California Environmental Quality Act: environmental leadership development projects: data centers: geothermal powerplant projects.

Removed explicit authority for the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation to require regular compliance reporting by data center operators and to initiate enforcement proceedings (including administrative civil penalties) for noncompliance with statewide standards. The new language only requires development of uniform statewide standards, without specifying enforcement mechanisms.

Removed Section 21080.06 from the list of sections being added to the Public Resources Code. That section was empty (contained no operative text), so this is a cleanup change.

Fixed a drafting error in Section 21183.6(a) where paragraph (5) was listed twice ('(1), (2), (3), or (5) (5), or (6)') and corrected it to '(1), (2), (3), (5), or (6)'.

Changed geothermal powerplant certification language from 'a geothermal powerplant that meets certain criteria' to 'a geothermal powerplant that is certified by the lead agency to meet certain criteria,' adding an explicit lead agency certification step before Governor certification as an environmental leadership development project.

The legislative counsel's digest changed from 'clean energy geothermal powerplant projects' to 'geothermal powerplant projects,' removing the 'clean energy' modifier from the description of geothermal powerplants in the bill summary.

The agency responsible for developing uniform statewide standards for data centers changed from the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (SERC) alone to the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation in consultation with SERC and other state agencies as necessary. The standards must now be developed as part of guidelines under Section 21184(c).

A new exemption (F) was added to the data center definition: a research facility operated by an independent institution of higher education, as defined by Section 66010 of the Education Code, is excluded from the data center category.

The national security facility exemption was narrowed from any 'national security facility' to only a 'publicly funded national security facility,' meaning privately operated national security facilities would now be treated as data centers subject to CEQA review.

Geothermal powerplant projects certified under the bill may now include a collocated critical minerals extraction facility using the same geothermal brine resources, which extracts lithium or other critical minerals as defined by the U.S. Geological Survey under Section 7002 of the Energy Act of 2020.

Greenhouse gas quantification and mitigation requirements in Section 21183.6 now explicitly apply to geothermal powerplant projects (paragraph 6) in addition to data center projects (paragraph 5), extending the same GHG offset hierarchy to both project types.

Two legislative findings were removed: one stating California is home to the third largest number of data centers in the country behind Virginia and Texas, and another projecting that electricity and water demand could rise over 350 percent between 2023 and 2028.

The data center definition was moved from being embedded in Section 21084 to a new standalone section (21061.6) and reworded. The old definition described it as a 'large-scale energy consumer that requires uninterruptible electricity'; the new definition describes it as a facility housing computing infrastructure including GPUs, CPUs, servers, storage, networking equipment, and associated power and cooling systems.

A new section 21080.08 was added (containing the CEQA applicability provision for data centers) while section 21080.06 appears to have been left as a placeholder with no operative text, replacing the prior structure where 21080.06 contained the applicability language.

New Section 21061.6 adds a standalone CEQA definition of 'data center' as a facility housing computing infrastructure (GPUs, CPUs, servers, storage, networking equipment, power and cooling systems) for processing, storing, or distributing electronic data. It also defines 'facility' to include contiguous or adjacent properties under common ownership or control.

Section 21084(f)(2) was restructured: the positive definition of 'data center' was removed from this subsection (moved to new Section 21061.6), leaving only the list of exclusions (publicly funded research, public safety, national security, publicly owned facilities, and utility/telecommunications facilities).

The 50-megawatt peak demand threshold was removed from the data center definition in Section 21180(b)(5)(C). Previously, only data centers requiring at least 50 MW of peak demand qualified for environmental leadership project certification; now all data centers meeting the other conditions are eligible.

Section 21180(b)(5)(A)(i) now requires the applicant to pay the full cost of interconnection 'in advance' (previously just 'pays'), and specifies that the amount is determined by the Public Utilities Commission or a local publicly owned utility.

Section 21180(b)(5)(A)(vi) was substantially rewritten. Previously it required full recovery of grid investment costs from the data center operator if operations ceased. Now it requires the applicant to enter into an enforceable commitment with the loading service entity or a local publicly owned utility to fully pay all electrical grid investments, and that commitment must include an early termination fee process for when operations cease before costs are fully recovered.

Section 21080.06 now references the new standalone definition in Section 21061.6 rather than the embedded definition in Section 21084(f)(2), making the data center definition apply more broadly across CEQA.

Two additional Senate coauthors (Gonzalez and Reyes) were added to the bill.

Section 21084(f)(2) now explicitly excludes from the 'data center' definition: publicly funded research facilities, public safety facilities, national security facilities, publicly owned facilities, and other utility facilities including assets of facilities-based telecommunications providers. These facilities would no longer be subject to the data center-specific CEQA review requirements.

New Section 21084(f)(3) defines 'facility' for purposes of the data center definition as physical property, a plant, building, structure, source, or stationary equipment on contiguous or adjacent properties under common ownership or control, separated only by a public roadway or right-of-way.

