, including data centers that comprise part of the backbone of the telecommunications system. Generally, data centers primarily supporting AI and supercomputing are associated with substantially higher rates of energy consumption due to the types of computer chips used and the volume of these chips needed to run AI software and supercomputers. However, the impact that a data center has on utility and local resources largely depends on the availability of existing resources in the location at which the data center is constructed. A 10 MW data center constructed in an area with excess electrical grid capacity may pose no major energy impacts and can support beneficial electrification if coordinated effectively with the utility. A similarly sized facility built in a grid-constrained area may create significant new challenges for that region’s utility. These challenges can also delay construction and energization of a data center.

The CEC may already have some of the data required by this bill. The CEC administers the Building Energy Benchmarking Program, which requires owners of commercial and multifamily buildings with at least 50,000 square feet of floor space to report specified information about the building’s energy use to the CEC on an annual basis. As a result, the CEC already collects energy consumption data from data centers with at least 50,000 square feet of floor space. This bill would require the owner of a data center with at least 10 MW of electricity consumption to submit a larger scope of information to the CEC regarding the energy consumption and operations of the facility. As a result, data centers would be required to report substantially more information to the CEC than other building owners in the Building Energy Benchmarking Program.

Existing prohibitions on sharing customers’ energy usage data. Existing law (Public Utilities Code §8380) prohibits electric and gas utilities from sharing customers’ consumption data unless the customer provides the utility with consent to share that information. Historically, customers’ metered energy consumption data and associated personal information has been protected by customer privacy restrictions placed on utilities. These privacy protections are intended to prevent third parties from using customer energy consumption to infer additional personal information or proprietary and confidential business information. Disclosure of certain energy consumption and trends in energy use for a specific customer can enable third parties to make certain assumptions about the customer’s behavior, technology use, and personal habits without the customer’s consent. This bill prohibits local agencies from disclosing information about data centers that would result in the release of personally identifiable information or information about a specific customer’s energy consumption. Under the Building Energy Benchmarking Program, a building owner may request a trade secret exemption from the executive director of the CEC. Upon receiving this exemption, the building owner may report certain characteristics about the building; however, the owner is not required to report energy use data. This bill requires the CEC to extend the existing trade secret data protections to data submitted pursuant to this bill.

Related/Prior Legislation

SB 886 (Padilla, 2026) establishes requirements for a special rate structure for large data centers. The bill requires the CPUC to adopt a tariff for these data centers that prevents other customers from paying for certain electrical infrastructure and load costs for large, transmission-interconnected data centers. The bill is pending in the Assembly.

SB 887 (Padilla, 2026) establishes certain environmental leadership permitting permissions for data centers that meet specified criteria. The bill is pending in the Assembly.

SB 978 (Pérez, 2026) would have required the CPUC to create a special rate structure for large data centers to prevent cost shifts to other customers. The bill would have established labor requirements for the construction of facilities subject to the bill. The bill would have expanded existing CPUC reporting requirements to include a specified assessment about data center impacts to renewable procurement goals. The bill was held by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

AB 2383 (Zbur, 2026) requires the CPUC to adopt special tariffs for data centers. The bill specifies certain conditions these tariffs must meet, including preventing cost shifts between data centers and other utility customers. The bill is pending before the full Senate.

SB 57 (Padilla, Chapter 647, Statutes of 2025) authorized the CPUC to assess the extent to which electrical corporation costs for new loads from data centers result in cost shifts to other electrical corporation customers. The bill also required the CPUC to publish and submit a report regarding its assessment to the relevant legislative policy committees by January 1, 2027.

AB 222 (Bauer-Kahan, 2025) would have required the CPUC to assess the extent to which electrical corporation costs for serving data centers result in cost shifts to other customers. The bill also would have required the CEC to establish a process for data centers to submit specified energy efficiency data to the CEC, and it required the CEC to assess data centers’ energy consumption. Certain provisions of the bill were substantially similar to provisions in this bill. The bill was held by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

SB 1298 (Cortese, 2024) would have increased the amount of thermal generation a data center could use as backup power from 100 MW to 150 MW without triggering the CEC’s power plant siting process. The bill would have also created conditions for data centers to use this exemption. The bill died in the Assembly.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:

• The CEC estimates one-time costs of about $1.3 million (Energy Resources Program Account [ERPA] or General Fund) to incorporate the required information regarding data centers into its biennial Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR) in 2029. 
• Ongoing costs, likely in the hundreds of thousands of dollars annually (ERPA or General Fund), for the CEC to include assessment of electrical load trends for data centers in its subsequent IEPRs should it determine to do so.

SUPPORT: (Verified 8/13/26)

Ava Community Energy

California Initiative for Technology & Democracy
California State Association of Counties
League of California Cities
Little Hoover Commission
Santa Monica Democratic Club
The Climate Reality Project, California State Coalition
The Greenlining Institute

Union of Concerned Scientists

OPPOSITION: (Verified 8/13/26)

Bay Area Council
Building Owners and Managers Association of California

CalAsian Chamber of Commerce

California African American Chamber of Commerce

California Business Properties Association

California Chamber of Commerce

California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

California Manufactures and Technology Association

CalBroadband
CTIA - the Wireless Association
Data Center Coalition

NAIOP California

Silicon Valley Leadership Group

TechCA

TechNet

US Telecom - the Broadband Association

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author:

The rapid growth of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry is driving the construction of large, energy-intensive data centers across California. Increased energy demand, combined with grid infrastructure development needed to serve these facilities, risks increasing energy costs for Californians. At present, California lacks accurate statewide information on how many data centers exist, where they are located, how much energy they consume, how efficiently they operate, and how they affect California’s power grid. This limits the ability of state and local agencies to plan infrastructure, evaluate efficiency opportunities, and protect ratepayers. AB 1577 closes this information gap by requiring data centers to report specified energy usage and efficiency information to the California Energy Commission on a monthly basis, and by requiring proposed data centers to provide estimated information to local agencies prior to beginning construction.

ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: In opposition, a coalition of real estate and business associations, including the Data Center Coalition, states:

The data center industry is committed to active partnerships with utilities, grid operators, and regulators to address load growth and facilitate effective planning. We advocate for enhanced communication, collaboration, and transparency among all stakeholders to ensure investments are data-driven, appropriately scaled, and protect all customers from unnecessary costs. Through continued collaboration among industry, policymakers, and other stakeholders, strategies can be effectively employed to promote responsible energy use while maintaining California as a key, competitive market in the global economy. AB 1577 imposes a heavy-handed and burdensome reporting regime that ignores the complexity of data center operations, and the security needs of our digital economy. We urge you to reconsider this approach in favor of a collaborative framework that leverages existing reporting requirements and cycles.

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 57-16, 5/26/26

AYES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Ahrens, Alvarez, Arambula, Ávila Farías, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Caloza, Carrillo, Connolly, Elhawary, Fong, Gabriel, Gallagher, Garcia, Jeff Gonzalez, Mark González, Haney, Harabedian, Hart, Irwin, Jackson, Kalra, Krell, Lee, Lowenthal, McKinnor, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Patel, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ransom, Michelle Rodriguez, Rogers, Blanca Rubio, Sanchez, Schiavo, Schultz, Sharp-Collins, Solache, Soria, Stefani, Ward, Wicks, Wilson, Zbur, Rivas

NOES: Alanis, Castillo, Chen, Davies, DeMaio, Dixon, Ellis, Hadwick, Hoover, Johnson, Lackey, Macedo, Patterson, Ta, Tangipa, Wallis

NO VOTE RECORDED: Flora, Gipson, Muratsuchi, Nguyen, Ramos, Celeste Rodriguez, Valencia

Prepared by: Sarah Smith / E., U. & C. / (916) 651-4107

8/17/26 10:38:01

**** END ****

SENATE COMMITTEE ON

Senator Sabrina Cervantes, Chair

2025 - 2026 Regular Session

AB 1577 (Bauer-Kahan) - Data centers: reporting

Bill Summary:

This bill would require the California Energy Commission (CEC) to establish a process for the owner of a data center, as defined, to submit specified information, including the data center’s location and size, power usage effectiveness, and the quantity of fuel consumed by onsite generators or other fuel-based energy systems. It would also require data center owners to report basic operating details — like location, size, energy efficiency, and onsite fuel use — to the CEC, and to give local governments information on expected energy use and noise when seeking permits to build or operate, so those agencies can use it for planning, energy supply assessment, and environmental review.

*********** ANALYSIS ADDENDUM – SUSPENSE FILE ***********

The following information is revised to reflect amendments

adopted by the committee on August 13, 2026

Fiscal Impact:

• The CEC estimates one-time costs of about $1.3 million (Energy Resources Program Account [ERPA] or General Fund) to incorporate the required information regarding data centers into its biennial Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR) in 2029. 
• Ongoing costs, likely in the hundreds of thousands of dollars annually (ERPA or General Fund), for the CEC to include assessment of electrical load trends for data centers in its subsequent IEPRs should it determine to do so.

Author Amendments:

Author amendments would allow flexibility for the CEC to determine data center information included in the IEPR after 2029.

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SENATE COMMITTEE ON

Senator Sabrina Cervantes, Chair

2025 - 2026 Regular Session

AB 1577 (Bauer-Kahan) - Data centers: reporting

Bill Summary:

This bill would require the California Energy Commission (CEC) to establish a process for the owner of a data center, as defined, to submit specified information, including the data center’s location and size, power usage effectiveness, and the quantity of fuel consumed by onsite generators or other fuel-based energy systems. It would also require data center owners to report basic operating details — like location, size, energy efficiency, and onsite fuel use — to the CEC, and to give local governments information on expected energy use and noise when seeking permits to build or operate, so those agencies can use it for planning, energy supply assessment, and environmental review.

Fiscal Impact:

• The CEC estimates ongoing costs of about $1.3 million in the first year and $915,000 annually thereafter (Energy Resources Program Account [ERPA] or General Fund) to implement the provisions of this bill and incorporate data into its biennial Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR) beginning in 2029. 

Background:

Existing law creates the California Energy Commission (CEC) — five governor-appointed members, with a chair and vice chair designated every two years and a public adviser appointed every three — and tasks it with tracking energy consumption trends and their social, economic, and environmental effects, setting conservation measures such as building and appliance efficiency standards, and publishing an Integrated Energy Policy Report every two years (updated annually) that assesses statewide electricity, natural gas, and transportation fuel demand. Existing law also establishes the CEC's Building Energy Benchmarking Program, under which owners of commercial and multifamily buildings of at least 50,000 square feet must report energy use data to the CEC each year. Separately, existing law defines customers' electric and gas consumption data collected through advanced metering and generally bars utilities from disclosing it without customer consent, except where state or federal law or the CPUC requires it or where it is shared with certain third parties under specified data protection rules. Finally, existing law authorizes the CPUC to evaluate whether utility costs to serve new data center load shift costs onto other customers, requiring a published assessment by January 1, 2027 that examines procurement costs, new transmission and distribution costs to serve new or expanding data centers, and options for addressing any significant cost shifts.

Proposed Law:

This bill would:

1. Require the CEC to establish a process for the owner of a data center, as defined, to submit specified information, including the data center’s location and size, power usage effectiveness, and the quantity of fuel consumed by onsite generators or other fuel-based energy systems.
2. Require the owner or developer of a data center, upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization required for the construction or operation of the data center, to submit to the applicable local agency, as defined, specified information, including the expected annual energy consumption, as specified, and the expected sound levels attributable to the operation of the data center, as provided. The bill would authorize the local agency to use this information for various purposes, including, but not limited to, land use planning, infrastructure planning, energy supply assessment, and environmental review.
   1. Prohibit the CEC or a local agency from disclosing this information in a manner that would result in the disclosure of identifiable information or energy consumption data for a data center customer, except as provided.
   2. Require the CEC to establish a process for the owner of a data center to obtain an exemption from reporting data that would jeopardize trade secrets if disclosed.

Related Legislation:

SB 886 (Padilla, 2026) would establish requirements for a special rate structure for large data centers. The bill requires the CPUC to adopt a tariff for these data centers that prevents other customers from paying for certain electrical infrastructure and load costs for large, transmission-interconnected data centers.

SB 887 (Padilla, 2026) would establish certain permitting permissions for data centers that meet specified criteria. These criteria include provisions similar to the requirements for the tariff specified in this bill.

SB 978 (Pérez, 2026) would have required the CPUC to create a special rate structure for large data centers to prevent cost shifts to other customers. The bill would have established labor requirements for the construction of facilities subject to the bill. The bill would have expanded existing CPUC reporting requirements to include a specified assessment about data center impacts to renewable procurement goals. The bill died in this committee.

AB 2383 (Zbur, 2026) would require the CPUC to adopt special tariffs for large-load customers, including data centers. The bill specifies certain conditions these tariffs must meet, including preventing cost shifts between customer classes and avoiding unwarranted costs for other electric retail customers.

SB 57 (Padilla, Chapter 647, Statutes of 2025) authorized the CPUC to assess the extent to which electrical corporation costs for new loads from data centers result in cost shifts to other electrical corporation customers. The bill also required the CPUC to publish and submit a report regarding its assessment to the relevant legislative policy committees by January 1, 2027.

AB 222 (Bauer-Kahan, 2025) would have required the CPUC to assess the extent to which electrical corporation costs for serving data centers result in cost shifts to other customers. The bill also would have required the CEC to establish a process for data centers to submit specified energy efficiency data to the CEC, and it required the CEC to assess data centers’ energy consumption. Certain provisions of the bill were substantially similar to provisions in this bill. The bill died in this committee.

SB 1298 (Cortese, 2024) would have increased the amount of thermal generation a data center could use as backup power from 100 MW to 150 MW without triggering the CEC’s power plant siting process. The bill would have also created conditions for data centers to use this exemption. The bill died in the Assembly.

Staff Comments: The ERPA is the CEC’s principal ongoing support fund — the account that pays for most of its core operations, and the fund source bills routinely name when they assign the CEC new duties. ERPA is funded by the energy resources surcharge, a per-kilowatt-hour charge imposed under the Energy Resources Surcharge Law (Revenue and Taxation Code §40001 et seq.) on electricity consumed in California that is purchased from an electric utility. Utilities collect it from customers and remit it to CDTFA, which administers the surcharge. The CEC sets the surcharge rate each November for the following calendar year. The rate is capped by statute at three-tenths of a mill ($0.0003) per kWh, a cap last raised from $0.0002 in 2002, and the CEC exercised its remaining authority in late 2018 to raise the rate from $0.00029 to $0.0003 effective January 1, 2019. It has stayed at that ceiling ever since, including for calendar year 2026.

Because the fund is now pinned at its statutory maximum while its revenue base shrinks, ERPA has a long-running structural imbalance. According to the CEC, as building and appliance efficiency standards and behind-the-meter solar flatten statewide consumption, ERPA revenues decline while costs fall on fewer customers; behind-the-meter rooftop solar, wind, and non-utility generation are exempt from the surcharge, so revenues fall further as that capacity grows.

Total ERPA expenditures were roughly $95.7 million in 2024-25, with the fund balance projected to decline steadily. Recent budgets have continued to load new statutory workload onto the account — for example, the Governor's 2026-27 budget requested $660,000 from ERPA to implement SB 237 (Grayson, 2025) and $342,000 for AB 368 (Ward, 2025) on passive house standards. Legislation directing new CEC reporting, rulemaking, or oversight work generally draws on a fund with no headroom in its rate and a declining revenue base.

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SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

Senator Thomas Umberg, Chair

2025-2026 Regular Session

Bill No: AB 1577 (Author:Bauer-Kahan)

Version: June 11, 2026

Hearing Date: June 30, 2026

Fiscal: Yes

Urgency: No

Consultant: ME

SUBJECT

Data centers: reporting

DIGEST

This bill, as proposed to be amended, requires the owner of a data center to report specified information to the California Energy Commission (CEC). The bill requires the owner or developer of a data center, upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization required for the construction or operation of the data center, to submit to the applicable local agency, as defined, specified information, including the expected annual energy consumption, as specified, and the expected sound levels attributable to the operation of the data center, as provided. This analysis is based on the bill with amendments that were agreed upon in the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications and that are reflected in the mock-up at the end of this analysis.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The author brings this bill to give state and local agencies information so they can better evaluate the impact of data centers on California’s power grid and the impact they have on the price of energy and the lives of people located near the facilities. The author notes that the rapid development of the AI industry^[1] is leading to increased construction of data centers in California,^[2] which require large amounts of electricity. As noted in the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications analysis of AB 222 (Bauer-Kahan, 2025), “[f]ive of the anticipated facilities serving OpenAI could collectively use more electricity than three million households.”^[3]

This bill requires the CEC to establish a process for the owner of a data center to submit specified information to the CEC, including, among other information, the data center’s location and size, the data center’s power usage effectiveness, and the quantity of fuel consumed by onsite generators or other fuel-based energy systems. The CEC would be required, beginning with the 2029 integrated energy policy report (IEPR), and in subsequent biennial reports, to include an assessment of electrical load trends for data centers and to annually publish the information submitted in an anonymized and aggregated format on its website.

