Sponsor
Michael Baumgartner
Representative · R-WA
The bill trades accelerated investment in AI, data center, energy generation, and water‑recycling infrastructure (with tax incentives and clearer federal support) against higher near‑term costs, reliability and equity risks, and added administrative and financing burdens that could raise bills or shift burdens to certain customers and taxpayers.
Businesses that build or expand AI, data center, industrial, and water-recycling projects (including tech firms, manufacturers, and project developers) receive substantial investment incentives and federal prioritization—lowering upfront capital costs and accelerating deployment of new facilities and technologies.
Homes, businesses, utilities, and local communities can gain increased grid capacity, additional local generation, and expanded recycled-water systems that improve local energy and water availability and overall infrastructure resilience.
Communities and businesses that adopt onsite water reuse or recycled-water systems reduce freshwater demand and protect local aquifers, improving local water resilience and environmental outcomes.
Consumers and taxpayers may face higher costs—through increased electricity rates if large new loads raise demand and through reduced federal revenue from new tax credits—which could raise bills or increase deficits absent offsets.
Rapid growth in large electrical loads risks outpacing transmission and planning capacity, creating localized reliability problems or outages for communities if upgrades are delayed or insufficient.
Large customers and smaller firms may face high upfront costs, deposit requirements, and financial risks (including tax‑credit recapture), which can delay or cancel projects and reduce local investment or jobs.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Requires large 100+ MW customers to pay full incremental grid upgrade costs, sets regulator review deadlines, and creates a 30% tax credit for water reuse projects.
Representative · R-WA
Creates rules to shift the costs of very large electricity users (like data centers) onto those customers, requires utilities and state regulators to consider new standards within set deadlines, and establishes a 30% investment tax credit for water reuse projects. The bill directs utilities to recover the full incremental cost of upgrades needed to serve single-site, nonresidential loads of 100 MW or more and to secure financial assurances from those customers before upgrades proceed. Also encourages large-load customers to develop or contract for new generation, urges regional and flexible approaches to implementation, and provides tax incentives for onsite and municipal water recycling projects placed in service within ten years and begun after enactment.
Official title: To facilitate the responsible development of data centers and related infrastructure, to protect existing ratepayers from the shifting of incremental infrastructure costs attributable to large-load facilities, to encourage investment in water reuse, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 24, 2026 by Michael Baumgartner · Last progress June 24, 2026