Committee amends data‑center bill to lower foreign‑ownership threshold to 50% and advances measure

The House Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications Committee took action on the bill concerning data centers and foreign adversaries (referred to in committee as Senate Bill 4 31), adopting an amendment to lower the foreign‑ownership threshold and advancing the measure.

The bill would require that, after June 30, a company controlled by a foreign adversary may not construct a data center in Indiana unless the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation jointly certify that the proposed data center’s electricity use will be self‑generated and will not affect the load profile of the relevant regional transmission organization. The bill incorporates the federal list of foreign adversaries discussed in testimony (committee discussion listed China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and the Maduro regime in Venezuela as examples on the federal list).

Representative Culp proposed (and the committee accepted by consent) a technical change to the ownership threshold: the bill previously referenced a more than‑51 percent ownership test and was modified to instead use a 50 percent ownership threshold (the committee text adopted language described in committee as "at least 50%" or equivalent language). The chair said the amendment would be taken by consent; the committee then moved, seconded and adopted the amendment and advanced the bill to a roll‑call vote.

Roll call and outcome

The committee called the roll and the motion to amend and advance the bill carried on the recorded vote. Committee members recorded as voting in favor included Chairman Saliday, Representatives Hall, Culp, Devan, Pressel, Jeter, Morris, Schonkweiler, Pierce, Hamilton, Burton and Pryor (the chair announced "12 passes"). The committee chair declared the bill amended and advanced.

Reliability and security concerns cited in testimony

Luke Wilson of the IURC described a North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) report and an incident in Texas where large load losses at data centers produced reliability concerns; he stressed that large, rapid changes in load can create frequency and voltage issues and argued the bill’s joint‑study approach is intended to give grid operators and regulators advance visibility into planned large loads.

Sponsor comments and committee disposition

Senator Cook described the bill as addressing the intersection of data centers, electricity and national security. Committee members discussed whether the bill duplicated or overlapped with prior legislation (a previously referenced foreign‑ownership provision discussed in the legislature this session) and agreed to the ownership‑threshold amendment. The committee accepted the amendment by consent, and the chair called and recorded the vote that the chair reported as passing with 12 affirmative votes.

Speakers quoted and appearing in the hearing are named in the committee record.