The bill also requires an owner or developer of a data center, upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization required for the construction or operation of the data center, to submit specified information to the applicable local agency including the expected annual energy consumption and the expected sound levels attributable to the operation of the data center. The CEC and local agencies would be prohibited from disclosing the information in a manner that would result in the disclosure of identifiable information or energy consumption data for a data center customer. The CEC would also be required to establish a process for the owner of a data center to obtain an exemption from reporting data that would jeopardize trade secrets if disclosed.

This bill is author-sponsored and supported by the California State Association of Counties, the Greenlining Institute, the Little Hoover Commission, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and other organizations that support data center transparency. The bill is opposed by the California Chamber of Commerce, TechNet, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, and other business and technology organizations. This bill was passed by the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications with a vote of 13 to 4. Because of timing issues, the bill was approved with amendments to be adopted in this Committee. The amendments are reflected in the mock-up at the end of this analysis. This analysis is based on the bill with the agreed upon amendments reflected in the mock-up. Should AB 1577 pass this Committee, it will then be referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE LAW

Existing law:

1. Requires the California Energy Commission (CEC) to adopt an integrated energy policy report (IEPR) every two years, with an update published every year. Existing law specifies the contents of the IEPR and requires the CEC to report on major energy trends in the IEPR, including assessments of statewide electricity, natural gas, and transportation fuel demands. (Pub. Resources Code § 25302.)
2. Governs the disclosure of information collected and maintained by public agencies pursuant to the California Public Records Act (CPRA). (Gov. Code §§ 7920.000 et seq.)
   1. States that the Legislature, mindful of the individual right to privacy, finds and declares that access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state. (Gov. Code § 7921.000.)
   2. Defines “public records” as any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public’s business prepared, owned, used, or retained by any state or local agency regardless of physical form or characteristics. (Gov. Code § 7920.530.)
   3. Provides that all public records are accessible to the public upon request, unless the record requested is exempt from public disclosure. (Gov. Code § 7922.530.)
3. Provides, pursuant to the California Constitution, that the people have the right of access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business, and, therefore, the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies are required to be open to public scrutiny. (Cal. const. art. I, § 3(b)(1).)
   1. Requires a statute to be broadly construed if it furthers the people’s right of access, and narrowly construed if it limits the right of access. (Cal. const. art. I, § 3(b)(1).)
   2. Requires a statute that limits the public’s right of access to be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. (Cal. const. art. I, § 3(b)(1).)
4. Provides that, under the CPRA, records are exempt from disclosure if their disclosure is exempted or prohibited pursuant to federal or state law, including, but not limited to, provisions of the Evidence Code relating to privilege. (Gov. Code § 7927.705.)
5. Provides that if their agent or employee claims the privilege, the owner of a trade secret has a privilege to refuse to disclose the secret, and to prevent another from disclosing it, if the allowance of the privilege will not tend to conceal fraud or otherwise work injustice. (Ev. Code § 1060.)
6. Protects trade secrets through the Uniform Trade Secrets Act. (Civ. Code §§ 3426-3426.11.)
7. Provides that under the Uniform Trade Secrets act, “trade secret” means information, including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, or process, that: derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to the public or to other persons who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use; and is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy. (Civ. Code § 3426.1 (d).)

This bill:

1. Requires the CEC to establish a process for the owner of a data center, as defined, to submit specified information to the CEC, including, among other information, the data center’s location and size, the data center’s power usage effectiveness, as defined, and the quantity of fuel consumed by onsite generators or other fuel-based energy systems, as specified.
2. Requires the owner of a data center to submit the required information in the manner and timeframe specified by the CEC.
3. Requires the CEC, beginning with the 2029 IEPR, and in subsequent biennial reports, to include an assessment of electrical load trends for data centers, as provided.
4. Requires the CEC to annually publish the information submitted in an anonymized and aggregated format on its website.
5. Requires the owner or developer of a data center, upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization required for the construction or operation of the data center, to submit to the applicable local agency, as defined, specified information, including the expected annual energy consumption, as specified, and the expected sound levels attributable to the operation of the data center, as provided.
6. Authorizes the local agency to use this information for various purposes, including, but not limited to, land use planning, infrastructure planning, energy supply assessment, and environmental review.
7. Prohibits the CEC or a local agency from disclosing the information described above in a manner that would result in the disclosure of identifiable information or energy consumption data for a data center customer, except as provided.
8. Requires the CEC to establish a process for the owner of a data center to obtain an exemption from reporting data that would jeopardize trade secrets if disclosed.

COMMENTS

1. Stated need for the bill

According to the author:

The rapid growth of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry is driving the construction of large, energy-intensive data centers across California. Increased energy demand, combined with grid infrastructure development needed to serve these facilities, risks increasing energy costs for Californians. At present, California lacks accurate statewide information on how many data centers exist, where they are located, how much energy they consume, how efficiently they operate, and how they affect California’s power grid. This limits the ability of state and local agencies to plan infrastructure, evaluate efficiency opportunities, and protect ratepayers. AB 1577 closes this information gap by requiring data centers to report specified energy usage and efficiency information to the California Energy Commission on a monthly basis, and by requiring proposed data centers to provide estimated information to local agencies prior to beginning construction.

1. Access to public records is a statutory and constitutional right

This bill limits the access to public records by providing that data center energy consumption can be reported in the aggregate, but not in a manner that would result in the disclosure of personally identifiable information or energy consumption data for a specific utility customer.

Access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state. (Gov. Code § 7921.000.) In 2004, the right of public access was enshrined in the California Constitution with the passage of Proposition 59 (Nov. 3, 2004, statewide general election),^[4] which amended the California Constitution to specifically protect the right of the public to access and obtain government records: “The people have the right of access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business, and therefore . . . the writings of public officials and agencies shall be open to public scrutiny.” (Cal. Const., art. I, sec. 3 (b)(1).) In 2014, voters approved Proposition 42 (Jun. 3, 2014, statewide direct primary election)^[5] to further increase public access to government records by requiring local agencies to comply with the CPRA and the Ralph M. Brown Act^[6], and with any subsequent statutory enactment amending either act, as provided. (Cal. Const., art. I, sec. 3 (b)(7).)

Under the CPRA, public records are open to inspection by the public at all times during the office hours of the agency, unless they are exempt from disclosure. (Gov. Code § 7922.525.) Any reasonably segregable portion of a record shall be available for inspection by any person requesting the record after deletion of the portions that are exempted by law. (Gov. Code § 7922.525 (b).) A public record is defined as any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public’s business that is prepared, owned, used, or retained by any public agency regardless of physical form or characteristics. (Gov. Code § 7920.530.) There are several general categories of documents or information that are permissively exempt from disclosure under the CPRA essentially due to the character of the information. The exempt information can be withheld by the public agency with custody of the information, but it also may be disclosed if it is shown that the public’s interest in disclosure outweighs the public’s interest in non-disclosure of the information. (CBS, Inc. v. Block (1986) 42 Cal.3d 646, at 652.). Additionally, some records are prohibited from disclosure or are specifically stated to not be public records. (see Gov. Code § 7924.110 (a).)

California generally recognizes that public access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business is a fundamental and necessary right.^[7] At the same time, the state recognizes that this right must be balanced against the right to privacy.^[8] The general right of access to public records may, therefore, be limited when records include personal information. The bill provides that the CEC or a local agency shall not disclose information submitted pursuant to this bill in a manner that would result in the disclosure of identifiable information or energy consumption data for a specific data center customer. The bill states that this limitation on access to public records is needed to protect the confidential and proprietary information of an entity subject to the bill.

Opponents of this bill are concerned that their obligation to share information with the CEC and local agencies will result in exposure of their trade secrets, notwithstanding the fact that trade secrets are protected from disclosure through the CPRA. Under the CPRA, records are exempt from disclosure if their disclosure is “exempted or prohibited pursuant to federal or state law, including, but not limited to, provisions of the Evidence Code relating to privilege.” (Gov. Code § 7927.705.) Evidence Code Section 1060 provides that if their “agent or employee claims the privilege, the owner of a trade secret has a privilege to refuse to disclose the secret, and to prevent another from disclosing it, if the allowance of the privilege will not tend to conceal fraud or otherwise work injustice. The Uniform Trade Secrets Act (Act) is found in Civil Code sections 3426-3426.11. Under the Act, “trade secret” means information, including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, or process, that: (1) derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to the public or to other persons who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use; and (2) is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy. (Civ. Code § 3426.1 (d).)

The bill also contains a provision that requires the CEC to establish a process for the owner of a data center to obtain an exemption from reporting data pursuant to the reporting requirements of this bill “that would jeopardize trade secrets if disclosed.” As an additional protection for those with obligations to report, the bill explicitly provides that the disclosure or sharing of information pursuant to this bill “does not constitute a waiver of any attorney-client privilege, work product protection, or trade secret protection that might otherwise exist with respect to the information.”

To ensure the provisions of this bill are not used to avoid reporting obligations pursuant to other laws, the bill specifies that it “does not supersede, preempt, or otherwise limit any reporting, disclosure, or public access requirements imposed by any other law or regulation, including requirements to report the same information to the same public entities.” The bill also specifies that any “designation or labeling of information submitted pursuant to” the reporting requirements of this bill “as confidential, proprietary, or otherwise restricted” through this bill, “shall not require the same designation or labeling of that information pursuant to any other law or regulation.”

3. Support

According to the Little Hoover Commission in support of the bill:

The Little Hoover Commission is pleased to support AB 1577, which would require the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to establish a process for monthly reporting by data center owners of specified operational information, including power usage effectiveness, water usage effectiveness, total water consumption, and fuel consumed by onsite generators. It also would require the Commission to publish information in anonymized and aggregated form and assess data center electrical load trends into a future Integrated Energy Policy Report.

In its 2026 report, Data Centers and California Electricity Policy, the Commission found that rapid data center growth has significant implications for grid reliability, infrastructure planning, water use, and community health. Regulators need access to essential, confidential facility-level information to better understand how individual facilities interact with the grid, affect local reliability, and contribute to infrastructure costs in order to protect communities and ratepayers, and plan responsibly for future needs. The Commission recommended the state enable regulators to confidentially access essential facility-level electricity-use data from large data centers, supported by structured data-sharing among agencies, to improve planning, assess localized impacts, and ensure fair cost responsibility while protecting sensitive business information.

AB 1577 would implement this recommendation by establishing a structured reporting framework that supports more accurate grid planning, informed environmental review, and comprehensive assessment of data center operational trends.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists in support of AB 1577:

In light of the state’s growing energy affordability crisis, UCS believes it will be vital for the state to adopt a broad set of timely proposals that work cohesively toward building a less costly, and more sustainable electric grid. AB 1577 seeks to address one specific subset- the growing concern regarding the future potential strain of data centers on the grid and current lack of available data on these entities.

According to UCS analysis, anticipated data center growth in California is expected to be in the realm of 2 gigawatts by 2030, and 4 gigawatts by 2040- a truly significant amount of new load. However, as the data center industry continues to grow in California, state and local policymakers have very little information about the operations of existing data centers. This lack of transparency makes it more difficult for state policymakers to plan the power grid and for local policymakers to assess the ongoing impacts of data centers on their communities. Without access to relevant information on data center energy usage, such as the quantity of electricity generated and consumed onsite, the types of fuel and energy storage utilized, and the maximum electrical load of the data center, policymakers will be left in the dark when faced with critical decisions related to data centers in California.

AB 1577 seeks to close the gap in needed data and require monthly reporting by eligible data centers to the CEC, as well as require submittal of specified information to local entities to be considered prior to construction. UCS strongly supports the additional reporting requirements in AB 1577, which will help ensure data center grid impacts are not detrimental to the reliability or affordability of energy for residential ratepayers, or to the state’s clean energy goals.

However, to ensure the most comprehensive reporting possible, we would urge the author and committee to consider amendments that require the sharing of data related to water consumption of data centers. Information about anticipated and actual water consumption at data centers is also not readily available, but water consumption at data centers could have similar detrimental impacts to local communities and water ratepayers.

4. Opposition

In opposition to the bill, the California Chamber of Commerce writes:

AB 1577 establishes a high-frequency, highly intrusive reporting regime that imposes significant compliance burdens, exposes sensitive operational information, and creates real security risks without a clear demonstration of commensurate policy benefit. [ . . . ]

AB 1577 frames itself as a tool for the California Energy Commission (CEC) to assess load trends for the Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR). However, AB 1577 moves well beyond IEPR’s long-term planning by requiring data center operators to submit highly granular information on a monthly basis for individual facilities. California’s energy planning processes are designed to evaluate system-wide needs and forecasted demand; they do not rely on month-to-month operational fluctuations of individual facilities.

AB 1577 reaches deep into the operational profile of each facility by requiring data center operators to continuously track and report numerous metrics as diverse as average intake air temperature setpoints for IT equipment, power usage effectiveness, types of refrigerants used for cooling, quantity of onsite generation, and cumulative cooling degree days for the data center. Requiring continuous monthly submissions of complex datasets will significantly increase administrative burden and compliance costs without improving the long-term planning outcomes the IEPR is designed to support.

The level of detail AB 1577 seeks to collect is concerning in that many of these data points are core operational parameters. Collectively, this information can be used to infer critical aspects of facility operations, including engineering design, technology configurations, performance optimization choices, and workload characteristics.

This raises serious concerns regarding the exposure of trade secrets and competitively sensitive information. Although the bill includes provisions related to confidentiality, those protections are limited. The statute explicitly does not override other disclosure requirements and allows for information sharing across agencies. This creates a significant legal gray area where a Public Records Act requests could be used to access competitors’ sensitive data. Even when data is published in aggregated or anonymized form, there remains a risk that it can be combined with other publicly available information to identify individual facilities or derive sensitive insights. The result is a regulatory framework that compels disclosure of highly sensitive proprietary information without providing adequate safeguards.

Additionally, by mandating the reporting of such detailed facility characteristics, AB 1577 effectively requires the creation of a comprehensive operational “fingerprint” for covered facilities. When combined, these data points reveal how a facility is designed, operated, and optimized — information that is highly sensitive from both a competitive and security perspective. In an era of increasing cyber and physical threats to critical infrastructure, the aggregation and potential dissemination of this information introduces unnecessary and avoidable risk. Facilities subject to this bill support essential digital services, and policies that increase their exposure to targeting, exploitation, or disruption should be approached with extreme caution.

SUPPORT

Ava Community Energy

California Initiative for Technology and Democracy

California State Association of Counties

Climate Reality Project, California Coalition

Greenlining Institute

Little Hoover Commission

Union of Concerned Scientists

OPPOSITION

Bay Area Council

California African American Chamber of Commerce

CalAsian Chamber of Commerce

California Broadband & Video Association

California Chamber of Commerce

California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce

California Manufacturers and Technology Association

Data Center Coalition

Silicon Valley Leadership Group

TechCA

TechNet

RELATED LEGISLATION

Pending legislation: SB 222 (Bauer-Kahan, 2025) would have required the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to establish a process for the owner of a data center to submit the power usage effectiveness ratio for the data center to the CPUC. The bill also would have required the CPUC to assess the extent to which electrical corporation costs associated with new loads from data centers result in cost shifts to other electrical corporation customers. SB 222 was held under submission in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Prior legislation: None known.

PRIOR VOTES:

Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee (Ayes 13, Noes 4)

Assembly Floor (Ayes 57, Noes 16)

Assembly Appropriations Committee (Ayes 11, Noes 4)

Assembly Natural Resources Committee (Ayes 9, Noes 4)

Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee (Ayes 13, Noes 5)

**************

PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO ASSEMBLY BILL NO. 1577

AS AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 11, 2026

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 25245 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:

25245. (a) For purposes of this section and Sections 25246 and 25247, all of the following definitions apply:

(1) “Applicable local agency” means a city, county, or city and county that has discretionary land use or permitting authority over the construction or operation of a data center.

