PA Advances Piecemeal Data Center Bills as Grid Strain Tests Emergency Powers

Update, July 13: The data center sales tax exemption repeal — now backed by both gubernatorial candidates — remains stalled between chambers. The House and Senate have each passed separate bills repealing the sales-and-use tax exemption on data centers’ computer equipment purchases (an estimated $2 billion cost to the state by 2031), but neither chamber has taken up the other’s version. The issue has also become a campaign flashpoint: Republican Stacy Garrity is contrasting her call for mandatory data center standards with Gov. Shapiro’s voluntary GRID framework (environmental, workforce, and energy standards tied to tax incentives), while both stop short of supporting a long-term development moratorium. A Muhlenberg College poll found 64% of PA adults now view data centers as a crisis or problem. 

What happened: 
With no comprehensive data center regulatory framework yet enacted, lawmakers advanced four narrower, mostly bipartisan bills this week.

• House Bill 2359 (Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-Montgomery) would bar local officials from signing nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) tied to data center projects and passed the House 171-31.
• House Bill 2535 (Rep. Christina Sappey, D-Chester) would require data centers to submit floor plans, emergency shutoff locations, and fire suppression details to local officials as a condition of occupancy permits, shielded from public disclosure where safety is a concern; it cleared committee 25-1.
• House Bill 2496 (Rep. Paul Friel), allowing municipalities a 180-day hold on new data center applications, passed the House 201-1 and was unanimously advanced by a Senate committee this week.
• Senate Bill 1345 (Sen. Jarrett Coleman, R-Lehigh), allowing up to an 18-month moratorium on new hyperscale facilities, advanced from committee 10-1.

Separately, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright granted PJM Interconnection — the grid operator covering Pennsylvania and a dozen other states — emergency authority to force data centers onto backup generators and to let power plants exceed pollution limits to prevent blackouts in the 2026 July 4th weekend heat wave.

Why it matters for Pennsylvania nonprofits:
Environmental and public health organizations should note the Department of Energy (DOE) order permits exceeding sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide limits, even temporarily. Community and economic development nonprofits in areas targeted for data center development have a direct stake in the transparency bills. Volunteer fire companies — many organized as nonprofits — are directly implicated in HB 2535’s disclosure requirements, and Rep. Greg Scott flagged compliance costs falling on under-resourced volunteer departments specifically. Nonprofits as ratepayers also have a general interest in how this sector’s growth affects grid reliability and cost.

PANO will continue tracking in the absence of comprehensive statewide legislation.

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Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash