Bill requires big data centers to report water and power use.
S. 5054 — Data Center Tax Accountability and Disclosure Act of 2026 · Filed by Mark Warner (D-VA) · Introduced Jul 21, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
Large data centers must tell the government and states how much water they use. They must report electricity use and emissions too. Data centers serving artificial intelligence need green building certification to keep a tax break. Companies that break the rules pay up to $100,000 per day in fines.
Who it affects
Data centers with 25 or more megawatts must report their use. People in communities near data centers can see water and power use. Data center companies may face higher costs without green certification.
One thing to notice
The bill ties a tax break to green building certification. This costs money and may hurt smaller data center companies.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Jul 21, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jul 21, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Finance · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- megawatts — Units that measure how much electricity a building uses or produces.
- emissions — Gases and other things released into the air, often from burning fuel.
- green building certification — A label showing a building meets high standards for saving water and energy.
- tax break — A reduction in the taxes a company owes to the government.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (17,989 characters) on Jul 28, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
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