The Community Investment Framework (CIF) is a voluntary New York State framework for localities negotiating with data-center developers, owners and operators. Empire State Development (ESD) produced it under Executive Order No. 62 and released it in September 2026 with a guidance document and a template. Its central recommendation is a community investment benchmark of $1 million per megawatt of a project's utility demand (New York State Guidance for Host Communities: Community Investment Framework for Data Center Development (ESD, 2026)).
Status and origin
Governor Kathy Hochul's Executive Order No. 62, signed July 14, 2026, held state permits for data centers of 50 MW or more in abeyance pending a Generic Environmental Impact Statement. Among its accompanying directives, it required ESD to create and post a community investment framework within 60 days. The framework was to cover a developer-capitalized fund for energy affordability and public services, local infrastructure investment, labor frameworks, and transparency reporting, for use by localities and industrial development agencies (New York Executive Order No. 62 (Data Center Moratorium, July 2026)).
ESD's landing page was last modified late on September 14, 2026, and the release was reported on September 15 (Source: reuters.com), after the 60-day period ended on September 12. A policy outline dated July 14, 2026 is also posted on ESD's site (Source: esd.ny.gov). ESD describes the framework as "the nation's first statewide Host Community Investment Framework for Data Center Development" (New York State Guidance for Host Communities: Community Investment Framework for Data Center Development (ESD, 2026)).
Legal character
The framework is not binding of its own force. Its guidance states that it "is not intended to serve as a comprehensive agreement," that localities should engage counsel to negotiate and memorialize agreements, and that "it is up to municipalities to decide, with the advice of counsel, whether to make the Framework binding." It sits alongside, and must be coordinated with, environmental review under SEQRA. It also recommends limiting any non-disclosure agreement a locality is asked to sign to material exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Law (New York State Guidance for Host Communities: Community Investment Framework for Data Center Development (ESD, 2026)).
Key provisions
| Element | Content |
|---|---|
| Investment benchmark | $1 million per megawatt of utility demand, recommended; inclusive of state-required grid-modernization investment; e.g. $50 million for a 50 MW project |
| Rationale | Data centers "typically generate fewer permanent jobs per megawatt of electric demand" than alternative industrial development |
| Community Investment Fund | Set up early; managing entity, approval roles, accounting, public reporting and project evaluation defined before contributions; negotiated payment schedules, replenishment thresholds, inflation adjustment |
| Permitted fund uses (examples) | Administration, enforcement of agreements, mitigation of environmental or infrastructure impacts, remediation of abandoned data-center sites |
| Impact assessment | PILOT effects on tax revenue, use of New York construction labor, visual/noise/environmental impacts, site and energy demand |
| Negotiation | Early and public engagement; binding agreement before construction; commitments from the responsible entity; provision for expansion; developer-funded imprest account for municipal counsel permitted |
| Pillars (landing page) | Good Neighbor Commitments; Workforce & Labor Standards; Transparency & Accountability; Targeted Investments |
Source for the table: New York State Guidance for Host Communities: Community Investment Framework for Data Center Development (ESD, 2026).
Reception and accounts
Reuters described the recommendation as investments "of at least $1 million per megawatt of utility demand" and quoted ESD President Hope Knight that "because data centers are not major local job generators, their economic development profile differs from traditional manufacturing" (Source: reuters.com). The guidance itself calls the figure a benchmark and counts grid-modernization spending toward it.
Comparison
The framework addresses how host communities share in project value, not whether a facility may be built. It differs from other 2026 state instruments that condition permitting. Massachusetts Executive Order 658 bars state agencies from permitting data centers above 25 MW unless developers meet state clean-energy standards and file a community benefits agreement, and several states have enacted or proposed moratoria; see Data Center Siting / AI Power Politics. Within New York it runs alongside the permit abeyance and the Department of Public Service's ratepayer-protection proceedings, which the guidance says the CIF should build on.
Open questions
- How the four landing-page pillars are specified in the CIF template, which was not captured.
- Whether the July 14 policy outline's wording, reported in a search snippet as a "threshold for contributions," was changed in the final text.
- Whether any locality adopts a binding CIF agreement, and how grid-modernization credits affect the net community payment.
Relationships
- depends-on: New York State Guidance for Host Communities: Community Investment Framework for Data Center Development (ESD, 2026) (guidance text); New York Executive Order No. 62 (Data Center Moratorium, July 2026) (authorizing order)
- related: New York Data-Center Moratorium (2026), Kathy Hochul, Data Center Siting / AI Power Politics