Legislation awaiting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature is aimed at ensuring hyper-scale data centers in Florida bear the full financial burden of powering their own facilities and that costs do not fall to average Floridians.

The bill, approved by legislators earlier this month on the last day of their annual session, lays out the first regulations in the state on hyper-scale data centers, massive facilities designed for the storage and processing of the data needed for streaming services, cloud storage and artificial intelligence applications. Multiple data centers have been proposed in the state, including three in southeast Florida, inland from the Treasure Coast and West Palm Beach.

The proposals have sparked concerns over environmental impacts and their potential to boost energy rates in the state, as utilities may need to enhance their infrastructure and even build more power plants to accommodate the vast amount of electricity the facilities require. A single hyper-scale data center can consume as much energy as 500,000 homes, enough to constitute a metro area the size of Orlando. The demand coincides with overwhelming scientific consensus about the need to conserve energy use and stem the fossil fuel emissions that have accelerated the planet’s warming since the industrial age, leading to more extreme disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires.

More states are approving regulations as data centers proliferate across the country, but in Florida there are questions about the protections for average ratepayers. While SB 484 establishes as state law that costs cannot be shifted to ratepayers, the measure effectively leaves the task of implementing the policy to the utilities, said Anna Haensch, associate research professor at the Data Science Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The legislation requires electric providers to file documents laying out how they intend to comply with the measure by Oct. 1 with the Public Service Commission (PSC), which oversees the state’s utilities. Haensch said a public comment period would follow, a process that puts the burden on average Floridians to assess how each plan will work.

“This is all really new territory,” said Haensch, who wished for more specifics on how the bill would be implemented.

“It’s going to be dependent so much on execution and the political dynamics,” she said. “It’s going to depend a lot on what the Public Service Commission is aiming for, what their end goal is. I think it’s going to depend on if there is a great appetite for data center development. This leaves room to still privilege the needs of a data center over the needs of a ratepayer, and if the PSC is game to do that there are still lots of little holes they could walk through.”

How the measure is implemented also will depend on local governments, which are responsible for comprehensive planning and land development regulations, said Christina Reichert, senior attorney at Earthjustice, an environmental advocacy group. While the legislation does not take effect until July 1, some data center proposals face local government decisions before then, such as one dubbed Project Tango that the Palm Beach County Commission will discuss in April. She characterized the legislation as a good step but also wanted more specifics.

“There are still questions on whether or not this legislation will ensure that residential rates don’t go up,” she said. “It’s unclear how it’s going to play out until we start to see how it’s being applied to specific data centers.”

Lawmakers approved the legislation after DeSantis, a Republican, announced a proposal in December for an “AI Bill of Rights.” The proposal also called for protections related to data centers for ratepayers against higher energy rates, for local governments to stand up against the pressure of development in their communities and also for Florida’s environment. DeSantis said he was motivated by concerns over AI and personal privacy and harms to children, for instance, although his stance represented an unusual parting of ways for the governor from President Donald Trump, who signed an executive order in December opposing state regulations on artificial intelligence. A spokesman for DeSantis’ office said the governor would review the bill.

Hyper-scale data centers are composed of buildings filled with computers and servers that run 24 hours a day. The equipment produces a lot of heat, and in addition to power, the facilities require an enormous amount of water for cooling, raising alarm in a state where much of the drinking water supply is based on groundwater. Some aquifers are already overtapped.

SB 484 is also designed to safeguard Florida’s fragile water resources by prohibiting the data centers where the water use would be deemed harmful. The measure requires the facilities to rely on reclaimed water rather than surface or groundwater, and their operators must produce a water conservation plan that involves recycling water, among other things. But Reichert said the bill does little to address concerns about pollution related to wastewater disposal. Sen. Bryan Avila, a Miami Springs Republican who sponsored the bill, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The legislation calls for an independent study of policy considerations related to data centers in the state. A provision that would have prohibited government agencies from entering into non-disclosure agreements over data centers was removed before lawmakers approved the measure.

“Non-disclosure agreements are good for big businesses and bad for communities,” Haensch said. She thought the lack of transparency would heighten the fear and uncertainty around the facilities. “I don’t think it’s the right thing right now for a data center to be doing a lot of work or trying to come into a community under an NDA.”