No More Secrets on Data Center Projects

You deserve to know what’s happening in your own community. When government officials negotiate with data center developers behind closed doors, families are left in the dark about how these projects could affect their electric bills, water, land, and neighborhoods. It’s your community, and you deserve all the facts so you can have a say in whether a data center is built near you.

That’s why I helped introduce the bipartisan No Secrets for Data Centers Act to increase transparency and prevent government officials from concealing details about proposed data center projects from the public.

Specifically, the bill would:

• Prevent all federal, state, and local government officials from signing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with data center developers to conceal details about proposed projects.
• Invalidate existing NDAs that government officials have signed about these projects.
• Prevent data center operators from receiving government incentives if they’re required to keep project details confidential.

These bills build on several others I’ve co-sponsored to take on Big Tech and protect people against misuse and abuse of artificial intelligence (AI), 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.
• 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 VA Claims AI Accountability Act to require VA employees — not AI — to make the final decisions for approval of disability claims or benefits. The bill also strengthens oversight and accountability for the VA’s digital benefits system.
• The VA AI Transparency Act to require the VA to disclose to every veteran any use of AI by the VA, including in claims processing and customer service chats.

When communities are asked to weigh the benefits and costs of new data center projects, they should never have to do so with incomplete information. The No Secrets for Data Centers Act will help bring these conversations into the open and make sure residents are the ones making decisions about their communities.