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Committee advances bill setting guardrails for data centers, defining 50‑megawatt threshold
Summary
Representative Butler’s amendment defines data centers as facilities with peak demand of 50 megawatts or more, requires developers to pay for infrastructure impacts, and addresses water and electric infrastructure; the committee approved the bill and sent it to Finance.
Representative Butler described House Bill 1847 as a proactive effort to put guardrails around data-center development. He said the amendment defines a data center (electronic equipment to process, store or transmit digital information with environmental control equipment and a project peak electric demand of 50 megawatts or more), and aims to protect ratepayers by ensuring data centers pay for required infrastructure rather than shifting costs to local customers. “We put a definition in the amendment...a project at peak electric demand of 50 megawatts or more,” Butler said.
Members raised concerns about water usage and discharge, with Chairman Lafferty asking whether the bill’s infrastructure provisions address water similarly to electric infrastructure; Butler replied that the bill addresses all infrastructure — water, electric, roads and fiber — across the board. Members also discussed exemptions for telecommunications centers and potential impacts on adaptive reuse projects; Butler said lowering the threshold below 50 megawatts could unintentionally capture adaptive-reuse projects and chill redevelopment. The committee voted to send HB1847 to Finance (vote: 21 ayes, 0 nays).
Butler also cited private-sector commitments — noting an example of a company planning a gray-water reclamation system in Memphis — as evidence that some applicants already meet the proposed guardrails.
