- Record: Senate Floor
- Section type: Amendments
- Chamber: Senate
- Date: September 30, 2026
- Congress: 119th Congress
- Why this source matters: This section came from the Senate floor portion of the record.
SA 6846. Mr. GALLEGO submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 9340, to amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to establish a Federal standard relating to the recovery of the full, incremental costs of upgrades that serve large- load customers, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. __. IMPOSITION OF DATA CENTER FRESHWATER CONSUMPTION
TAX.
(a) In General.—Chapter 38 of subtitle D of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the
following new subchapter:
“Subchapter E—Tax on Consumption of Freshwater by Data Centers
“Sec. 4691. Data Center Freshwater Consumption Tax.
“SEC. 4691. DATA CENTER FRESHWATER CONSUMPTION TAX.
“(a) In General.—For each calendar year, there is hereby
imposed on any AI data center a tax equal to 1 percent of the
amount paid or incurred by the AI data center operator with
respect to direct freshwater consumption by such AI data
center during such calendar year.
“(b) Payment of Tax.—
“(1) In general.—The tax imposed by this section with
respect to any AI data center shall be paid by the AI data
center operator.
“(2) Remittance of tax.—The AI data center operator shall
remit such tax annually to the Secretary at such time and in
such manner as provided by the Secretary.
“(c) Definitions.—In this section—
“(1) AI data center.—The term `AI data center' means a
facility or group of facilities primarily used to host
computing infrastructure for the training or deployment of
artificial intelligence or machine learning models, including
associated storage, cooling, and networking equipment.
“(2) AI data center operator.—
“(A) In general.—The term `AI data center operator' means
person who owns, operates, or occupies an AI data center.
“(B) Multiple operators.—In the case where more than 1
person meets the description under subparagraph (A) with
respect to an AI data center, the person responsible for
payment of the public water utility account to the public
water system shall be deemed to be the AI data center
operator for purposes of this section.
“(3) Direct freshwater consumption.—The term `direct
freshwater consumption' means the volume of water an AI data
center withdraws from a public water system (such as a
municipal water provider).”.
(b) Effective Date.—The amendment made by this section
shall apply to calendar years beginning after the date of
enactment of this Act.