Sponsor
Robert P. Bresnahan
Representative · R-PA
Representative · R-PA
The bill shifts power and clarity to local governments and operators—providing more final local control and clearer size thresholds for large data centers—while reducing federal review and creating risks of investment deterrence, legal gaming, uneven treatment, and short‑term uncertainty for taxpayers and developers.
Local governments (and nearby communities) gain clearer, binding local control to block or pause data‑center projects—preventing interim federal approvals and reducing prolonged federal permitting disputes when they follow the bill's procedural requirements.
Taxpayers receiving targeted tax credits would need to demonstrate a defined 'community benefit', which could steer credits toward projects that deliver broader public value.
Operators and planners get clearer rules for what counts as a 'covered data center' (20 MW threshold and aggregation rules), improving planning for interconnection, permitting, and focusing grid reliability efforts on the largest energy users.
Developers, residents, and small businesses lose access to federal judicial review of local bans, limiting remedies against unlawful or discriminatory local actions and reducing a federal check on municipal decisions.
The combination of blocked federal approvals and added regulatory obligations could deter data‑center investment, causing project delays, higher costs, fewer local jobs, and lower tax revenue.
Federal agencies may be prevented from authorizing projects even when federal interests or standards favor approval, slowing deployment of critical infrastructure and complicating energy/grid planning.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Limits federal court and permit review for large (20+ MW) data centers when local governments deny projects by recorded vote with findings, and inserts a tax-code placeholder requiring community benefits for tax credits.
Bars federal courts from hearing challenges to local governments that vote (by recorded vote with documented findings) to block construction of large data centers, and forbids federal agencies from approving permits for such data centers while the developer is suing that local decision. The bill also adds a placeholder amendment to the Internal Revenue Code to require a community benefit condition for tax credit eligibility for taxable years beginning after enactment; the bill defines "covered data center" as a single site or group of contiguous/proximate facilities under common control with 20 MW+ power demand. The measure shifts more final authority to local governments for siting of large data centers by removing certain federal review options and tying federal permitting to the absence of pending lawsuits by developers, while also signaling future tax-credit limits by inserting a new subpart requiring community benefits (text not specified).
Official title: To protect the authority of local governments to make zoning decisions regarding data center development, and to require community benefit agreements as a condition for Federal tax incentives.
Introduced June 11, 2026 by Robert P. Bresnahan · Last progress June 11, 2026