(2) (A) “Cooling degree day” means the number of degrees by which the average outdoor air temperature for a given day exceeds 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

(B) If the average outdoor air temperature for a given day does not exceed 65 degrees Fahrenheit, the number of cooling degree days for that day shall be zero.

(3) (A) “Data center” means means, except as provided in subparagraph (B), a facility, or part of a facility, that houses computing infrastructure, including graphics and central processing units, servers, storage devices, networking equipment, and associated power and cooling systems, for the primary purpose of processing, storing, or distributing electronic data.

(B) “Data center” does not include a either of the following:

(i) A facility with an installed information technology equipment electrical capacity of less than 500 kilowatts. 10 megawatts.

(ii) A publicly funded research facility, public safety facility, publicly funded national security facility, publicly owned facility, or other utility facility, including, but not limited to, a facility operated for the purpose of providing telecommunications services to the public by a terrestrial facilities-based telecommunications provider.

(4) “Owner” means the individual or entity responsible for overseeing the entire data center facility, regardless of the individual parties that may rent or host equipment at the facility.

(5) “Power usage effectiveness” means a ratio of the total energy consumption of a data center to the energy specifically used by the information technology equipment housed in that data center.

(b) (1) The commission shall establish a process for the owner of a data center to submit all of the following information to the commission upon energization of the data center and following any substantive change to information previously submitted pursuant to this paragraph:

(A) The name of the data center.

(B) Any physical addresses associated with the operation of the data center.

(C) The name of, and contact information for, the owner and operator of the data center.

(D) The year and month that the data center began operating.

(E) The total floor area of the data center, expressed in square feet.

(F) The floor area of the data center occupied by information technology equipment, expressed in square feet.

(G) The anticipated electrical peak capacity of the data center, as submitted per the load interconnection request.

(H) The anticipated quantity of electricity generated and consumed onsite, separated by generation type.

(2) The commission shall establish a process for the owner of a data center to submit all of the following information to the commission on a monthly basis at least annually following energization:

(A) (i) The maximum electrical load of the data center.

(ii) The installed information technology electrical capacity of the data center, expressed in kilowatts.

(iii) The total energy consumption of the data center, expressed in kilowatthours.

(iv) The power usage effectiveness of the data center.

(v) Whether the data center participated in any demand flexibility programs, and the name and level of participation in each program.

(B) (i) The quantity of waste heat reused by the data center, expressed in kilowatthours.

(ii) The average waste heat temperature of the data center, expressed in degrees Fahrenheit.

(iii) The average intake air temperature setpoint for information technology equipment, expressed in degrees Fahrenheit.

(iv) Which types of refrigerants are used to cool information technology equipment.

(v) Cumulative cooling degree days for the data center.

(C) (i) The quantity of electricity generated and consumed onsite, separated by generation type, expressed in kilowatthours.

(ii) The quantity of fuel consumed by onsite generators or other fuel-based energy systems, separated by fuel type.

(iii) The energy storage type, capacity, and chemistry, if any are used onsite.

(iv) The quantity of electricity associated with renewable energy credits, identified by portfolio content category pursuant to Section 399.16 of the Public Utilities Code.

(3) The owner of a data center shall submit the required information to the commission in a manner and timeframe specified by the commission. The commission shall aim to establish reporting requirements that do both of the following:

(A) Reduce duplicate filings and facilitate the submission of substantially similar information.

(B) Account for reasonable delays in the owner’s ability to obtain information necessary to complete the required submission from a load-serving entity, as defined in Section 380 of the Public Utilities Code, energy service provider, or intermediary.

(c) Beginning with the 2029 edition of the integrated energy policy report required pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 25302, and in subsequent editions thereafter as determined by the commission, biennial reports required pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 25302 thereafter, the commission shall include an assessment of electrical load trends for data centers. This assessment shall include all of the following:

(1) A projection of future load trends from data centers.

(2) Identification of potential net peak load demands.

(3) Recommendations for mitigating data center electricity consumption impacts on grid capacity, grid reliability, and greenhouse gas emissions, including any recommended energy efficiency and demand response measures.

(d) The commission shall annually publish the information submitted pursuant to subdivision (b) in an anonymized and aggregated format on its internet website.

SEC. 2. Section 25246 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:

25246. (a) Upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization required for the construction or operation of a data center, the owner or developer of the data center shall submit to the applicable local agency an estimate of

all of the following information, to the extent applicable to the proposed facility:

(1) The expected annual energy consumption of the data center, expressed in kilowatthours.

(2) The expected annual quantity of electricity generated onsite, separated by generation type, expressed in kilowatthours.

(3) The expected average and maximum sound levels attributable to the operation of the data center, expressed in A-weighted decibels, measured at the point along the property boundary where the average sound level attributable to the operation of the data center is highest.

(b) The information submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be based on the best available estimates at the time of submission.

(c) A local agency may use the information submitted pursuant to this section for various purposes, including, but not limited to, land use planning, infrastructure planning, energy supply assessment, and environmental review.

SEC. 3. Section 25247 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:

25247. (a) (1) The commission or a local agency shall not disclose information submitted pursuant to Section 25245 or 25246 in a manner that would result in the disclosure of identifiable information or energy consumption data for a specific data center customer.

(2) The commission shall establish a process for the owner of a data center to obtain an exemption from reporting data pursuant to Sections 25245 and 25246 that would jeopardize trade secrets if disclosed.

(b) Subdivision (a) does not supersede, preempt, or otherwise limit any reporting, disclosure, or public access requirements imposed by any other law or regulation, including requirements to report the same information to the same public entities.

(c) Any designation or labeling of information submitted pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 25245 or Section 25246 as confidential, proprietary, or otherwise restricted for purposes of this section shall not require the same designation or labeling of that information pursuant to any other law or regulation.

(d) The disclosure or sharing of information pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 25245 or Section 25246 does not constitute a waiver of any attorney-client privilege, work product protection, or trade secret protection that might otherwise exist with respect to the information.

SEC. 4. The Legislature finds and declares that Section 3 of this act, which adds Section 25247 to the Public Resources Code, imposes a limitation on the public’s right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that interest:

In order to protect the confidential and proprietary information of an entity subject to Section 3 of this act, it is necessary that this act limit the public’s right of access to that information.

O

1. Taiba Jafari,et al, Projecting the Electricity Demand Growth of Generative AI Large Language Models in the US, Center on Global Energy Policy, (Jul. 17, 2024), available at https://www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/projecting-the-electricity-demand-growth-of-generative-ai-large-language-models-in-the-us/. ↑

2. Dan Swinhoe, PG&E: 3.5GW of data center capacity in California's connection pipeline over next five years, Data Center Dynamics, (Jun. 24, 2024), available at https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/pge-35gw-of-data-center-capacity-in-connection-pipeline-over-next-five-years/. ↑

3. Sen. Comm. on Energy, Util. and Communications analysis of AB 222 (2025-26 reg. sess.) as amended May 23, 2025 at p. 3. ↑

4. Prop. 59 was placed on the ballot by a unanimous vote of both houses of the Legislature. (SCA 1 (Burton, Ch. 1, Stats. 2004).) ↑

5. Prop. 42 was placed on the ballot by a unanimous vote of both houses of the Legislature. (SCA 3 (Leno, Ch. 123, Stats. 2013).) ↑

6. The Ralph M. Brown Act is the open meetings laws that applies to local agencies. (Gov. Code §§ 59450 et. seq.) ↑

7. Cal. Const., art. I, § 3; Gov. Code, § 7921.000. ↑

8. Cal. Const., art. I, § 1. ↑

SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS

Senator Benjamin Allen, Chair

2025 - 2026 Regular

Bill No: Hearing Date: 6/24/2026

SUBJECT:

DIGEST: This bill requires the owner of a data center to submit specified information regarding the data center’s energy consumption to the California Energy Commission (CEC) and local agencies permitting the construction of the data center. This bill also sets limitations on the ability of the CEC and local agencies to disclose information submitted by data centers and requires the CEC report on load impacts of data centers in the Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR).

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Establishes the CEC, consisting of five members appointed by the Governor, and specifies the duties of the CEC. Every two years, the Governor must designate a chair and vice chair from the CEC’s membership. The CEC must appoint a public adviser every three years to carry out certain public engagement duties. (Public Resources Code §25200 et. seq.)
2. Requires the CEC to assess trends in energy consumption and analyze the social, economic, and environmental consequences of these trends. The CEC must establish energy conservation measures, including building and appliance energy efficiency standards, and recommend additional conservation measures to the Governor and the Legislature. (Public Resources Code §25216)
3. Requires the CEC to adopt an IEPR every two years, with an update published every year. Existing law specifies the contents of the IEPR and requires the CEC to report on major energy trends in the IEPR, including assessments of statewide electricity, natural gas and transportation fuel demands. (Public Resources Code §25302)
4. Establishes the CEC’s Building Energy Benchmarking Program, which requires owners of large commercial and multifamily buildings with 50,000 square feet of gross floor space to report specified energy use data to the CEC annually. (Public Resources Code §25402.10)
5. Defines “electrical or gas consumption data” as a customer’s electrical or natural gas usage that is made available as part of an advanced metering infrastructure and includes incremental and monthly meter-specific electricity data, to the extent produced by that infrastructure, and the name, account number, and address of the customer. Existing law prohibits electric and gas utilities from disclosing customers’ electrical or gas consumption data without the customer’s consent unless state law, federal law, or the CPUC orders the disclosure of the data. Utilities may also share customer consumption data with certain third parties for operational needs or implementation of certain utility programs if specific data protection requirements are met. (Public Utilities Code §8380)
6. Authorizes the CPUC to assess the extent to which electrical corporation costs for new loads from data centers result in cost shifts to other electrical corporation customers. Existing law specifies that this assessment must be published by January 1, 2027, and it must include the following:
   1. An analysis of potential electrical corporation costs associated with utility procurement for data center electricity consumption.
   2. An analysis of potential electrical corporation costs associated with new transmission and distribution assets to serve new data centers or expansions of existing data centers, as specified.
   3. Identification of opportunities to address any substantial cost shifts. (Public Utilities Code §913.22)

This bill:

1. Defines a data center as a facility, or part of a facility, housing computing equipment for the processing, storing, or distributing electronic data. This bill specifies that facilities with electrical loads below 500 kilowatts (kW) are excluded from this bill’s definition of a data center.
2. Requires the owner of a data center to submit the following information to the CEC upon energization by the data center’s electric utility:
   1. The name and address of the data center and contact information for the data center’s owner and operator.
   2. The start date of the data center’s operation.
   3. Specified information about the data center’s floor area.
   4. The facility’s anticipated peak load from an interconnection request.
   5. The anticipated on-site electrical generation and consumption, including type of generation.
3. Requires the owner of a data center to submit the following information to the CEC on a monthly basis following the data center’s energization:
   1. Specified information about the data center’s electrical load, power usage effectiveness, and participation in any demand response program.
   2. Specified information about the data center’s waste heat, cooling mechanisms, and temperature of cooling used for the data center.
   3. Specified information about on-site generation and consumption, including the quantity of electricity associated with renewables portfolio standard (RPS) credits.
4. Requires the CEC to limit duplicative reporting requirements and account for data submission delays associated with the time a data center owner needs to obtain data from a utility or third party.
5. Requires the CEC to include the following in the IEPR, starting in 2029:
   1. Projections of data center load trends, including peak load demands.
   2. Recommendations for mitigating data center load impacts on the electric grid, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and potential efficiency and demand response measures.
6. Requires the CEC to annually publish information submitted by data centers in an anonymized and aggregated format on the CEC’s website.
7. Requires the owner or developer of a data center to submit specified information regarding the data center’s energy consumption, on-site generation, and sound emissions to a local government when applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization needed for the data center’s construction or operation.
8. Authorizes a local government to use information submitted by a data center pursuant to this bill for various purposes, including, but not limited to, land use planning, infrastructure planning, energy supply assessment, and environmental review.
9. Prohibits the CEC or a local agency from disclosing data center information collected pursuant to this bill in a manner that would result in the disclosure of identifiable information or energy consumption data for a specific data center customer.

Background

Bill’s definition of a data center may encompass many facilities, including facilities where data reporting may pose security concerns. This bill’s definition of a data center is broad and may encompass any structure containing computers or servers. This bill specifies that facilities with electrical capacities below 500 kW are excluded from this definition. This demand threshold is used by some utilities as an indicator for applying certain commercial rate tiers. Many facilities, including mid-sized businesses, health care facilities, government offices, and educational institutions would likely meet this bill’s threshold and definition of a data center. Some facilities, including critical facilities, data centers supporting national security and public safety purposes, and other high-risk facilities may have limitations on data sharing to prevent certain threats and cybersecurity incidents. While more data regarding large load facilities may help energy and local planning, a large number of businesses with loads of 500 kW and greater are already obtaining permits and interconnection without the need for substantially new reporting duties. Additionally, it is not clear that all utilities experience challenges planning for loads as moderate as 500 kW.

Does the CEC need monthly data to effectively analyze energy trends? This bill requires data center owners to report highly detailed information about the facility’s energy consumption and other operations on a monthly basis. This bill also requires the CEC to report certain information on an aggregated basis and use this data to project energy trends in the IEPR. The full IEPR is published every two years, with an update published in between every full IEPR publication. While the CEC likely needs a selection of monthly data on energy consumption trends to model peak load demands when the grid faces its highest challenges meeting demand, it is not clear that the CEC needs monthly data from every data center in order to make these demand projections.

The CEC may already have some of the data required by this bill. Under existing law, the CEC administers the RPS certification process and tracks renewable energy credits (RECs) claimed for electrical generation. This bill requires data centers to report on-site electrical generation associated with RECs; however, if the data center claims a REC through the Western Renewable Energy Generation Information System (WREGIS), the CEC may already track the facility’s renewable generation. Additionally, the CEC administers the Building Energy Benchmarking Program, which requires owners of commercial and multifamily buildings with at least 50,000 square feet of floor space to report specified information about the building’s energy use to the CEC on an annual basis. As a result, the CEC may already have energy consumption data regarding data centers that are already participating in the Building Energy Benchmarking Program.

Existing prohibitions on sharing customers’ energy usage data. Existing law (Public Utilities Code §8380) prohibits electric and gas utilities from sharing customers’ consumption data unless the customer provides the utility with consent to share that information. Historically, customers’ metered energy consumption data and associated personal information has been protected by customer privacy restrictions placed on utilities. These privacy protections are intended to prevent third parties from using customer energy consumption to infer additional personal information or proprietary and confidential business information. Disclosure of certain energy consumption and trends in energy use for a specific customer can enable third parties to make certain assumptions about the customer’s behavior, technology use, and personal habits without the customer’s consent. This bill prohibits local agencies and the CEC from disclosing information about data centers that would result in the release of personally identifiable information or information about a specific customer’s energy consumption. Under the Building Energy Benchmarking Program, a building owner may request a trade secret exemption from the executive director of the CEC. Upon receiving this exemption, the building owner may report certain characteristics about the building; however, the owner is not required to report energy use data.

Need for Amendments. As currently written, this bill’s definition may encompass a wide range of businesses that are not data centers. Additionally, it is not clear that the CEC needs reporting from facilities whose load does not pose significant energy planning challenges. This bill also requires reporting on a monthly basis, which is likely unnecessary to support analysis included in the IEPR. While this bill prohibits the disclosure of personally identifiable information or customer-specific energy data, this bill does not provide a process for enabling the protection of trade secret data in the same manner used in existing energy benchmarking activities at the CEC. This bill also requires reporting of RPS data that the CEC already tracks. For these reasons, the author and committee may wish to amend this bill to do the following:

• Remove provisions requiring reporting on RECs for behind-the-meter generation.
• Replace this bill’s 500 kW reporting threshold with a 10 megawatts (MW) threshold.
• Exempt the following from this bill’s definition of a data center: a publicly funded research facility, public safety facility, publicly funded national security facility, publicly owned facility, or other utility facility, including, but not limited to, a data center operated for the purpose of providing telecommunications services to the public by a terrestrial facilities-based telecommunications provider.
• Require data center owners to report information on at least an annual basis as specified by the CEC, and require the CEC to include analyses of data center energy demands in the full IEPR every two years, instead of annually reporting this data.
• Require the CEC to establish a trade secret exemption process similar to the process established for existing building benchmarking reports.

