Rep. Ro Khanna pushes a Data Center Bill of Rights to safeguard local opposition

Representative Ro Khanna has filed a resolution asking the House of Representatives to adopt a “Data Center Bill of Rights,” aimed at preserving local control over data center siting. The draft would allow communities to deny projects near residential areas, schools, childcare facilities, hospitals or nursing homes via an open decision-making process, and to impose transparency, electricity-rate safeguards and clean-energy mandates on operators.

It references recent state initiatives, including a one-year moratorium in New York, and points to environmental worries such as emissions from generators and turbines and the potential consumption of up to 32 billion gallons of water annually by AI data centers by 2028. While the resolution is not a binding law, it underscores growing resistance to rapid data-center expansion and the federal government’s current exemptions that limit state regulation.

The proposal contrasts with California’s housing laws that often curb “NIMBY” opposition to dense development. Khanna hopes the bill of rights could serve as a safeguard in the absence of a nationwide moratorium.