California data-center bill package — chaptered texts (Chapters 434–440, Statutes of 2026)

This page summarizes the chaptered texts of seven California bills that Governor Gavin Newsom approved on September 21, 2026 and that were filed with the Secretary of State the same day as Chapters 434 through 440 of the Statutes of 2026. All seven are 2025–26 Regular Session bills. Together they add or amend sections of the Government Code, the Public Resources Code, the Public Utilities Code, the Business and Professions Code and the Water Code, covering data-center energy reporting, electricity tariffs, water disclosures, workforce disclosures and environmental review. The Governor's office announced the package under the headline "most comprehensive data center laws in the nation" (Source: gov.ca.gov). For legislative history, reactions and comparison with other jurisdictions, see California data-center laws (2026).

The seven chapters

The Governor's release lists SB 886 as authored by Senators Steve Padilla and Jerry McNerney; the chaptered digest names Padilla alone.

Definitions of "data center"

The bills share a core definition: a facility, or part of a facility, that houses computing infrastructure, "including graphics and central processing units, servers, storage devices, networking equipment, and associated power and cooling systems, for the primary purpose of processing, storing, or distributing electronic data." They differ in thresholds and carve-outs.

• AB 1577 (Pub. Res. Code § 25302.10(a)(2)) excludes a facility with an electrical capacity of less than 10 megawatts.
• AB 2383 (Pub. Util. Code § 945.1) adds a definition of "facility" (contiguous or adjacent properties under common ownership or control, including those separated only by a public roadway) and defines participating, nonparticipating and unbundled customers. The generation tariffs apply above a demand threshold that the regulator sets at no more than 25 megawatts.
• AB 2619 (Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 16000.4(a)(1), 16100.4(a)(1)) sorts data centers into Type I, "also commonly known as a 'hyperscale data center,'" with more than 10,000 servers or power consumption above 25 megawatts; Type II, from 2 to 25 megawatts; and Type III, below two megawatts.
• SB 887 (Pub. Res. Code § 21061.6) adds the core definition to CEQA with the same "facility" definition as AB 2383.

AB 1577, AB 2383 (for the generation tariff) and SB 887 (for the categorical-exemption bar) exclude publicly funded research facilities, public safety facilities, publicly funded national security facilities, publicly owned facilities and utility facilities such as terrestrial telecommunications, cable or internet provider facilities. SB 887 also excludes a research facility operated by an independent institution of higher education.

AB 1577 — energy reporting (Chapter 434)

State reporting (Pub. Res. Code § 25302.10(b)). The State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (the California Energy Commission) must set up a process for data-center owners or operators to report, on energization and after any substantive change, the facility name, addresses, owner or operator contact, month and year operations began, total and IT floor area, anticipated peak capacity as stated in the load interconnection request, and anticipated onsite generation and consumption by generation type. At least annually, disaggregated by month, the operator reports maximum electrical load, installed IT capacity in kilowatts, total energy consumption in kilowatt-hours, power usage effectiveness (defined as total facility energy divided by IT equipment energy), participation in demand flexibility programs, refrigerant types, cumulative cooling degree days, onsite generation by type, fuel consumed by onsite generators by fuel type, and onsite energy storage type, capacity and chemistry. The Commission is to reduce duplicate filings and allow for delays in obtaining data from load-serving entities.

Assessment and publication (§ 25302.10(c)–(d)). Beginning with the 2029 Integrated Energy Policy Report, the Commission must assess data-center load trends, including projections, potential net peak demand and recommendations on grid capacity, reliability and greenhouse-gas impacts. It must publish the submitted information annually "in an anonymized and aggregated format."

Local permits (Gov. Code § 65909.3). On applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement or land-use authorization, the owner or operator must give the city or county estimates of expected annual energy consumption, expected annual onsite generation (behind-the-meter primary and backup) by type, and expected average and maximum sound levels in A-weighted decibels at the loudest point of the property boundary. The local agency may use them for land-use, infrastructure and energy-supply planning and environmental review.

Confidentiality (Gov. Code § 7927.303). Neither the Commission nor a local agency may disclose the information in a way that reveals personally identifiable information or energy consumption data "for a specific data center customer." Section 4 of the chapter makes the findings the California Constitution requires for a limit on public access.

AB 2383 — electricity tariffs (Chapter 435)

AB 2383 adds definitions and tariff mandates to the article that SB 886 creates.