Dual Referral. Should this bill be approved by this committee, it will be re-referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Prior/Related Legislation

SB 886 (Padilla, 2026) establishes requirements for a special rate structure for large data centers. The bill requires the CPUC to adopt a tariff for these data centers that prevents other customers from paying for certain electrical infrastructure and load costs for large, transmission-interconnected data centers. The bill is pending in the Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee.

SB 887 (Padilla, 2026) establishes certain permitting permissions for data centers that meet specified criteria. These criteria include provisions similar to the requirements for the tariff specified in this bill. The bill is pending in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.

SB 978 (Pérez, 2026) would have required the CPUC to create a special rate structure for large data centers to prevent cost shifts to other customers. The bill would have established labor requirements for the construction of facilities subject to the bill. The bill would have expanded existing CPUC reporting requirements to include a specified assessment about data center impacts to renewable procurement goals. The bill was held by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

AB 2383 (Zbur, 2026) requires the CPUC to adopt special tariffs for large-load customers, including data centers. The bill specifies certain conditions these tariffs must meet, including preventing cost shifts between customer classes and avoiding unwarranted costs for other electric retail customers. The bill is pending in the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee.

SB 57 (Padilla, Chapter 647, Statutes of 2025) authorized the CPUC to assess the extent to which electrical corporation costs for new loads from data centers result in cost shifts to other electrical corporation customers. The bill also required the CPUC to publish and submit a report regarding its assessment to the relevant legislative policy committees by January 1, 2027.

AB 222 (Bauer-Kahan, 2025) would have required the CPUC to assess the extent to which electrical corporation costs for serving data centers result in cost shifts to other customers. The bill also would have required the CEC to establish a process for data centers to submit specified energy efficiency data to the CEC, and it required the CEC to assess data centers’ energy consumption. Certain provisions of the bill were substantially similar to provisions in this bill. The bill was held by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

SB 1298 (Cortese, 2024) would have increased the amount of thermal generation a data center could use as backup power from 100 MW to 150 MW without triggering the CEC’s power plant siting process. The bill would have also created conditions for data centers to use this exemption. The bill died in the Assembly.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: Fiscal Com.: Local:

SUPPORT:

California Initiative for Technology & Democracy
California State Association of Counties
League of California Cities
Little Hoover Commission
Santa Monica Democratic Club
The Climate Reality Project, California State Coalition
Union of Concerned Scientists

OPPOSITION:

Bay Area Council
California Chamber of Commerce

CalBroadband
CTIA - the Wireless Association
US Telecom - the Broadband Association

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author:

The rapid growth of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry is driving the construction of large, energy-intensive data centers across California. Increased energy demand, combined with grid infrastructure development needed to serve these facilities, risks increasing energy costs for Californians. At present, California lacks accurate statewide information on how many data centers exist, where they are located, how much energy they consume, how efficiently they operate, and how they affect California’s power grid. This limits the ability of state and local agencies to plan infrastructure, evaluate efficiency opportunities, and protect ratepayers. AB 1577 closes this information gap by requiring data centers to report specified energy usage and efficiency information to the California Energy Commission on a monthly basis, and by requiring proposed data centers to provide estimated information to local agencies prior to beginning construction.

ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: Opponents argue that this bill’s definition of a data center is too broad and could unintentionally encompass facilities where additional data would not be helpful. A coalition of telecommunications providers, including CalBroadband, is opposed to this bill unless it exempts specific telecommunications facilities from the definition of a data centers. Opponents also claim that this bill would create unnecessarily burdensome reporting requirements that could also result in the disclosure of sensitive, confidential information about specific utility customers. In opposition, the California Chamber of Commerce states:

The level of detail AB 1577 seeks to collect is concerning in that many of these data points are core operational parameters. Collectively, this information can be used to infer critical aspects of facility operations, including engineering design, technology configurations, performance optimization choices, and workload characteristics. This raises serious concerns regarding the exposure of trade secrets and competitively sensitive information. Although the bill includes provisions related to confidentiality, those protections are limited. The statute explicitly does not override other disclosure requirements and allows for information sharing across agencies. This creates a significant legal gray area where a Public Records Act requests could be used to access competitors’ sensitive data. Even when data is published in aggregated or anonymized form, there remains a risk that it can be combined with other publicly available information to identify individual facilities or derive sensitive insights.

-- END --

ASSEMBLY THIRD READING

ATR Bill Id:AB 1577

Author:(Bauer-Kahan)

As Amended Ver:May 18, 2026

Majority vote

SUMMARY

This bill requires data centers to report monthly energy usage and efficiency information to the California Energy Commission (CEC). The CEC must integrate this data into the 2029 Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR) and annually publish the data in an anonymized and aggregated format for the public. Additionally, data centers must submit similar energy and efficiency information to local agencies when requesting authorization to construct or operate a data center.

Major Provisions

COMMENTS

By 2028, data centers are predicted to use between 6.7% and 12% of the country's electricity. The speed at which the data center industry is growing has led to a sudden unpredictability in the future energy market. This growth is occurring alongside other changes to electricity demand, such as enhanced electrification in the building and transportation sectors, and climate change induced extreme events. There is little transparency into data center energy usage; transparency which would enable understanding or predicting market dynamics. Most tech companies and data center operators don't volunteer their energy usage information.

Through the CEC's Energy Benchmarking Program, buildings with more than 50,000 square feet of gross floor area must submit relevant energy performance data annually to the CEC. Data centers meeting this size, or housed within a building of this size or greater, are required to report on their energy usage information. Additionally, utilities submit information regarding existing and potential data centers for the IEPR's Data Center Demand Forecast. Based on the information currently received by the CEC, the prediction is that data center peak demand will start to plateau by the mid-2030s. Given the many unknowns and possibility for exponential growth, more information will be necessary to see if this prediction holds.

This uncertainty has rippling effects – limiting the state energy planners' abilities to accurately forecast grid system needs, limiting academic researchers from investigating a rapidly evolving technology and field, and stoking uncertainty and distrust among Californians. The goal of this bill is to address this dearth of information by increasing the transparency of data center energy usage and efficiency information.

According to the Author

According to the author, "The rapid growth of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry is driving the construction of large, energy-intensive data centers across California. Increased energy demand, combined with grid infrastructure development needed to serve these facilities, risks increasing energy costs for Californians. At present, California lacks accurate statewide information on how many data centers exist, where they are located, how much energy they consume, how efficiently they operate, and how they affect California's power grid. This limits the ability of state and local agencies to plan infrastructure, evaluate efficiency opportunities, and protect ratepayers. AB 1577 closes this information gap by requiring data centers to report specified energy usage and efficiency information to the California Energy Commission on a monthly basis, and requiring proposed data centers to provide estimated information to local agencies prior to beginning construction."

Arguments in Support

The bill is supported by the California Association of Counties, which, echoing the author, describes the bill as "equip[ing] local governments with the data needed to make informed decisions about project siting, infrastructure investments, and long-term sustainability planning…[to] ensure reliable energy availability for residents and businesses."

The Little Hoover Commission writes in support that this bill meets the commission's recommendation to "enable regulators to confidentially access essential facility-level electricity-use data…to improve planning, assess localized impacts, and ensure fair cost responsibility while protecting sensitive business information."

Arguments in Opposition

The Chamber of Commerce and Data Center Coalition, among others from industry, write in opposition to the bill that the requirements are "administratively burdensome, technologically impractical, and pose significant security risks to critical infrastructure." Additionally, they argue that data centers "are part of a larger portfolio driving increased electricity demand" and "should not be singled out for different and disparate treatment."

FISCAL COMMENTS

According to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations, the CEC estimates costs of $1.2 million in the first year and $915,000 annually thereafter to support new positions.

VOTES

ASM UTILITIES AND ENERGY: 13-5-0

YES: Petrie-Norris, Boerner, Calderon, Mark González, Harabedian, Hart, Irwin, Kalra, Papan, Rogers, Schiavo, Schultz, Zbur

NO: Patterson, Chen, Davies, Ta, Wallis

ASM NATURAL RESOURCES: 9-4-1

YES: Bryan, Connolly, Haney, Kalra, Muratsuchi, Pellerin, Schultz, Wicks, Zbur

NO: Ellis, Alanis, Hoover, Macedo

ABS, ABST OR NV: Garcia

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 11-4-0

YES: Wicks, Aguiar-Curry, Calderon, Caloza, Fong, Mark González, Krell, Pacheco, Pellerin, Sharp-Collins, Solache

NO: Hoover, Dixon, Ta, Tangipa

UPDATED

VERSION: May 18, 2026

CONSULTANT: Alexa Cohill-Milanick / U. & E. / (916) 319-2083 FN: 0002979

Date of Hearing: May 6, 2026

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Buffy Wicks, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 1577

Author:(Bauer-Kahan) – As Amended Ver:April 13, 2026

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: Yes Reimbursable: No

SUMMARY:

This bill requires a data center report information on energy and water usage to local permitting agencies and, following energization of the data center, to report energy usage information to the California Energy Commission (CEC).

More specifically, this bill:

1. Requires the owner or developer of a data center, upon applying for authorization to construct or operate the data center, to provide the local government with jurisdiction over the project specified estimates regarding, among other things, energy consumption, water consumption, electricity generated onsite and expected sound levels to be generated by the data center.
2. Requires the owner of a data center to submit to CEC, upon energization of the data center and following any substantive change to the information submitted, data regarding the data center’s physical characteristics and anticipated onsite electricity usage and generation.
3. Directs the CEC to include in the 2029 edition of CEC’s Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR), and each subsequent edition of the IEPR thereafter, an assessment of electrical load trends for data centers.
4. Prohibits a local governmental agency or the CEC from disclosing information submitted to it in a manner that would result in the disclosure of identifiable information or energy consumption data for a specific data center customer, unless required by law or regulation.

FISCAL EFFECT:

This bill creates significant new analytical and administrative work for the CEC to accept and organize data submissions and assess, and regularly report on, electrical load trends for data centers. This work will likely require several new staff positions, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, as well as associated IT costs.

For its part, the CEC estimates costs of $1.2 million in the first year to support five positions and $915,000 annually thereafter to support four positions:

• Three electric generation systems specialists ($241,000 each annually ongoing), two of whom would develop regulations, collect and manage data, and support any data analyses, and one of whom would conduct analyses for the assessment of electrical load trends to be included in the IEPRs.
• One information technology specialist ($191,000 annually ongoing) to establish and maintain an IT reporting platform for data center owners to submit required information to the CEC.
• One attorney ($273,000 in first year only) to provide legal support for adopting a data collection process and guidelines, particularly related to designating, labelling and managing information as confidential, proprietary or otherwise restricted.

The CEC also anticipates needing $100,000 in one-time contracting support to help establish and maintain an IT reporting platform.

The CEC’s main funding source, the Energy Resource Program Account (ERPA) Fund, would be the likely source of funding for the work created by this bill; however, the CEC warns that the ERPA Fund continues to face a structural deficit and likely could not support these additional costs.

COMMENTS:

Data centers—facilities that house servers, storage devices and other computer-related infrastructure—are, by their nature, energy intensive: it takes a great deal of electricity to power such large concentrations of electronic equipment. California is home to many data centers, especially in the Silicon Valley region of Santa Clara County. Many expect data center development, and the associated demand for electricity and water, to continue and accelerate as the artificial intelligence (AI) industry grows.

Many have become concerned about the demands data centers will place on California’s energy and water resources, as well as the effects of such data centers on electricity costs and the environment. The author intends this bill to make available data center-related information so that state and local government can better plan for data centers and avoid or mitigate any harm they may produce. According to the author:

The rapid growth of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry is driving the construction of large, energy-intensive data centers across California. Increased energy demand, combined with grid infrastructure development needed to serve these facilities, risks increasing energy costs for Californians. At present, California lacks accurate statewide information on how many data centers exist, where they are located, how much energy they consume, how efficiently they operate, and how they affect California’s power grid. This limits the ability of state and local agencies to plan infrastructure, evaluate efficiency opportunities, and protect ratepayers. AB 1577 closes this information gap by requiring data centers to report specified energy usage and efficiency information to the California Energy Commission on a monthly basis and requiring proposed data centers to provide estimated information to local agencies prior to beginning construction.

The bill is supported by, among others, the California Association of Counties, which, echoing the author, describes the bill as “equip[ing] local governments with the data needed to make informed decisions about project siting, infrastructure investments, and long-term sustainability planning…as counties work to meet state climate goals, manage constrained water resources, and ensure reliable energy availability for residents and businesses.”

Many in industry disagree, as expressed by, for example, by the California Chamber of Commerce, which decries the bill as creating “a high-frequency, highly intrusive reporting regime that imposes significant compliance burdens, exposes sensitive operational information, and creates real security risks without a clear demonstration of commensurate policy benefit.”

Analysis Prepared by: Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: April 20, 2026

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES

Isaac G. Bryan, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 1577 (

Author:Bauer-Kahan) – As Amended Ver:April 13, 2026

SUBJECT: Data centers: reporting

SUMMARY: Requires the owners of data centers to report monthly energy usage and efficiency information to the California Energy Commission (CEC). Requires CEC to integrate this data into the Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR) and annually publish the data in an anonymized and aggregated format on its website. Additionally, requires the owners of data centers to submit specified information to local agencies when requesting authorization to construct or operate a data center.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Requires CEC to develop energy policies that conserve resources, protect the environment, ensure energy reliability, enhance the state's economy, and protect public health and safety. (Public Resources Code (PRC) 25301)
2. Requires CEC to generate the IEPR every two years, which includes, among other things, an assessment of resources and a forecast of reliability and energy usage. (PRC 25302)
3. Authorizes CEC to hold public hearings and stakeholder processes to best assess the necessary reporting and efficiency standards for buildings. (PRC 25402) 
   
4. Requires each petroleum refiner and major marketer to submit monthly information to CEC, including, but not limited to, volume, price, and type of petroleum product, including the sources of those receipts, inventories of products, and exports of finished products from the state. (PRC 25354)
   

THIS BILL:

1. Defines terms used in the bill, including:
   1. “Cooling degree day” as the number of degrees by which the average outdoor air temperature for a given day exceeds 65 degrees Fahrenheit, as specified.
   2. “Data center” as a facility, or part of a facility, that houses computing infrastructure, including graphics and central processing units, servers, storage devices, networking equipment, and associated power and cooling systems, for the primary purpose of processing, storing, or distributing electronic data. Specifies that “data center” does not include a facility with an installed information technology equipment electrical capacity of less than 500 kilowatts.
   3. “Power usage effectiveness” as a ratio of the total energy consumption of a data center to the energy specifically used by the information technology equipment housed in that data center.
      
2. Requires CEC to establish a process for the owner of a data center to submit all of the following information to CEC upon energization of the data center and following any substantive change to information previously submitted pursuant to the bill:
   
   1. The name of the data center;
   2. Any physical addresses associated with the operation of the data center;
   3. The name of, and contact information for, the owner and operator of the data center;
   4. The year and month that the data center began operating;
   5. The total square footage of the data center;
   6. The total square feet of the data center occupied by information technology equipment;
   7. The anticipated electrical peak capacity of the data center, as submitted per the load interconnection request; and,
   8. The anticipated quantity of electricity generated and consumed onsite, separated by generation type.
      
3. Requires, following energization, CEC to establish a process for the owner of a data center to submit all of the following information to CEC on a monthly basis:
   
   1. The maximum electrical load of the data center;
   2. The installed information technology electrical capacity of the data center;
   3. The total energy consumption of the data center;
   4. The power usage effectiveness of the data center;
   5. Whether the data center participated in any demand flexibility programs, and the name and level of participation in each program;
   6. The quantity of waste heat reused by the data center;
   7. The average waste heat temperature of the data center;
   8. The average intake air temperature setpoint for information technology equipment;
   9. Which types of refrigerants are used to cool information technology equipment;
   10. Cumulative cooling degree days for the data center;
   11. The quantity of electricity generated and consumed onsite;
   12. The quantity of fuel consumed by onsite generators or other fuel-based systems, separated by fuel type;
   13. The energy storage type, capacity, and chemistry, if any, used onsite; and,
   14. The quantity of electricity associated with renewable energy credits, as specified.
       
4. Requires the owner of a data center to submit the required information to CEC in a manner specified by CEC. Directs CEC to aim to establish reporting requirements that reduce duplicate filings and facilitate the submission of substantially similar information.
   
5. Requires CEC, beginning with the 2029 edition of the IEPR, to include an assessment of electrical load trends for data centers, including:
   
   1. A projection of future load trends from data centers;
   2. Identification of potential net peak load demands; and,
   3. Recommendations for mitigating data center electricity consumption impacts on grid capacity, grid reliability, and greenhouse gas emissions, including any recommended energy efficiency and demand response measures.
      