Section 21080.06 changed from applying to 'a project for the issuance of entitlements' to applying directly to 'the issuance of entitlements,' removing the intermediate 'project' framing and potentially broadening applicability slightly.

The community benefits agreement requirement in Section 21180(b)(5)(A)(x) was changed from requiring 'an enforceable scope of work agreement' to simply 'an enforceable agreement,' giving data center developers more flexibility in the structure of their community commitments.

Fixed a duplicated statutory reference in Section 21180(b)(5)(A)(xi) from 'Sections 25545.3.3 25545.3, 25545.3.3, and 25545.3.5' to 'Sections 25545.3, 25545.3.3, and 25545.3.5.'

Removed redundant language in the geothermal powerplant provision (paragraph 6), changing 'meeting certified by the lead agency to meet' to simply 'certified by the lead agency to meet.'

Section 21080.06 now applies CEQA only to 'the issuance of entitlements related to the development and operation of a data center' rather than to any project for 'the development and operation of a data center,' narrowing when CEQA review is triggered.

The standalone condition requiring data centers to 'contain a community benefits program' (former item ix) was removed. The requirement to meet Section 21189.82(c) remains as the new item ix, and the community benefits agreement requirement in item x is retained.

Data center projects must now meet Sections 25545.3, 25545.3.3, AND 25545.3.5 of the Water Code (previously only 25545.3.3 and 25545.3.5), adding an additional water-related compliance obligation.

The broad 'clean renewable energy powerplant using any source of thermal energy' category was replaced with a narrower geothermal-specific category that requires lead agency certification AND compliance with both the renewable energy criteria in Section 21189.81 and water code Sections 25545.3, 25545.3.3, and 25545.3.5.

The community benefits agreement language was clarified from 'enforceable scope of work' to 'enforceable scope of work agreement,' and 'community based organizations' was corrected to 'community-based organizations.'

Section 21183.6(a) had a duplicate reference to paragraph (3) that was cleaned up; the substantive scope of greenhouse gas mitigation requirements remains unchanged for paragraphs 1, 2, 3, and 5.

New Section 21080.06 added to the Public Resources Code stating that CEQA applies to data center projects as defined in Section 21084, replacing the previous approach of amending Section 21080 to remove data centers from the ministerial project exemption and amending Section 21080.69 to exclude data centers from the advanced manufacturing exemption.

The amendment to Section 21080 that specified data centers are not ministerial projects exempt from CEQA was removed, along with the definition of data center in that section.

The amendment to Section 21080.69 that excluded data centers from the advanced manufacturing facility categorical exemption was removed entirely, including the declaratory law provision for that section.

A new category of environmental leadership development project was added: a geothermal powerplant meeting the criteria for an eligible renewable energy resource specified in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (d) of Section 21189.81.

The definition of 'data center' in Section 21180(b)(5)(C) was narrowed by removing the requirement to consume 1,000,000 gallons of water per day. The definition now only requires at least 50 megawatts of peak demand.

Data center projects seeking environmental leadership certification must now enter into one or more legally binding and enforceable community benefits agreements with community-based organizations such as workforce development organizations, labor unions, community foundations, local governmental entities, or California Native American tribes. The applicant must engage with nearby affected communities to identify priority benefits, and the agreement must include an enforceable scope of work.

The previous requirement that data center projects contain a project labor agreement and prevailing wage requirement consistent with Section 21183.5 was removed and replaced with the community benefits agreement requirement.

Section 21183.6 was amended to extend greenhouse gas quantification and mitigation requirements to data center projects (paragraph (5) of Section 21180(b)), in addition to the previously covered project types (paragraphs 1, 2, and 3).

A new condition was added requiring data center projects to meet the requirements of subdivision (c) of Section 21189.82.

New amendment to Public Resources Code Section 21084 adds subdivision (f), which prohibits any categorical exemption from being applied to a project for the development and operation of a data center. This closes a loophole that would have allowed data centers to bypass CEQA review through categorical exemptions, on top of the existing provisions blocking ministerial and advanced manufacturing exemptions.

The bill now authorizes the Governor to certify a clean renewable energy powerplant project using any source of thermal energy that does not burn, use, or rely on fossil fuels as an environmental leadership development project, extending streamlining benefits beyond just wind and solar projects.

New requirement that the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission develop uniform statewide standards for the conditions data centers must meet to qualify for Governor certification, along with regular compliance reporting by data center operators and initiation of enforcement proceedings in the event of noncompliance.

The definition of 'data center' in Section 21084(f)(2) is slightly different from the one in Section 21080(b)(1)(B), using 'related equipment and software' rather than 'related data center equipment and software,' potentially creating a broader or differently scoped definition for categorical exemption purposes.

Senators Arreguín and Weber Pierson were added as coauthors, indicating broader Senate support for the bill.