• Transmission and distribution tariff (Pub. Util. Code § 945.4). The Public Utilities Commission must require each electrical corporation to file a tariff under which participating data centers pay a reasonable share of costs for wildfire mitigation, wildfire liability, electrification and environmental programs, and other societal cost obligations typically collected from distribution-level ratepayers, to the extent federal law permits.
• Generation tariff for investor-owned utilities (§ 945.5). The tariff must support procurement consistent with Commission requirements and the clean-energy targets of §§ 399.15 and 454.52; require equitable contributions to reliability and other generation-funded programs; and establish a payment mechanism of at least 10 years so that incremental generation costs from the data center's load do not become stranded costs for other customers. The mechanism includes fees for data centers that do not complete interconnection, early termination fees, upfront collateral or prepayment, and a minimum payment based on projected load. A data center may reduce its generation funding requirement by installing zero-emissions resources behind its meter. Onsite generation may not be compensated in a way that shifts costs. The Commission sets the demand threshold at no more than 25 megawatts.
• Generation tariff for community choice aggregators and electric service providers (§ 945.6). By January 1, 2028, each must adopt a data-center generation tariff with the same elements and a threshold of no more than 25 megawatts, and one that "does not result in, or have the potential to result in, increased costs to other retail electricity consumers." The section does not authorize the Commission to regulate those providers' rates.
• Section 945.8 states that the article does not expand the load eligible for direct access.

AB 2469 — water and workforce conditions on local permits (Chapter 436)

Government Code § 65964.7 bars a city or county from approving a discretionary or ministerial permit for construction of a data center, or an expansion that increases maximum peak water use, unless the applicant has provided:

• a water supply assessment under Water Code § 10910 et seq.;
• beginning January 1, 2028, a water scarcity plan, defined as measures for each U.S. Drought Monitor dryness level from abnormally dry to exceptional drought, including staged withdrawal reductions, curtailment of nonessential use, recycling and reuse, thermal load reductions and temporary load shedding;
• projected water use and water-efficiency measures; and
• estimated workforce needs: composition, job classifications, employment duration, wage ranges and benefits, and the shares of the workforce living in the county and in the state.

The applicant must also assume the full cost of water conveyance, treatment, storage or distribution improvements the water supplier determines are needed; that condition is severable (§ 65964.7(c)). Meeting the conditions does not entitle an applicant to approval (§ 65964.7(b)(3)). The Legislature declares water conservation a matter of statewide concern, so the section applies to charter cities.

AB 2619 — water-use estimates and reporting at business licensing (Chapter 437)

Business and Professions Code §§ 16000.4 (cities) and 16100.4 (counties) require a data-center owner or operator, under penalty of perjury, to give its water supplier a good-faith estimate of expected water use, anticipated water source, and projected volume for the maximum day, maximum month and average year before applying for an initial business license or permit, and to report the same estimate on the application. At renewal, the operator reports annual total and direct water use for the preceding calendar year and the facility's cooling system type; direct use is to be identified by source (potable, nonpotable or recycled). The amendment to Water Code § 10632(a)(2)(B)(i) requires an urban water supplier's annual supply-and-demand assessment to count the unconstrained demand "of data centers, irrigation, and other large users." Section 1 states the Legislature's intent that data centers be treated as commercial, industrial and institutional users under the state's "Making Conservation a California Way of Life" regulation.

SB 886 — California Technology Innovation and Ratepayer Protection Act (Chapter 438)

SB 886 creates Article 14.7 of the Public Utilities Code.

• Tariffs (§ 945.2). By January 1, 2028 the Public Utilities Commission must establish new tariffs or update electric rules for interconnection and for retail, transmission, distribution and generation service to participating customers. It must evaluate risks and benefits to nonparticipating customers, ensure the tariffs "prevent the creation of stranded costs for, or cost shifts to, nonparticipating customers," and, for unbundled customers, show generation-component charges as a separate line item.
• Transmission-level interconnection tariff (§ 945.3). The tariff must require an applicant to disclose every other utility territory or jurisdiction where it has applied for the same data center; assign cost responsibility for all transmission upgrades to the data center, including shared network upgrades to the extent federal law permits; limit refunds of interconnection contributions to what the customer's actual net revenues cover, capped at 75 percent of annual net transmission revenue from that customer; and impose an early termination fee on a customer that leaves within 10 years or fails to ramp load, not less than the revenue gap against projected demand over the 10-year term. Participating customers must certify conformance with Public Resources Code §§ 25545.3.3(a)–(b) and 25545.3.5(a)–(e). Utilities must publish maps of locations where data centers can connect without significant transmission upgrades. The section applies to data centers entering new transmission-level interconnection agreements on or after January 1, 2027.
• Demand response (§ 945.7). Participating customers may join a new demand response program that imposes no net cost on other customers.
• Interim contracts (§ 945.9). A utility may file an exceptional-case contract for a transmission-level data center seeking service after January 1, 2027 but before the tariff is approved.

