After a wave of legislation was proposed to regulate data centers, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has delayed and possibly killed the one data center bill that made it to his desk.
Youngkin rejected legislation passed by the commonwealth’s General Assembly earlier this year that would have required data center developers to perform site studies and disclose a range of environmental impacts to local authorities before projects could be approved, InsideNoVa reported.
Rather than signing the bill into law, Youngkin put the legislation on hold indefinitely, sending it back to lawmakers with a recommendation that it not go into effect unless it is reenacted by next year’s General Assembly. That will come after his term in office ends, as Virginia has an election in November and doesn’t allow governors to run for multiple terms.
The bill, HB1601, had passed both chambers of the General Assembly with bipartisan support, leaving its supporters hopeful that the governor would implement the law. Josh Thomas, a delegate representing Prince William County who introduced the bill, called the governor’s decision “disappointing.”
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Dan Rabb over at Bisnow
