Protecting Local Communities from Data Center Overreach

People in mid-Michigan are tired of big corporations and politicians negotiating backroom deals to put data centers in our communities without hearing from the people who would be impacted the most. Families across our district are understandably concerned about the effect these projects could have on their utility bills, as well as the land and water in their neighborhood. 

It’s your community, and I believe the decision to move forward with a data center project should be yours – not Washington’s.

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That’s why I’m leading two new bills to put a stop to the overreach that is undermining local control over the issue of data centers, including:

• The Protecting Local Control of Data Centers Act to prohibit federal agencies from overriding local authority to reject data centers. It would also prevent agencies from using federal funding for a data center to force state and local governments to give up their authority.
• The No Data Center NDAs Act to prohibit members of Congress from signing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) about data centers, including any information about possible locations or how much water or energy a data center is expected to consume.

Click here to read more about these bills in the Detroit News.

These bills build on several other bills I’ve co-sponsored to take on Big Tech and protect people against misuse and abuse of artificial intelligence (AI), including:

• The Children Harmed by AI Technology (CHAT) Act to require AI chatbots to implement age verification measures and protections for minors. The bill requires parental consent for minors using chatbots, bans chatbots from engaging in sexually explicit communications with minors, and requires chatbots to notify a minor’s parent if the minor’s chat shows signs of suicidal ideation.
• The AI Threat Output and Monitoring Incident Containment Act to test advanced AI systems to prevent risks to nuclear safety.
• The Human Authority over Autonomous Weapons Act to ensure that no autonomous or artificial intelligence-enabled weapon system used by the United States military can carry out an intentionally lethal strike without meaningful human oversight or a human decision-maker in the loop.

The bottom line is this: You and your family deserve to know all the facts and have the final say over any proposed data center project. By banning federal overreach and secrecy pledges, my bills will empower residents — from Mason to Lansing to Lyon Township — to decide what is best for their own communities.