Newsom faces fresh data center backlash tests

Newsom faces – Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill last year that would have required proposed data centers to estimate their water use, and opposition has only sharpened since. As new bills advance in California—while the Trump administration declines to set national standards—

SACRAMENTO — A year after Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a proposal that would have required data centers to estimate their water usage, the governor is again being asked the same question—this time in a political climate that looks far less forgiving.

Newsom’s veto last year came after he said he was “reluctant to impose rigid reporting requirements” without understanding how such rules would affect businesses and consumers. Now. as several bills to regulate data centers and increase public transparency move through the California Legislature. the calculus facing him has shifted. Public opposition to the sprawling tech hubs—whose growth has been driven by the worldwide boom in artificial intelligence—has escalated across the state and. increasingly. across the country.

“I think the governor is in a fragile position,” said Megan Mullin, a public policy professor at UCLA. “Tech has been a long backer of his, but at the same time there is this growing national outcry against data centers.”

Data centers are hardly new. What’s changed is their scale. News centers built to power artificial intelligence are far larger than earlier facilities. and they require immense amounts of water and energy. The facilities also contribute to fossil fuel emissions. Cornell University researchers estimated last year that AI growth could add 24 to 44 million metric tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere annually by 2030.

Those emissions, the article notes, are drivers of climate change and are linked to a range of health conditions, including asthma, various cancers and birth defects.

At the national level, federal policy has not stepped in to fill the gap. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced last week that the Trump administration will not set national environmental requirements or recommendations for the data center industry. leaving state lawmakers to determine what policies should look like.

That vacuum is why some academics think California’s approach will ripple outward. “California’s laws will create a national model,” said Thad Kousser, a political science professor at UC San Diego. “We’re the home of Silicon Valley and we’re just a massive state — the way we regulate data centers will set the tone.”.

The political landscape around data centers has changed since Newsom’s October veto, Dan Schnur said. Schnur, a political science professor who teaches at UC Berkeley and USC, pointed to the way voters’ concerns have intensified. “No one should assume he will automatically act in the same way,” Schnur said. “Newsom is an incredibly savvy politician so he is clearly aware that voters are a lot more upset or concerned about data centers than they were a year ago.”.

A Gallup poll released last month found 7 out of 10 Americans oppose data centers being built in their area.

Supporters argue the projects bring benefits too. Data centers can create thousands of jobs for construction workers and generate significant revenue for local governments through sales and property taxes. The artificial intelligence they power is also. at least temporarily. boosting the stock market. which can lead to more tax dollars for California.

But residents living near hyperscale centers describe daily frustrations and worsening stress. from health impacts and spiking utility bills to constant noise. dropping water pressure. and concerns about potentially losing their land through eminent domain. Community meetings about data centers have grown contentious. with police arresting a farmer in Oklahoma. three women in Wisconsin and a man in California.

In California, the backlash has moved from anger to ballots. Earlier this month, residents of Monterey Park voted overwhelmingly to ban data centers, making the San Gabriel Valley city the first in the nation to do so by public vote.

For Schnur, that shift helps explain why politicians who once courted data-center projects now appear eager to distance themselves. “Six months ago. politicians of both parties were falling all over each other to bring data centers into their states. ” Schnur said. “Now that the public backlash has erupted, they are working just as hard to distance themselves from these projects.”.

Schnur added that Newsom’s political future may factor into how far he’s willing to go. Newsom has been eyeing a presidential bid in 2028, and Schnur said the governor might be reluctant to brand himself as a defender of an industry that has become increasingly unpopular.

“There’s another concern,” Schnur said. “The tech community is a critical part of Newsom’s donor base, so he has to keep fundraising in mind when he makes these decisions.”

A spokesperson for the governor’s office declined to comment on data centers or pending legislation.

Newsom’s own public framing of the issue has never dismissed the concerns outright. During an interview at a Center for American Progress conference in May. Newsom said the concern that data centers may drive up electricity costs for Californians is a “legit issue. ” but not the main one. “The tech genie is not going to go back in the bottle,” Newsom said. “Just saying that you should not or cannot build a data center is not going to slow this technology down. What can be, will be. Nature of technology. And so we just have to steer it and not make the mistakes we made with social media.”.

In the Legislature, the question now is whether the state can “steer” without triggering a fight with the tech industry—or without provoking voters who say they’ve already been forced to absorb the costs.

Among the measures moving forward are two bills from Sen. Steve Padilla (D-San Diego). SB 886 would create a corporate tariff to cover the cost of data center-related grid upgrades. SB 887 would ban data centers from receiving ministerial exemptions from the California Environmental Quality Act, known as CEQA.

Neither bill picked up support from Republicans, but both cleared the Senate and were recently referred to the Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee.

Padilla represents Imperial County. a farming community near the border of Mexico where plans for a 950. 000-square-foot data center face fierce opposition from residents. The county exempted the proposal from CEQA, which requires projects to undergo an extensive state environmental review before breaking ground.

The city of Imperial sued the county earlier this year, arguing the project should not have received an exemption. The San Diego Chapter of the Sierra Club joined the lawsuit last month. The county board of supervisors last week approved a 45-day moratorium on all new data centers to allow the county to evaluate proposed data center development.

Two other data center-related bills recently passed the Assembly. with support from a few Republicans. and now await action from the Senate. AB 2619. from Assemblymember Diane Papan (D-San Mateo). would require data center owners to provide an estimate under penalty of perjury about expected water usage and sources before applying for a business license. AB 1577. from Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda). would require data center owners to submit monthly information to a state commission about water and fuel consumption.

Ben Green. an assistant public policy professor at the University of Michigan who is researching how data centers impact communities. called reporting requirements a “bare minimum” form of regulation. He said it is especially noteworthy that Newsom vetoed a similar measure last year. Green pointed to other states considering more restrictive bills. including New York. which recently sent legislation to the governor’s desk that would enact a one-year moratorium.

Green also said data centers could be a hot topic in upcoming elections because Americans on both sides of the aisle are expressing concerns. “There’s not an easy fix for getting the public on board with data centers because their critiques are grounded in reality. ” Green said. “This is not just some sort of reactionary NIMBY-ism or pearl clutching.”.

The governor’s next move will land in the space between what he said he needed—clear understanding of impacts before imposing “rigid reporting requirements”—and a growing body of public pressure that argues the impacts are no longer theoretical. With federal regulators stepping back and states filling the void. California is now the place where the next test of that balance is about to begin.

Gavin Newsom data centers artificial intelligence California legislation water usage CEQA SB 886 SB 887 AB 2619 AB 1577 Monterey Park ban Imperial County moratorium Lee Zeldin EPA