6. Requires CEC to annually publish the information submitted in an anonymized and aggregated format on its website.
   
7. Requires the owner or developer of a data center, upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization, to submit to the applicable local agency an estimate of the following:
   
   1. The expected annual energy consumption of the data center;
   2. The expected annual total water consumption of the data center;
   3. The expected annual potable water consumption of the data center;
   4. The expected annual quantity of electricity generated onsite, separated by generation type; and,
   5. The expected average and maximum sound levels attributable to the operation of the data center, as specified.
      
8. Requires that the information submitted to the local agency be based on the best available estimates at the time of submission.
   
9. Authorizes a local agency to use the information submitted by the data center for various purposes, including, but not limited to, land use planning, infrastructure planning, energy and water supply assessment, and environmental review.
   
10. Prohibits CEC or a local agency from disclosing information submitted in a manner that would result in the disclosure of identifiable information or energy consumption data for a specific data center customer, as specified.
    

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown

COMMENTS:

1. Data centers. Data centers are facilities that house information technology (IT) infrastructure, including high-performance computers, servers, data storage systems, and networking equipment. They are crucial for maintaining internet-based communications and providing services such as cloud-based computing, training and inference of artificial intelligence algorithms, and more.

Continued growth in AI-computing is driving data center development and construction. Generating more sophisticated AI models requires increases in the size of the datasets and demand for computational resources. For example, GPT- 4 – the large language model embedded in ChatGPT 4 – is reported to have been trained on roughly 10 trillion words of text. Adjusting the model’s 1.8 trillion parameters continuously as it was exposed to this vast corpus required trillions upon trillions of computations, which were performed by running approximately 25,000 expensive, energy-consuming microchips for nearly 100 days nonstop, at an estimated cost of $63 million. It is estimated that this training consumed 50 gigawatt-hours (GWhs) of energy, enough to power San Francisco continuously for three days.

The explosive growth in AI is creating new demands for data center development and construction. California is home to more than 270 data centers, concentrated largely around Santa Clara, close to the headquarters of Alphabet, Apple, and Meta. Data centers are already the single largest load for the municipal utility, Silicon Valley Power. Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), which provides distribution service in Santa Clara County, is expected to add 3.5 GW of new load attributed to data centers in the next four years, equivalent to adding approximately 2-3 million new homes on to the grid. As of 2023, 4.4% of all energy used in the United States is consumed by data centers. A study from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory predicted that by 2028, data centers would use between 6.7% and 12% of the country's electricity.

The speed at which the data center growth has led to unpredictability in the energy market. This growth is occurring alongside other changes to electricity demand, such as enhanced electrification in the building and transportation sectors and climate change induced extreme events. There is little transparency into data center energy usage, which makes it challenging to predict energy demands. There are ongoing efforts to mandate transparency across the United States and Europe.

In addition to high energy demands, data centers can have substantial and sometimes irregular demand for water. Computer chips produce heat as waste energy from the electricity flowing through them. While this heat is minimal in the context of a personal computer, data centers with thousands of servers produce immense amounts of heat that need to be removed from the facility to maintain safety, performance, and the equipment. To manage this heat, data centers use a variety of cooling technologies, including:

• Air-based cooling, in which chilled air is circulated through server racks using computer room air conditioners or air handlers to remove heat from equipment;

• Chilled water systems, in which mechanical chillers produce chilled water that absorbs heat from servers through heat exchangers before the heat is rejected outdoors;

• Evaporative cooling systems, which use cooling towers or evaporative coolers use the evaporation of water to remove heat, which can significantly reduce electricity use but increases water consumption;

• Liquid cooling, in which coolant is delivered directly to server components or through cold plates and immersion systems, allowing heat to be removed more efficiently than with air cooling; and

• Economization technologies, in which air-side or water-side economizers take advantage of cool outdoor air or water temperatures to reduce the need for mechanical cooling when environmental conditions allow.

Many data centers combine technologies either sequentially or depending on weather conditions and server load. The blend of possible technologies introduces tradeoffs between electricity and water use. Switching between technologies can result in irregular water use patterns. Research shows that the “peaking factor” (the factor of the peak use over average use) for data centers can be double or more than the peaking factor for other large water users. Shifting between cooling technologies can result in large surges in demand that need to be accommodated by water distribution infrastructure, even if the average demand is far lower.

Without reliable information about expected energy and water usage, it is challenging to make accurate infrastructure decisions. This bill is intended to ensure that state and local agencies have access to accurate information about projected energy and water needs for data centers.

1. Author’s statement:

The rapid growth of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry is driving the construction of large, energy-intensive data centers across California. Increased energy demand, combined with grid infrastructure development needed to serve these facilities, risks increasing energy costs for Californians. At present, California lacks accurate statewide information on how many data centers exist, where they are located, how much energy they consume, how efficiently they operate, and how they affect California’s power grid. This limits the ability of state and local agencies to plan infrastructure, evaluate efficiency opportunities, and protect ratepayers. AB 1577 closes this information gap by requiring data centers to report specified energy usage and efficiency information to the California Energy Commission on a monthly basis, and requiring proposed data centers to provide estimated information to local agencies prior to beginning construction.

1. Double referral. This bill passed the Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee 13-5 on April 8, 2026.
2. Related legislation.

AB 222 (Bauer-Kahan, 2025) would have required the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to establish a process for the owner of a data center, as defined, to submit the power usage effectiveness ratio for the data center to the CPUC, as provided. The bill would have also required the CPUC to assess the extent to which electrical corporation costs associated with new loads from data centers result in cost shifts to other electrical corporation customers, as specified. This bill was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

AB 93 (Papan, 2025) would have required a data center operator to provide its estimated or actual water use to its water supplier as a condition of obtaining or renewing a business license issued by a city or county. This bill was vetoed by the Governor.

SB 57 (Padilla), Chapter 647, Statutes of 2025, authorizes the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to conduct a specified assessment of electrical corporations’ potential costs and rate impacts associated with serving new electrical loads from data centers.

AB 2619 (Papan) requires the owner of a data center to submit expected water use, anticipated source of water, and the data center’s projected water use volume when applying to a city for license or permitting. This bill has been referred to the Assembly Local Government Committee.

AB 2469 (Papan) requires commercial, industrial, institutional, and large landscape water users, including data centers, to submit water use assessments and water scarcity plan to the Department of Water Resources. This bill has been referred to the Assembly Local Government Committee.

SB 886 (Padilla) requires the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to establish an electrical corporation tariff that addresses costs associated with transmission, distribution, and generation services for data center customers that interconnect at the transmission level and have peak electricity demands of at least 25 MW. This bill has been referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

SB 887 (Padilla) specifies that development and operation of a data center is not eligible for a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) categorical exemption unless the data center meets specified criteria, such as using onsite zero-carbon energy storage. If the data center meets the specified criteria, it would be eligible for the “environmental leadership development” program, which would provide CEQA judicial streamlining, among other changes. This bill has been referred to the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee.

SB 978 (Pérez) requires the CPUC to create a special rate structure for data centers with an estimated capacity of at least 75 MW. This bill also expands existing CPUC reporting requirements about large loads to include a specified assessment about increased load impacts on renewable procurement goals. This bill has been referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

SB 1168 (McNerney) sets a surcharge for natural gas and electricity consumed or purchased for a data center in California. These charges would be used to establish the Data Center Excess Energy Usage Surcharge Fund to provide rate assistance programs for low-income customers. This bill has been referred to the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

Brightline Action (if amended)
California Environmental Voters (if amended)
California Initiative for Technology & Democracy, a Project of California Common CAUSE
Center for Biological Diversity (if amended)
Climate Reality Project, California Coalition
Leadership Counsel for Justice & Accountability (if amended)
League of California Cities
Sierra Club, California
Sustainable Rossmoor
USGBC California

Opposition

Bay Area Council
Building Owners and Managers Association of California
Calasian Chamber of Commerce
Calbroadband
California African American Chamber of Commerce
California Business Properties Association
California Chamber of Commerce
California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce (CHCC)
California Manufacturers & Technology Association (CMTA)
CTIA
Data Center Coalition
Naiop California
Silicon Valley Leadership Group
United States Telecom Association
Techca
Technet

Analysis Prepared by: Elizabeth MacMillan / NAT. RES. /

Date of Hearing: April 8, 2026

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON UTILITIES AND ENERGY

Cottie Petrie-Norris, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 1577 (

Author:Bauer-Kahan) – As Amended Ver:March 26, 2026

SUBJECT: Data centers: reporting.

SUMMARY: Mandates data centers report monthly energy usage and efficiency information to the California Energy Commission (CEC). The CEC must integrate this data into Integrated Energy Policy Reports (IEPRs) and annually publish the data in an anonymized and aggregated format for the public. Additionally, data centers must submit specified information to local agencies when requesting authorization to construct or operate a data center. Specifically, this bill:

1. Defines “data center” as a room, or portion of a room, in a building used primarily to house information technology equipment that serves a load greater than 10 kilowatts and 20 watts per square foot of conditioned floor area. The definition excludes facilities with installed information technology equipment with electrical capacity of less than 500 kilowatts.
   1. Defines “applicable local agency” as a city, county, or city and county that has discretionary land use or permitting authority over the construction or operation of a data center.
   2. Defines “cooling degree day” as the number of degrees by which the average outdoor air temperature for a given day exceeds 65 degrees Fahrenheit.
   3. Defines “power usage effectiveness” as a ratio of the total energy consumption of a data center to the energy specifically used by the information technology equipment housed in the data center.
   4. Defines “water usage effectiveness” as a ratio of the total water consumption of a data center to the water specifically used by the information technology equipment housed in the data center.
2. Requires the CEC to establish a process for the owner of a data center to submit the following information upon energization and following any substantive change to information previously submitted:
   1. The name of the data center.
   2. Any physical addresses associated with the operation of the data center.
   3. The name of, and contact information for, the owner and operator of the data center.
   4. The year and month that the data center began operating.
   5. The total floor area of the data center, expressed in square feet.
   6. The floor area of the data center occupied by information technology equipment, expressed in square feet.
3. Requires the CEC to establish a process for the owner of a data center to submit the following information on a monthly basis:
   1. Total electrical capacity of the data center, expressed in kilowatts.
      1. Installed information technology electrical capacity of the data center, expressed in kilowatts.
      2. Total energy consumption of the data center, expressed in kilowatthours.
      3. Power usage effectiveness of the data center.
      4. Whether the data center participated in any demand flexibility programs, and the name and level of participation in each program.
   2. Total water consumption of the data center, expressed in gallons.
      1. Potable water consumption of the data center, expressed in gallons.
      2. Water usage effectiveness of the data center.
   3. Quantity of waste heat reused by the data center, expressed in kilowatthours.
      1. Average waste heat temperature of the data center, expressed in degrees Fahrenheit.
      2. Average intake air temperature setpoint for information technology equipment, expressed in degrees Fahrenheit.
      3. Types of refrigerants used to cool information technology equipment.
      4. Cumulative cooling degree days for the data center.
   4. Quantity of electricity generated onsite, separated by generation type, expressed in kilowatthours.
      1. Quantity of fuel consumed by onsite generators or other fuel-based energy systems, separated by fuel type.
      2. Quantity of electricity consumed during the reporting month that was derived from renewable and carbon-free sources, separated by each of the following categories and expressed in kilowatt-hours:
         1. Quantity of renewable or carbon-free energy generated onsite or procured from renewable electrical generation facilities and used to directly power the data center.
         2. Quantity of electricity generated onsite or procured from hydroelectric generation facilities exceeding 30 megawatts and used to directly power the data center.
         3. Quantity of electricity generated onsite or procured from nuclear power plants and used to directly power the data center.
         4. Quantity of electricity associated with renewable energy credits, identified by portfolio content category and not used to directly power the data center.
   5. Average and maximum sound levels attributable to the operation of the data center, expressed in A-weighted decibels, measured at the point along the property boundary where the average sound level attributable to the operation of the data center is highest.
4. Requires the owner of the data center to submit this information in a manner and timeframe specified by CEC.
   1. Specifies that the owner does not have to resubmit information that has already been submitted to the CEC.
   2. Specifies that the owner can submit substantially similar information that was prepared for other compliance, if the information meets the listed requirements.
5. Requires the CEC to include an assessment of electrical load trends for data centers in the 2029 IEPR, and each subsequent report, that includes the following:
   1. A projection of future load trends from data centers.
   2. Identification of potential net peak load demands.
   3. Recommendations for mitigating data center electricity consumption impacts on grid capacity, grid reliability, and greenhouse gas emissions, including any recommended energy efficiency and demand response measures.
6. Requires the CEC to annually publish the information submitted in an anonymized and aggregated format on its website.
7. Requires the owner or developer of a data center to submit the information outlined in (3) to the applicable local agency upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization.
   1. Requires that the information submitted be based on the best available estimates at the time of submission.
   2. Allows a local agency to use the information submitted for land use planning, infrastructure planning, energy and water supply assessment, and environmental review, and any additional purposes deemed appropriate.
8. Requires that the CEC and local agency not disclose any information that would result in the disclosure of personally identifiable information or energy consumption data for a specific utility customer.
9. Clarifies that the reporting requirements outlined do not supersede, preempt, or limit any reporting, disclosure, or public access requirements imposed by other law or regulation.
   1. Clarifies that any confidential, proprietary, or otherwise restricted information may not require the same designation under other law or regulation.
   2. Clarifies that the disclosure of the requested information does not constitute a waiver of any attorney-client privilege, work product protection, or trade secret protection that might otherwise exist with respect to the information.
      

EXISTING LAW:

1. Mandates the CEC to develop energy policies that conserve resources, protect the environment, ensure energy reliability, enhance the state's economy, and protect public health and safety. (Public Resources Code § 25301(a))
2. Requires the CEC to generate an IEPR every two years, which will include, among other things, an assessment of resources and a forecast of reliability and energy usage. (Public Resources Code § 25302)
3. Grants the CEC the authority to hold public hearings and stakeholder processes to best assess the necessary reporting and efficiency standards for buildings. (Public Resources Code § 25402(b)(4)) 
4. Requires each petroleum refiner and major marketer to submit monthly information to the CEC, including but not limited to volume, price, and type of petroleum product, including the sources of those receipts, inventories of products, and exports of finished products from the state. (Public Resources Code § 25354)

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed fiscal and will be referred to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations for its review. A similar version of this proposal – AB 222 (Bauer-Kahan, 2025) – was estimated by the CEC to cost $176,000 annually when heard in the Senate Committee on Appropriations. AB 222 had fewer reporting requirements to the CEC than outlined in the current proposal.

BACKGROUND:

Growing use of Artificial Intelligence, data centers, and energy – In 2025, global data generation surpassed 175 zettabytes (trillions of gigabytes).^[1] This scale of data reflects the rapid growth of connected devices, AI-driven queries, and cloud-based services that depend on data centers for real-time processing and storage. Data centers are facilities that house critical computing infrastructure, including servers, data storage systems, and network equipment. These facilities support a wide range of functions, from running web-based applications and supporting e-commerce to ensuring cybersecurity operations. Data centers can be located on-site at a company’s premises, operated as colocation facilities where businesses rent space for their servers, or exist as cloud data centers, where companies lease computing infrastructure from third-party providers and outsource the maintenance of physical hardware.^[2]

Continued growth in AI-computing is driving data center development and construction.^[3] To generate more sophisticated AI models, the size of the datasets increases, as does the demand for computational resources. For example, GPT- 4 – the large language model (LLM) embedded in ChatGPT 4 – is reported to have been trained on roughly 10 trillion words of text.^[4],[5] Adjusting the model’s 1.8 trillion parameters continuously as it was exposed to this vast corpus required trillions upon trillions of computations, which were performed by running approximately 25,000 expensive, energy-consuming microchips for nearly 100 days nonstop, at an estimated cost of $63 million.^[6] It is estimated that this training consumed 50 gigawatt-hours (GWhs) of energy, enough to power San Francisco continuously for three days.^[7]

Rough estimates exist for how much energy each AI-query consumes. Famously, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has stated each ChatGPT query consumes approximately 0.34 watt-hours of electricity, enough to power a lightbulb for a few minutes.^[8] In reality, the type and size of the model and the selected output (language, image, video) can make one query thousands of times more energy-intensive and emissions-producing than another. One billion of these inquiries every day for a year – well below the self-reported values of OpenAI^[9] – would mean over 109 GWhs of electricity, enough to power 10,400 U.S. homes for a year, according to researchers writing in MIT Technology Review.^[10] As training compute demand grows, the need for more or larger data centers and more energy to power them grows as well.^[11]

As shown in Figure 1,^[12] U.S. data center annual energy use prior to 2016 was relatively stable at about 60 TWh. Despite the construction of new data centers to serve the rise of cloud-based online services, such as Netflix, increases in efficiency kept this growth consumption relatively flat. However, starting in 2017, electricity consumption accelerated nationwide primarily due to AI computing. By 2023, data centers were 4.4% of total U.S energy consumption. By 2028, data centers are predicted to use between 6.7% and 12% of the country’s electricity.^[13] At that point, AI alone could consume as much electricity annually as 22% of all U.S. households.^[14] Just how utilities, regulators, and tech companies will meet this unsatiated demand is uncertain. New resources must be procured, and new transmission is likely needed to serve this load, all at cost to either ratepayers or the tech companies themselves. Yet given the large uncertainty projected (grey, shaded area in Figure 1), and the lack of transparent data on current and future data center energy needs, projections of future energy demands or estimates of resultant emissions are simply inadequate or inaccurate.^[15] This forces energy planners to assemble a puzzle with countless missing pieces.