SB 887 — CEQA and environmental leadership certification (Chapter 439)

• CEQA applies (Pub. Res. Code § 21080.08): "Notwithstanding any other law," CEQA applies to entitlements for developing and operating a data center.
• No categorical exemptions (§ 21084(f)): a public-agency project in furtherance of a data center may not be exempted under the CEQA Guidelines' list of categorically exempt classes, subject to the public-facility and higher-education carve-outs listed above.
• Environmental leadership development projects (§ 21180(b)(5)). A data center becomes eligible for gubernatorial certification under the Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2021, which carries CEQA streamlining, if the lead agency certifies eleven conditions: advance payment of the full interconnection cost; no increase in in-state fossil-fuel consumption; zero-carbon storage with at least four hours of capacity at 100 percent of forecast peak demand; use of that storage for grid demand response; behind-the-meter zero-carbon generation to the maximum extent feasible; an enforceable commitment to pay all grid investments, including new generating capacity, with an early termination fee; recycled water and water-efficient or waterless cooling; 100 percent zero-carbon electricity for hourly needs within five years, 75 percent from newly developed resources; the requirements of § 21189.82(c); one or more binding community benefits agreements; and the requirements of §§ 25545.3, 25545.3.3 and 25545.3.5. The Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, consulting the Energy Commission, must develop uniform statewide standards for those conditions (§ 21180(b)(5)(B)).
• Geothermal (§ 21180(b)(6)). Geothermal powerplants meeting renewable-resource and §§ 25545.3–25545.3.5 requirements also become eligible.
• Greenhouse-gas mitigation (§ 21183.6). Certified data-center and geothermal projects follow the Act's mitigation hierarchy: onsite reductions that also cut criteria air pollutants or toxic air contaminants, then reductions within the same air district, then offsets from that district, then regional offsets.

Section 1's findings state that data centers "currently require extremely large loads of electricity and water" and that, if managed incorrectly, their demand can result in "significant cost shifts to ordinary ratepayers and risks of costly stranded assets."

SB 1168 — rate-structure assessment (Chapter 440)

Public Utilities Code § 901 directs the Public Utilities Commission, in a new or existing proceeding, to assess rate structures that would make data centers pay their reasonable share of transmission and distribution costs whether they connect at transmission or distribution level, pay their proportionate share of load increases and procurement consistent with integrated resource planning, and alleviate cost pressure on residential ratepayers, including customers in the CARE and FERA discount programs. The findings state that the California Independent System Operator expects energy use to grow by 2.3 gigawatts by 2030 and that Pacific Gas and Electric Company alone had about 2,300 megawatts of data-center capacity applications in 2024.

What the texts do not contain

None of the seven chapters requires a data-center developer to report expected air-quality impacts. The closest provisions are AB 1577's reporting of fuel consumed by onsite generators and of expected sound levels, and SB 887's mitigation hierarchy, which favors greenhouse-gas reductions that also reduce criteria air pollutants but applies only to projects seeking leadership certification. No chapter imposes a moratorium, a megawatt cap on data centers, or a tax change.

Provenance

Chaptered texts captured from leginfo.legislature.ca.gov on September 27, 2026, one raw file per bill, each containing the heading, Legislative Counsel's Digest, digest key and every enacted section. Chapter numbers and approval dates were read from the chaptered texts. The Governor's signing release is held separately as a supporting source.

Relationships

• instance-of: Data Center Siting / AI Power Politics — state statutory response to data-center siting, water and grid-cost disputes
• related: California data-center laws (2026) — legislation page for the package
• related: Ratepayer Protection Act (H.R. 9340) — federal large-load ratemaking standard under PURPA, pending in the Senate
• related: Massachusetts Executive Order 658 — Responsible Data Center Development and Operations, Virginia Executive Order 22 (2026) — data center accountability and AI task force, New York Data-Center Moratorium (2026) — other state data-center measures of 2026
• related: Energy and Electric Power Sector, AI Environmental Impact