Predicting the unknown – Every two years, the CEC publishes its energy demand forecast within the Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR), with an update every other year. In January 2026, they adopted the IEPR for 2025-2045.^[16] This forecast is foundational for resource procurement and system planning in the state, as the output of the forecast feeds into sequential planning streams at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and California Independent System Operator (CAISO). In other words, the forecast is critical in determining how much energy generation to require utilities to purchase, where to upgrade power lines, and how to prevent future blackouts. The 2025 IEPR provides electricity and gas demand forecasts which reflect expected impacts from economic projections, including data center growth, electric vehicle adoption, and other inputs.^[17] The final 2025 adopted plan anticipates almost 20 GWs of load growth over the next 20 years in CAISO’s area, with close to 5 GWs arising from data centers.^[18] However, the full scale of this demand growth, particularly with regard to data centers, is still unknown. As shown in Figure 2, significant uncertainty exists around data center capacity requests, ranging from most certain with an agreement to largely unknown with an inquiry.^[19]

Demystifying the unknown – The speed at which the data center industry is growing has led to a sudden unpredictability in the future energy market. This growth is occurring alongside other changes to electricity demand, such as enhanced electrification in the building and transportation sectors, and climate change induced extreme events. There is little transparency into data center energy usage; transparency which would enable understanding or predicting market dynamics. Most tech companies and data center operators don’t volunteer their energy and water usage information. Through the CEC’s Energy Benchmarking Program,^[20] buildings with more than 50,000 square feet of gross floor area must submit relevant energy performance data annually to the CEC. Data centers meeting this size, or housed within a building of this size or greater, are required to report on their energy usage information. Additionally, utilities submit information regarding existing and potential data centers for the IEPR’s Data Center Demand Forecast.^[21] Based on the information currently received by the CEC, the prediction is that data center peak demand will start to plateau by the mid-2030s (Figure 3), but given the many unknowns and possibility for exponential growth (Figure 1), more information will be necessary to see if this prediction holds.

There are ongoing efforts to mandate transparency from data centers across the United States and Europe. This includes a Commission Delegated Regulation from the European Union focused on creating a common rating scheme for data centers and mandating reporting on a number of energy and resource usage metrics.^[22] In the United States Senate, Senator Ed Markey put forward the “Artificial Intelligence Environmental Impacts Act,” which would have, among other provisions, initiated a study on the environmental impacts of AI and established a consortium of stakeholders to address these impacts.^[23] The bill did not make it to the floor in 2024. This year, House Representative Robert Menedez introduced the “Data Center Transparency Act,” which was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on January 8^th, 2026.^[24] At the state level, there have been multiple efforts to address data center transparency, efficiency and cost-shifting, including in Iowa,^[25] Michigan,^[26] Georgia,^[27] and Virginia.^[28]

COMMENTS:

1. Author’s Statement. According to the author, “The rapid growth of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry is driving the construction of large, energy-intensive data centers across California. Increased energy demand, combined with grid infrastructure development needed to serve these facilities, risks increasing energy costs for Californians. At present, California lacks accurate statewide information on how many data centers exist, where they are located, how much energy they consume, how efficiently they operate, and how they affect California’s power grid. This limits the ability of state and local agencies to plan infrastructure, evaluate efficiency opportunities, and protect ratepayers. AB 1577 closes this information gap by requiring data centers to report specified energy usage and efficiency information to the California Energy Commission on a monthly basis, and requiring proposed data centers to provide estimated information to local agencies prior to beginning construction.”
2. Purpose of Bill. Details regarding current and future energy impacts of data centers are largely uncertain, yet their proliferation around the State and country continues to grow. This uncertainty has rippling effects – limiting the state energy planners’ abilities to accurately forecast grid system needs, limiting academic researchers from investigating a rapidly evolving technology and field, and stoking uncertainty and distrust among Californians. The goal of AB 1577 is to address this dearth of information by increasing the transparency of data center energy usage and efficiency information.

There is precedent for this type of data sharing for a specific industry, particularly with the CEC. Under the Petroleum Industry Information Reporting Act (PIIRA),^[29] qualifying petroleum industry companies must submit daily, event based, weekly, monthly, and annual data to the CEC. This data is used to inform the CEC on the operations of the petroleum industry in California, allowing the CEC to respond to possible shortages/disruptions and develop relevant energy policies. While the petroleum industry and tech industry are in many ways distinct, the CEC has extensive experience with market sensitive information of highly competitive, international companies. Providing greater transparency via reporting to the CEC, as is required by AB 1577, may be critical to ensure California can welcome this innovation and minimize consequences to our electrical system.

1. What is a data center? Data centers come in many different forms and types, ranging from enterprise data centers used for proprietary digital operations (e.g., banks, healthcare organizations, governments) to edge providers used to deliver rapid computing power to hyperscalers that support AI and other data-intensive applications. Regardless of size and energy need, all data centers have an impact on our grid. Finding a consistent definition of what a data center is can be difficult. Even in the present legislative sessions, there are many bills aiming to regulate data centers, and none with the same definition. At the CEC, the information they receive on data centers has no consistent definition. Some information comes from the Energy Benchmarking Program, which regulates reporting for buildings of a certain size (over 50,000 sq feet), and some comes from utilities, who use their own metrics for determining what a data center is. As this industry is rapidly evolving, and the goal of this bill is to provide transparency for data center usage, the committee recommends adding more detailed language to the definition of a data center regarding specific equipment characteristics, while keeping the definition broad in regards to a load threshold to capture the many types of data centers impacting our energy system. Additionally, the committee recommends clarifying who qualifies as the owner of the data center for purposes of reporting responsibility, as the entity overseeing the facility, not those renting or hosting equipment onsite.
2. Pertinent information for the CEC. As noted above, grid planners need specific information on data center development to ensure the energy grid will meet the load. However, as currently written, this bill tasks the CEC with collecting information that is far broader than the CEC’s energy-related analyses require, and that the CEC may not have the resources and scope to analyze. In particular, data about water usage and sound levels are not relevant to the CEC for the tasks outlined in the bill. To ensure the information provided by data centers does not go to waste and will be used to the full extent possible, the committee recommends that the CEC receive only the information relevant to data centers’ energy use and efficiency metrics.

The CEC is already tasked with collecting information from a number of stakeholders in preparation for reports like the IEPR. It is critical that with the new data submissions required under this bill, the CEC has the flexibility to collect information in a way that not only reduces repetition and burden on the agency, but also for the data centers themselves. To help with adoption of these reporting requirements, the committee recommends changes to the bill language to ensure the CEC has the flexibility to collect the information in a way that is deemed most efficient and reduces any repetitive burden on the agency and the data centers.

1. Energy generation. There are many factors that push data centers towards certain types of energy generation, including corporate sustainability goals, slow energization, cost-savings, and predictability of service. However, clarity on the types of generation being used by data centers is lacking. The bill, as currently written, requires data centers to report their generation from everything from onsite fuel-based energy systems to renewable electrical generation facilities, hydroelectric generation facilities, and nuclear power plants. While informative, as currently written, the language is prescriptive and at times duplicative. To capture the full extent of energy sources while maintaining clarity, the committee recommends reporting requirements be edited to include not only electricity generated but also consumed onsite and remove any overly prescriptive and duplicative reporting requirements for specific generation types to ensure a full picture of generation can be collected. Additionally, the committee recommends adding a requirement for reporting onsite energy storage, including the type, capacity, and chemistry of the storage.
2. Local agency reporting. Opposition to data centers is on the rise. Indeed, recent reporting highlights that local agencies and the affected communities have real concerns about the impacts data centers pose on local resources and on their communities.^{[30], [31]} In support of this legislation, the City of Monterey Park (where recent protests stopped a data center from being built),³² writes that the legislation will help the city to “advance sustainability goals while maintaining reliable public services” by promoting accountability, encouraging efficient design, and aligning with California’s climate goals. Additionally, recent CEQA exemptions passed in SB 131 (Chapter 24, Statutes of 2025), in particular permitting exemptions for advanced manufacturing facilities, may weaken the tools available to local agencies to fully assess data center impacts. The bill seeks to address some of these transparency concerns for local agencies with a wide range of reporting requirements. However, these reporting requirements are broad, and it is unclear what local agencies would do with some of this information, such as the power or water use effectiveness. Therefore, the committee recommends narrowing the information provided by data centers while retaining the author’s intent for greater local awareness. This includes reporting on expected annual energy and water usage, onsite generation capacity, and sound levels.
3. Privacy concerns. In addition to the IEPR, the bill requires the CEC to annually publish the information it receives from data centers on its website. The language mandates that the information is anonymized and aggregated. Supporters of the bill celebrate this data transparency and point to requests from researchers seeking this level of detail to study this booming industry.^[32] However, the public reporting of data is the chief concern to those in opposition, including the Data Center Coalition, citing risk to cybersecurity and physical security from the “disclosure of detailed proprietary and sensitive operational details.” As previously noted, the CEC is host to similar market sensitive data from the petroleum industry, aspects of which are shared in anonymized, aggregated reports to ensure confidential information is protected.^[33] The committee is unaware of any security risks that have resulted from these reports. Furthermore, this bill requires the CEC and any local agency receiving data center information to protect any personally identifiable information or energy consumption data for a specific utility customer. To this latter point and to ensure this data is adequately protected, the committee recommends removing any exceptions to this provision, as currently drafted in (f)(1).
4. Additional Clarifications. To match the requested monthly information from data centers, and provide a set point for future comparison, the committee recommends that upon energization, as described in Section 25302.10 (b)(1), data centers also report the anticipated electrical peak capacity of the data center and the anticipated quantity of electricity generated and consumed onsite, separated by generation type. Additionally, the committee recommends that in Section 25302.10 (2)(A)(i), total electrical capacity be submitted as the maximum electrical load.
5. Double Referral. This bill is double referred. Should it pass out of this committee, it will next be considered in the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources.
6. Related Legislation.

AB 2383 (Zbur) requires the CPUC to establish a retail electricity classification and rate schedule for large energy use facilities, defined as facilities with a peak load of 20 MW or more and connected under a retail transmission tariff. Additionally, the CPUC must require electrical corporations and large energy use facilities to enter into a contract that covers the provisions of transmission, generation, or distribution of electrical service, as applicable. Status: set for hearing in this committee on April 8^th.

AB 2469 (Papan) requires commercial, industrial, institutional, and large landscape water users – including data centers – to submit water use assessments and water scarcity plan to the Department of Water Resources. Status: set for hearing in the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife on April 14^th.

AB 2619 (Papan) requires the owner of a data center to submit expected water use, anticipated source of water, and the data center’s projected water use volume when applying to a city for license or permitting. Status: set for hearing in the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife on April 14^th.

SB 886 (Padilla) requires the CPUC to establish an electrical corporation tariff that addresses costs associated with transmission, distribution, and generation services for data center customers that interconnect at the transmission level and have peak electricity demands of at least 25 MW. Status: set for hearing in the Senate Committee on Appropriations on April 13^th.

SB 887 (Padilla) specifies that development and operation of a data center is not eligible for a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) categorical exemption. Unless the data center meets specified criteria, such as using onsite zero-carbon energy storage. Then, the data center would be eligible for the “environmental leadership development” program, which would provide CEQA judicial streamlining, among other changes. Status: pending hearing in the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities, and Communications.

SB 978 (Pérez) requires the CPUC to create a special rate structure for data centers with an estimated capacity of at least 75 MW. This bill also expands existing CPUC reporting requirements about large loads to include a specified assessment about increased load impacts on renewable procurement goals. Status: set for hearing in the Senate Committee on Labor, Public Employment and Retirement on April 8^th.

SB 1168 (McNerney) sets a surcharge for natural gas and electricity consumed or purchased for a data center in California. These charges would be used to establish the Data Center Excess Energy Usage Surcharge Fund and would be used to fund rate assistance programs for low-income customers. Status: set for hearing in the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee on April 13^th.

1. Prior Legislation.

AB 222 (Bauer-Kahan, 2025) required the CEC to collect and analyze data center energy consumption trends and include those findings in the 2027 IEPR. This bill also required the CPUC to determine if data center loads resulted in cost shifts to other customers and to submit an assessment to the Legislature. Status: Held in the Senate Committee on Appropriations.

AB 93 (Papan, 2025) required a data center operator to provide its estimated or actual water use to its water supplier as a condition of obtaining or renewing a business license issued by a city or county. Status: Vetoed.

SB 57 (Padilla) authorizes the CPUC to conduct a specified assessment of electrical corporations’ potential costs and rate impacts associated with serving new electrical loads from data centers. Status: Chapter 647, Statutes of 2025.

SB 253 (Wiener) requires any partnership, corporation, limited liability company, or other U.S. business entity with total annual revenues in excess of $1 billion and that does business in California to publicly report its annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as specified by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). Status: Chapter 382, Statutes of 2023.

SB 261 (Stern) requires companies that do business in California and have gross revenues exceeding $500 million annually, excluding insurance companies, to report on their climate-related financial risk. It also requires CARB to contract with a qualified climate reporting organization to review and publish an analysis of those reports. Status: Chapter 382, Statutes of 2023.

AB 1340 (Kehoe) requires weekly reporting from the petroleum industry to the CEC regarding receipts, inventory levels, imports, exports, transportation, sources, and prices. The law also allows individuals to request this information, as long as it is held in confidence and presumed to be confidential. Status: Chapter 692, Statutes of 2003.

SB 1963 (Costa) requires detailed reporting on petroleum products, including imports and exports of petroleum products, sales of gasoline, including receipts of finished petroleum products and blendstocks, to be submitted to the CEC. The CEC must then analyze and interpret the submitted information as it relates to sales of fuel to unbranded retail markets Status: Chapter 288, Statutes of 2000.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

Audobon California

California Initiative for Technology & Democracy, a Project of California Common CAUSE

Kapor Center Advocacy

League of California Cities

Little Hoover Commission

Monterey Park; City of

National Audubon Society

Santa Clara Valley Water District

Santa Monica Democratic Club

Sustainable Rossmoor

Usgbc California

Support If Amended

California Environmental Voters

Center for Biological Diversity

Leadership Counsel for Justice & Accountability

Sierra Club California

Opposition

Bay Area Council

Building Owners and Managers Association of California

Calasian Chamber of Commerce

California African American Chamber of Commerce

California Business Properties Association

California Chamber of Commerce

California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce (CHCC)

Data Center Coalition

Naiop California

Silicon Valley Leadership Group

Techca

Technet

Oppose Unless Amended

Calbroadband

CTIA - the Wireless Association

United States Telecom Association Dba Ustelecom - the Broadband Association

Analysis Prepared by: Alexa. Cohill-Milanick / U. & E. /(916) 319-2083

1. Armstrong, Global Data Creation is About to Explode, Statista, https://www.statista.com/chart/17727/global-data-creation-forecasts/ ↑

2. Stephanie Susnjara and Ian Smalley, “What is a data center?”, IBM (Sept. 4, 2024), http://ibm.com/think/topics/data-centers. ↑

3. Lee and West, “The future of data centers,” Brookings Institute (Nov. 5, 2025), https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-future-of-data-centers/ ↑

4. Schreiner, “GPT-4 architecture, datasets, costs and more leaked,” The Decoder (Jul. 11, 2023), https://the-decoder.com/gpt-4- architecture-datasets-costs-and-more-leaked/ ↑

5. Begum, “OpenAI Releases GPT-4: A Smarter and Faster AI-Language Model with ‘Human-level Performance,’” Vocal Media (2023), https://vocal.media/01/open-ai-releases-gpt-4-a-smarter-and-faster-ai-language-model-with-human-level- performance. ↑

6. Ludvigsen, “The carbon footprint of GPT-4,” Medium (Jul. 18, 2023), available at https://medium.com/data- science/the-carbon-footprint-of-gpt-4-d6c676eb21ae. ↑

7. James O’Donnell and Casey Crownhart, “We did the math on AI’s energy footprint. Here’s the story you haven’t heard.” MIT Technology Review, May 20, 2025; https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1116327/ai-energy-usage-climate-footprintbig-tech/ ↑

8. Kwan Wei Kevin Tan, “Sam Altman says the energy needed for an average ChatGPT query can power a lightbulb for a few minutes,” Business Insider, June 10, 2025; https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-energy-does-chatgpt-use-average-query-watts-altman-2025-6 ↑

9. Which in July 2025 estimated 2.5 billion prompts every day; Emma Roth, “OpenAI says ChatGPT users send over 2.5 billion prompts every day,” The Verge, July 21, 2025; https://www.theverge.com/news/710867/openai-chatgpt-daily-prompts-2-billio ↑

10. O’Donnell and Crownhart, Ibid. ↑

11. Lee and West, Ibid. ↑

12. Shehabi, Arman, et al. "2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report." December 2024, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California. LBNL-2001637; https://eta-publications.lbl.gov/sites/default/files/2024-12/lbnl-2024-unitedstates-data-center-energy-usage-report_1.pdf ↑

13. Shehabi, Arman, et al. Ibid. ↑

14. O’Donnell and Crownhart, Ibid. ↑

15. Eric Masanet, Nuoa Lei, and Jonathan Koomey, “To better understand AI’s growing energy use, analysts need a data revolution”, Joule 8, 1–10 (September 18, 2024), https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2542435124003477. ↑

16. Item 6, CEC Business Meeting Agenda, January 21, 2026; https://efiling.energy.ca.gov/GetDocument.aspx?tn=268217&DocumentContentId=105381 ↑

17. CEC, “Resolution of the CEC Adopting the California Energy Demand Forecast, 2025-2045,” https://www.energy.ca.gov/filebrowser/download/9208?fid=9208 ↑

18. Slide 8, 2025 – IEPR Forecast, DAWG Meeting, https://www.energy.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2026-01/2026-01-05_DAWG_Mtg_Slides-Combined_ada.pdf ↑

19. Slide 5, presentation by CEC Manager of Demand Analysis Heidi Javanbakht to the Little Hoover Commission, December 11, 2025; https://lhc.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/5-Heidi-Javanbakht-CEC.pdf ↑

20. https://www.energy.ca.gov/programs-and-topics/programs/building-energy-benchmarking-program ↑

21. 2025 IEPR: Preliminary Data Center Forecast, November 13, 2025 ↑

22. Document 32024R1364, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32024R1364 ↑

23. S.3732, https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/3732/text ↑

24. H.R.6984, https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/6984 ↑

25. IA HF 2447 ↑

26. MI SB 762 ↑

27. GA SB 421 ↑

28. VA SB 417 ↑

29. https://www.energy.ca.gov/rules-and-regulations/energy-suppliers-reporting/petroleum-industry-information-reporting-act-piira ↑

30. Wang, Rage against the machine: a California community rallied against a datacenter – and won, the Guardian, February 2026, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/07/california-monterey-park-stop-datacenter-construction ↑

31. Data Center Watch: 125% Surge in Data Center Opposition, https://www.datacenterwatch.org/q22025 ↑

32. Masanet et al., Ibid ↑

33. PRU § 25354 (f)(2) ↑

Date of Hearing: April 8, 2026

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON UTILITIES AND ENERGY

Cottie Petrie-Norris, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 1577 (

Author:Bauer-Kahan) – As Amended Ver:March 26, 2026

SUBJECT: Data centers: reporting.

SUMMARY: Mandates data centers report monthly energy usage and efficiency information to the California Energy Commission (CEC). The CEC must integrate this data into Integrated Energy Policy Reports (IEPRs) and annually publish the data in an anonymized and aggregated format for the public. Additionally, data centers must submit specified information to local agencies when requesting authorization to construct or operate a data center. Specifically, this bill:

1. Defines “data center” as a room, or portion of a room, in a building used primarily to house information technology equipment that serves a load greater than 10 kilowatts and 20 watts per square foot of conditioned floor area. The definition excludes facilities with installed information technology equipment with electrical capacity of less than 500 kilowatts.
   1. Defines “applicable local agency” as a city, county, or city and county that has discretionary land use or permitting authority over the construction or operation of a data center.
   2. Defines “cooling degree day” as the number of degrees by which the average outdoor air temperature for a given day exceeds 65 degrees Fahrenheit.
   3. Defines “power usage effectiveness” as a ratio of the total energy consumption of a data center to the energy specifically used by the information technology equipment housed in the data center.
   4. Defines “water usage effectiveness” as a ratio of the total water consumption of a data center to the water specifically used by the information technology equipment housed in the data center.
2. Requires the CEC to establish a process for the owner of a data center to submit the following information upon energization and following any substantive change to information previously submitted:
   1. The name of the data center.
   2. Any physical addresses associated with the operation of the data center.
   3. The name of, and contact information for, the owner and operator of the data center.
   4. The year and month that the data center began operating.
   5. The total floor area of the data center, expressed in square feet.
   6. The floor area of the data center occupied by information technology equipment, expressed in square feet.
3. Requires the CEC to establish a process for the owner of a data center to submit the following information on a monthly basis:
   1. Total electrical capacity of the data center, expressed in kilowatts.
      1. Installed information technology electrical capacity of the data center, expressed in kilowatts.
      2. Total energy consumption of the data center, expressed in kilowatthours.
      3. Power usage effectiveness of the data center.
      4. Whether the data center participated in any demand flexibility programs, and the name and level of participation in each program.
   2. Total water consumption of the data center, expressed in gallons.
      1. Potable water consumption of the data center, expressed in gallons.
      2. Water usage effectiveness of the data center.
   3. Quantity of waste heat reused by the data center, expressed in kilowatthours.
      1. Average waste heat temperature of the data center, expressed in degrees Fahrenheit.
      2. Average intake air temperature setpoint for information technology equipment, expressed in degrees Fahrenheit.
      3. Types of refrigerants used to cool information technology equipment.
      4. Cumulative cooling degree days for the data center.
   4. Quantity of electricity generated onsite, separated by generation type, expressed in kilowatthours.
      1. Quantity of fuel consumed by onsite generators or other fuel-based energy systems, separated by fuel type.
      2. Quantity of electricity consumed during the reporting month that was derived from renewable and carbon-free sources, separated by each of the following categories and expressed in kilowatt-hours:
         1. Quantity of renewable or carbon-free energy generated onsite or procured from renewable electrical generation facilities and used to directly power the data center.
         2. Quantity of electricity generated onsite or procured from hydroelectric generation facilities exceeding 30 megawatts and used to directly power the data center.
         3. Quantity of electricity generated onsite or procured from nuclear power plants and used to directly power the data center.
         4. Quantity of electricity associated with renewable energy credits, identified by portfolio content category and not used to directly power the data center.
   5. Average and maximum sound levels attributable to the operation of the data center, expressed in A-weighted decibels, measured at the point along the property boundary where the average sound level attributable to the operation of the data center is highest.
4. Requires the owner of the data center to submit this information in a manner and timeframe specified by CEC.
   1. Specifies that the owner does not have to resubmit information that has already been submitted to the CEC.
   2. Specifies that the owner can submit substantially similar information that was prepared for other compliance, if the information meets the listed requirements.
5. Requires the CEC to include an assessment of electrical load trends for data centers in the 2029 IEPR, and each subsequent report, that includes the following:
   1. A projection of future load trends from data centers.
   2. Identification of potential net peak load demands.
   3. Recommendations for mitigating data center electricity consumption impacts on grid capacity, grid reliability, and greenhouse gas emissions, including any recommended energy efficiency and demand response measures.
6. Requires the CEC to annually publish the information submitted in an anonymized and aggregated format on its website.
7. Requires the owner or developer of a data center to submit the information outlined in (3) to the applicable local agency upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization.
   1. Requires that the information submitted be based on the best available estimates at the time of submission.
   2. Allows a local agency to use the information submitted for land use planning, infrastructure planning, energy and water supply assessment, and environmental review, and any additional purposes deemed appropriate.
8. Requires that the CEC and local agency not disclose any information that would result in the disclosure of personally identifiable information or energy consumption data for a specific utility customer.
9. Clarifies that the reporting requirements outlined do not supersede, preempt, or limit any reporting, disclosure, or public access requirements imposed by other law or regulation.
   1. Clarifies that any confidential, proprietary, or otherwise restricted information may not require the same designation under other law or regulation.
   2. Clarifies that the disclosure of the requested information does not constitute a waiver of any attorney-client privilege, work product protection, or trade secret protection that might otherwise exist with respect to the information.
      

EXISTING LAW:

1. Mandates the CEC to develop energy policies that conserve resources, protect the environment, ensure energy reliability, enhance the state's economy, and protect public health and safety. (Public Resources Code § 25301(a))
2. Requires the CEC to generate an IEPR every two years, which will include, among other things, an assessment of resources and a forecast of reliability and energy usage. (Public Resources Code § 25302)
3. Grants the CEC the authority to hold public hearings and stakeholder processes to best assess the necessary reporting and efficiency standards for buildings. (Public Resources Code § 25402(b)(4)) 
4. Requires each petroleum refiner and major marketer to submit monthly information to the CEC, including but not limited to volume, price, and type of petroleum product, including the sources of those receipts, inventories of products, and exports of finished products from the state. (Public Resources Code § 25354)

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed fiscal and will be referred to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations for its review. A similar version of this proposal – AB 222 (Bauer-Kahan, 2025) – was estimated by the CEC to cost $176,000 annually when heard in the Senate Committee on Appropriations. AB 222 had fewer reporting requirements to the CEC than outlined in the current proposal.

BACKGROUND:

Growing use of Artificial Intelligence, data centers, and energy – In 2025, global data generation surpassed 175 zettabytes (trillions of gigabytes).^[1] This scale of data reflects the rapid growth of connected devices, AI-driven queries, and cloud-based services that depend on data centers for real-time processing and storage. Data centers are facilities that house critical computing infrastructure, including servers, data storage systems, and network equipment. These facilities support a wide range of functions, from running web-based applications and supporting e-commerce to ensuring cybersecurity operations. Data centers can be located on-site at a company’s premises, operated as colocation facilities where businesses rent space for their servers, or exist as cloud data centers, where companies lease computing infrastructure from third-party providers and outsource the maintenance of physical hardware.^[2]

Continued growth in AI-computing is driving data center development and construction.^[3] To generate more sophisticated AI models, the size of the datasets increases, as does the demand for computational resources. For example, GPT- 4 – the large language model (LLM) embedded in ChatGPT 4 – is reported to have been trained on roughly 10 trillion words of text.^[4],[5] Adjusting the model’s 1.8 trillion parameters continuously as it was exposed to this vast corpus required trillions upon trillions of computations, which were performed by running approximately 25,000 expensive, energy-consuming microchips for nearly 100 days nonstop, at an estimated cost of $63 million.^[6] It is estimated that this training consumed 50 gigawatt-hours (GWhs) of energy, enough to power San Francisco continuously for three days.^[7]

Rough estimates exist for how much energy each AI-query consumes. Famously, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has stated each ChatGPT query consumes approximately 0.34 watt-hours of electricity, enough to power a lightbulb for a few minutes.^[8] In reality, the type and size of the model and the selected output (language, image, video) can make one query thousands of times more energy-intensive and emissions-producing than another. One billion of these inquiries every day for a year – well below the self-reported values of OpenAI^[9] – would mean over 109 GWhs of electricity, enough to power 10,400 U.S. homes for a year, according to researchers writing in MIT Technology Review.^[10] As training compute demand grows, the need for more or larger data centers and more energy to power them grows as well.^[11]

As shown in Figure 1,^[12] U.S. data center annual energy use prior to 2016 was relatively stable at about 60 TWh. Despite the construction of new data centers to serve the rise of cloud-based online services, such as Netflix, increases in efficiency kept this growth consumption relatively flat. However, starting in 2017, electricity consumption accelerated nationwide primarily due to AI computing. By 2023, data centers were 4.4% of total U.S energy consumption. By 2028, data centers are predicted to use between 6.7% and 12% of the country’s electricity.^[13] At that point, AI alone could consume as much electricity annually as 22% of all U.S. households.^[14] Just how utilities, regulators, and tech companies will meet this unsatiated demand is uncertain. New resources must be procured, and new transmission is likely needed to serve this load, all at cost to either ratepayers or the tech companies themselves. Yet given the large uncertainty projected (grey, shaded area in Figure 1), and the lack of transparent data on current and future data center energy needs, projections of future energy demands or estimates of resultant emissions are simply inadequate or inaccurate.^[15] This forces energy planners to assemble a puzzle with countless missing pieces.

Figure 1. Total U.S. data center electricity use from 2014-2028.

Predicting the unknown – Every two years, the CEC publishes its energy demand forecast within the Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR), with an update every other year. In January 2026, they adopted the IEPR for 2025-2045.^[16] This forecast is foundational for resource procurement and system planning in the state, as the output of the forecast feeds into sequential planning streams at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and California Independent System Operator (CAISO). In other words, the forecast is critical in determining how much energy generation to require utilities to purchase, where to upgrade power lines, and how to prevent future blackouts. The 2025 IEPR provides electricity and gas demand forecasts which reflect expected impacts from economic projections, including data center growth, electric vehicle adoption, and other inputs.^[17] The final 2025 adopted plan anticipates almost 20 GWs of load growth over the next 20 years in CAISO’s area, with close to 5 GWs arising from data centers.^[18] However, the full scale of this demand growth, particularly with regard to data centers, is still unknown. As shown in Figure 2, significant uncertainty exists around data center capacity requests, ranging from most certain with an agreement to largely unknown with an inquiry.^[19]

Figure 2. Capacity Requests, as reported to the CEC from each utility as of August 2025.²⁰ (Key: PG&E = Pacific Gas & Electric; SVP = Silicon Valley Power; SCE = Southern California Edison; SDG&E = San Diego Gas & Electric).

Demystifying the unknown – The speed at which the data center industry is growing has led to a sudden unpredictability in the future energy market. This growth is occurring alongside other changes to electricity demand, such as enhanced electrification in the building and transportation sectors, and climate change induced extreme events. There is little transparency into data center energy usage; transparency which would enable understanding or predicting market dynamics. Most tech companies and data center operators don’t volunteer their energy and water usage information. Through the CEC’s Energy Benchmarking Program,^[20] buildings with more than 50,000 square feet of gross floor area must submit relevant energy performance data annually to the CEC. Data centers meeting this size, or housed within a building of this size or greater, are required to report on their energy usage information. Additionally, utilities submit information regarding existing and potential data centers for the IEPR’s Data Center Demand Forecast.^[21] Based on the information currently received by the CEC, the prediction is that data center peak demand will start to plateau by the mid-2030s (Figure 3), but given the many unknowns and possibility for exponential growth (Figure 1), more information will be necessary to see if this prediction holds.

Figure 3. Mid case (baseline & reporting scenario) of statewide data center peak demand, comparing 2024 IEPR to 2025 IEPR, as reported to the CEC from each utility as of August 2025.

There are ongoing efforts to mandate transparency from data centers across the United States and Europe. This includes a Commission Delegated Regulation from the European Union focused on creating a common rating scheme for data centers and mandating reporting on a number of energy and resource usage metrics.^[22] In the United States Senate, Senator Ed Markey put forward the “Artificial Intelligence Environmental Impacts Act,” which would have, among other provisions, initiated a study on the environmental impacts of AI and established a consortium of stakeholders to address these impacts.^[23] The bill did not make it to the floor in 2024. This year, House Representative Robert Menedez introduced the “Data Center Transparency Act,” which was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on January 8^th, 2026.^[24] At the state level, there have been multiple efforts to address data center transparency, efficiency and cost-shifting, including in Iowa,^[25] Michigan,^[26] Georgia,^[27] and Virginia.^[28]

COMMENTS:

1. Author’s Statement. According to the author, “The rapid growth of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry is driving the construction of large, energy-intensive data centers across California. Increased energy demand, combined with grid infrastructure development needed to serve these facilities, risks increasing energy costs for Californians. At present, California lacks accurate statewide information on how many data centers exist, where they are located, how much energy they consume, how efficiently they operate, and how they affect California’s power grid. This limits the ability of state and local agencies to plan infrastructure, evaluate efficiency opportunities, and protect ratepayers. AB 1577 closes this information gap by requiring data centers to report specified energy usage and efficiency information to the California Energy Commission on a monthly basis, and requiring proposed data centers to provide estimated information to local agencies prior to beginning construction.”
2. Purpose of Bill. Details regarding current and future energy impacts of data centers are largely uncertain, yet their proliferation around the State and country continues to grow. This uncertainty has rippling effects – limiting the state energy planners’ abilities to accurately forecast grid system needs, limiting academic researchers from investigating a rapidly evolving technology and field, and stoking uncertainty and distrust among Californians. The goal of AB 1577 is to address this dearth of information by increasing the transparency of data center energy usage and efficiency information.

There is precedent for this type of data sharing for a specific industry, particularly with the CEC. Under the Petroleum Industry Information Reporting Act (PIIRA),^[29] qualifying petroleum industry companies must submit daily, event based, weekly, monthly, and annual data to the CEC. This data is used to inform the CEC on the operations of the petroleum industry in California, allowing the CEC to respond to possible shortages/disruptions and develop relevant energy policies. While the petroleum industry and tech industry are in many ways distinct, the CEC has extensive experience with market sensitive information of highly competitive, international companies. Providing greater transparency via reporting to the CEC, as is required by AB 1577, may be critical to ensure California can welcome this innovation and minimize consequences to our electrical system.

1. What is a data center? Data centers come in many different forms and types, ranging from enterprise data centers used for proprietary digital operations (e.g., banks, healthcare organizations, governments) to edge providers used to deliver rapid computing power to hyperscalers that support AI and other data-intensive applications. Regardless of size and energy need, all data centers have an impact on our grid. Finding a consistent definition of what a data center is can be difficult. Even in the present legislative sessions, there are many bills aiming to regulate data centers, and none with the same definition. At the CEC, the information they receive on data centers has no consistent definition. Some information comes from the Energy Benchmarking Program, which regulates reporting for buildings of a certain size (over 50,000 sq feet), and some comes from utilities, who use their own metrics for determining what a data center is. As this industry is rapidly evolving, and the goal of this bill is to provide transparency for data center usage, the committee recommends adding more detailed language to the definition of a data center regarding specific equipment characteristics, while keeping the definition broad in regards to a load threshold to capture the many types of data centers impacting our energy system. Additionally, the committee recommends clarifying who qualifies as the owner of the data center for purposes of reporting responsibility, as the entity overseeing the facility, not those renting or hosting equipment onsite.
2. Pertinent information for the CEC. As noted above, grid planners need specific information on data center development to ensure the energy grid will meet the load. However, as currently written, this bill tasks the CEC with collecting information that is far broader than the CEC’s energy-related analyses require, and that the CEC may not have the resources and scope to analyze. In particular, data about water usage and sound levels are not relevant to the CEC for the tasks outlined in the bill. To ensure the information provided by data centers does not go to waste and will be used to the full extent possible, the committee recommends that the CEC receive only the information relevant to data centers’ energy use and efficiency metrics.

The CEC is already tasked with collecting information from a number of stakeholders in preparation for reports like the IEPR. It is critical that with the new data submissions required under this bill, the CEC has the flexibility to collect information in a way that not only reduces repetition and burden on the agency, but also for the data centers themselves. To help with adoption of these reporting requirements, the committee recommends changes to the bill language to ensure the CEC has the flexibility to collect the information in a way that is deemed most efficient and reduces any repetitive burden on the agency and the data centers.

1. Energy generation. There are many factors that push data centers towards certain types of energy generation, including corporate sustainability goals, slow energization, cost-savings, and predictability of service. However, clarity on the types of generation being used by data centers is lacking. The bill, as currently written, requires data centers to report their generation from everything from onsite fuel-based energy systems to renewable electrical generation facilities, hydroelectric generation facilities, and nuclear power plants. While informative, as currently written, the language is prescriptive and at times duplicative. To capture the full extent of energy sources while maintaining clarity, the committee recommends reporting requirements be edited to include not only electricity generated but also consumed onsite and remove any overly prescriptive and duplicative reporting requirements for specific generation types to ensure a full picture of generation can be collected. Additionally, the committee recommends adding a requirement for reporting onsite energy storage, including the type, capacity, and chemistry of the storage.
2. Local agency reporting. Opposition to data centers is on the rise. Indeed, recent reporting highlights that local agencies and the affected communities have real concerns about the impacts data centers pose on local resources and on their communities.^{[30], [31]} In support of this legislation, the City of Monterey Park (where recent protests stopped a data center from being built),³² writes that the legislation will help the city to “advance sustainability goals while maintaining reliable public services” by promoting accountability, encouraging efficient design, and aligning with California’s climate goals. Additionally, recent CEQA exemptions passed in SB 131 (Chapter 24, Statutes of 2025), in particular permitting exemptions for advanced manufacturing facilities, may weaken the tools available to local agencies to fully assess data center impacts. The bill seeks to address some of these transparency concerns for local agencies with a wide range of reporting requirements. However, these reporting requirements are broad, and it is unclear what local agencies would do with some of this information, such as the power or water use effectiveness. Therefore, the committee recommends narrowing the information provided to data centers while retaining the author’s intent for greater local awareness. This includes reporting on expected annual energy and water usage, onsite generation capacity, and sound levels.
3. Privacy concerns. In addition to the IEPR, the bill requires the CEC to annually publish the information it receives from data centers on its website. The language mandates that the information is anonymized and aggregated. Supporters of the bill celebrate this data transparency and point to requests from researchers seeking this level of detail to study this booming industry.^[32] However, the public reporting of data is the chief concern to those in opposition, including the Data Center Coalition, citing risk to cybersecurity and physical security from the “disclosure of detailed proprietary and sensitive operational details.” As previously noted, the CEC is host to similar market sensitive data from the petroleum industry, aspects of which are shared in anonymized, aggregated reports to ensure confidential information is protected.^[33] The committee is unaware of any security risks that have resulted from these reports. Furthermore, this bill requires the CEC and any local agency receiving data center information to protect any personally identifiable information or energy consumption data for a specific utility customer. To this latter point and to ensure this data is adequately protected, the committee recommends removing any exceptions to this provision, as currently drafted in (f)(1).
4. Additional Clarifications. To match the requested monthly information from data centers, and provide a set point for future comparison, the committee recommends that upon energization, as described in Section 25302.10 (b)(1), data centers also report the anticipated electrical peak capacity of the data center and the anticipated quantity of electricity generated and consumed onsite, separated by generation type. Additionally, the committee recommends that in Section 25302.10 (2)(A)(i), total electrical capacity be submitted as the maximum electrical load.
5. Double Referral. This bill is double referred. Should it pass out of this committee, it will next be considered in the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources.
6. Related Legislation.

AB 2383 (Zbur) requires the CPUC to establish a retail electricity classification and rate schedule for large energy use facilities, defined as facilities with a peak load of 20 MW or more and connected under a retail transmission tariff. Additionally, the CPUC must require electrical corporations and large energy use facilities to enter into a contract that covers the provisions of transmission, generation, or distribution of electrical service, as applicable. Status: set for hearing in this committee on April 8^th.

AB 2469 (Papan) requires commercial, industrial, institutional, and large landscape water users – including data centers – to submit water use assessments and water scarcity plan to the Department of Water Resources. Status: set for hearing in the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife on April 14^th.

AB 2619 (Papan) requires the owner of a data center to submit expected water use, anticipated source of water, and the data center’s projected water use volume when applying to a city for license or permitting. Status: set for hearing in the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife on April 14^th.

SB 886 (Padilla) requires the CPUC to establish an electrical corporation tariff that addresses costs associated with transmission, distribution, and generation services for data center customers that interconnect at the transmission level and have peak electricity demands of at least 25 MW. Status: set for hearing in the Senate Committee on Appropriations on April 13^th.

SB 887 (Padilla) specifies that development and operation of a data center is not eligible for a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) categorical exemption. Unless the data center meets specified criteria, such as using onsite zero-carbon energy storage. Then, the data center would be eligible for the “environmental leadership development” program, which would provide CEQA judicial streamlining, among other changes. Status: pending hearing in the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities, and Communications.

SB 978 (Pérez) requires the CPUC to create a special rate structure for data centers with an estimated capacity of at least 75 MW. This bill also expands existing CPUC reporting requirements about large loads to include a specified assessment about increased load impacts on renewable procurement goals. Status: set for hearing in the Senate Committee on Labor, Public Employment and Retirement on April 8^th.

SB 1168 (McNerney) sets a surcharge for natural gas and electricity consumed or purchased for a data center in California. These charges would be used to establish the Data Center Excess Energy Usage Surcharge Fund and would be used to fund rate assistance programs for low-income customers. Status: set for hearing in the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee on April 13^th.

1. Prior Legislation.

AB 222 (Bauer-Kahan, 2025) required the CEC to collect and analyze data center energy consumption trends and include those findings in the 2027 IEPR. This bill also required the CPUC to determine if data center loads resulted in cost shifts to other customers and to submit an assessment to the Legislature. Status: Held in the Senate Committee on Appropriations.

AB 93 (Papan, 2025) required a data center operator to provide its estimated or actual water use to its water supplier as a condition of obtaining or renewing a business license issued by a city or county. Status: Vetoed.

SB 57 (Padilla) authorizes the CPUC to conduct a specified assessment of electrical corporations’ potential costs and rate impacts associated with serving new electrical loads from data centers. Status: Chapter 647, Statutes of 2025.

SB 253 (Wiener) requires any partnership, corporation, limited liability company, or other U.S. business entity with total annual revenues in excess of $1 billion and that does business in California to publicly report its annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as specified by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). Status: Chapter 382, Statutes of 2023.

SB 261 (Stern) requires companies that do business in California and have gross revenues exceeding $500 million annually, excluding insurance companies, to report on their climate-related financial risk. It also requires CARB to contract with a qualified climate reporting organization to review and publish an analysis of those reports. Status: Chapter 382, Statutes of 2023.

AB 1340 (Kehoe) requires weekly reporting from the petroleum industry to the CEC regarding receipts, inventory levels, imports, exports, transportation, sources, and prices. The law also allows individuals to request this information, as long as it is held in confidence and presumed to be confidential. Status: Chapter 692, Statutes of 2003.

SB 1963 (Costa) requires detailed reporting on petroleum products, including imports and exports of petroleum products, sales of gasoline, including receipts of finished petroleum products and blendstocks, to be submitted to the CEC. The CEC must then analyze and interpret the submitted information as it relates to sales of fuel to unbranded retail markets Status: Chapter 288, Statutes of 2000.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

Audobon California

California Initiative for Technology & Democracy, a Project of California Common CAUSE

Kapor Center Advocacy

League of California Cities

Little Hoover Commission

Monterey Park; City of

National Audubon Society

Santa Clara Valley Water District

Santa Monica Democratic Club

Sustainable Rossmoor

Usgbc California

Support If Amended

California Environmental Voters

Center for Biological Diversity

Leadership Counsel for Justice & Accountability

Sierra Club California

Opposition

Bay Area Council

Building Owners and Managers Association of California

Calasian Chamber of Commerce

California African American Chamber of Commerce

California Business Properties Association

California Chamber of Commerce

California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce (CHCC)

Data Center Coalition

Naiop California

Silicon Valley Leadership Group

Techca

Technet

Oppose Unless Amended

Calbroadband

CTIA - the Wireless Association

United States Telecom Association Dba Ustelecom - the Broadband Association

Analysis Prepared by: Alexa. Cohill-Milanick / U. & E. /(916) 319-2083

1. Armstrong, Global Data Creation is About to Explode, Statista, https://www.statista.com/chart/17727/global-data-creation-forecasts/ ↑

2. Stephanie Susnjara and Ian Smalley, “What is a data center?”, IBM (Sept. 4, 2024), http://ibm.com/think/topics/data-centers. ↑

3. Lee and West, “The future of data centers,” Brookings Institute (Nov. 5, 2025), https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-future-of-data-centers/ ↑

4. Schreiner, “GPT-4 architecture, datasets, costs and more leaked,” The Decoder (Jul. 11, 2023), https://the-decoder.com/gpt-4- architecture-datasets-costs-and-more-leaked/ ↑

5. Begum, “OpenAI Releases GPT-4: A Smarter and Faster AI-Language Model with ‘Human-level Performance,’” Vocal Media (2023), https://vocal.media/01/open-ai-releases-gpt-4-a-smarter-and-faster-ai-language-model-with-human-level- performance. ↑

6. Ludvigsen, “The carbon footprint of GPT-4,” Medium (Jul. 18, 2023), available at https://medium.com/data- science/the-carbon-footprint-of-gpt-4-d6c676eb21ae. ↑

7. James O’Donnell and Casey Crownhart, “We did the math on AI’s energy footprint. Here’s the story you haven’t heard.” MIT Technology Review, May 20, 2025; https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1116327/ai-energy-usage-climate-footprintbig-tech/ ↑

8. Kwan Wei Kevin Tan, “Sam Altman says the energy needed for an average ChatGPT query can power a lightbulb for a few minutes,” Business Insider, June 10, 2025; https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-energy-does-chatgpt-use-average-query-watts-altman-2025-6 ↑

9. Which in July 2025 estimated 2.5 billion prompts every day; Emma Roth, “OpenAI says ChatGPT users send over 2.5 billion prompts every day,” The Verge, July 21, 2025; https://www.theverge.com/news/710867/openai-chatgpt-daily-prompts-2-billio ↑

10. O’Donnell and Crownhart, Ibid. ↑

11. Lee and West, Ibid. ↑

12. Shehabi, Arman, et al. "2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report." December 2024, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California. LBNL-2001637; https://eta-publications.lbl.gov/sites/default/files/2024-12/lbnl-2024-unitedstates-data-center-energy-usage-report_1.pdf ↑

13. Shehabi, Arman, et al. Ibid. ↑

14. O’Donnell and Crownhart, Ibid. ↑

15. Eric Masanet, Nuoa Lei, and Jonathan Koomey, “To better understand AI’s growing energy use, analysts need a data revolution”, Joule 8, 1–10 (September 18, 2024), https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2542435124003477. ↑

16. Item 6, CEC Business Meeting Agenda, January 21, 2026; https://efiling.energy.ca.gov/GetDocument.aspx?tn=268217&DocumentContentId=105381 ↑

17. CEC, “Resolution of the CEC Adopting the California Energy Demand Forecast, 2025-2045,” https://www.energy.ca.gov/filebrowser/download/9208?fid=9208 ↑

18. Slide 8, 2025 – IEPR Forecast, DAWG Meeting, https://www.energy.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2026-01/2026-01-05_DAWG_Mtg_Slides-Combined_ada.pdf ↑

19. Slide 5, presentation by CEC Manager of Demand Analysis Heidi Javanbakht to the Little Hoover Commission, December 11, 2025; https://lhc.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/5-Heidi-Javanbakht-CEC.pdf ↑

20. https://www.energy.ca.gov/programs-and-topics/programs/building-energy-benchmarking-program ↑

21. 2025 IEPR: Preliminary Data Center Forecast, November 13, 2025 ↑

22. Document 32024R1364, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32024R1364 ↑

23. S.3732, https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/3732/text ↑

24. H.R.6984, https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/6984 ↑

25. IA HF 2447 ↑

26. MI SB 762 ↑

27. GA SB 421 ↑

28. VA SB 417 ↑

29. https://www.energy.ca.gov/rules-and-regulations/energy-suppliers-reporting/petroleum-industry-information-reporting-act-piira ↑

30. Wang, Rage against the machine: a California community rallied against a datacenter – and won, the Guardian, February 2026, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/07/california-monterey-park-stop-datacenter-construction ↑

31. Data Center Watch: 125% Surge in Data Center Opposition, https://www.datacenterwatch.org/q22025 ↑

32. Masanet et al., Ibid ↑

33. PRU § 25354 (f)(2) ↑