We are four weeks into the second half of the General Assembly’s two-year legislative session, and data centers are a major topic in 2026. So far, four data center bills have been introduced in the Senate, and two have been introduced in the House. Conservation League staff will be in Columbia next week, and we encourage you to join us!
In case you missed it, the League recently reached out to encourage folks to ask their Senators to support S 784, which:
- protects families and small businesses from electric rate hikes due to data centers;
- eliminates the state sales-tax exemption for data centers;
- requires water-use reporting;
- sets energy-savings targets for ratepayer-funded energy efficiency incentive program.
S 784 was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, but a hearing has not been scheduled.
Data center in Loudoun County, Va. Photo credit: Hugh Kenny at Piedmont Environmental Council
More recently, another data center bill, S 867, was introduced and referred to the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, where it is moving quickly. Even more recently, yet another data center bill, S902, was introduced and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Stay tuned for more on S 902! An initial subcommittee hearing on S 867 took place last week, and another hearing has been scheduled for this Tuesday, February 17, at 9 AM. We encourage you to come and speak! While S 867 has many good provisions, it could be better, and now is the time to help make that happen.
Like S 784, S 867 includes language on ratepayer protections, but it needs to be strengthened to make sure that data centers pay their own way and to avoid potentially costly litigation over which utility costs should be considered “directly attributable” to serving each new data center. S 867 also requires water-use reporting, and it calls for minimum efficiency standards for water and energy use.
Unlike S 784, S 867 would establish data center siting requirements, including buffers and environmental reviews for large data centers under a new office that would be created within the Department of Environmental Services (DES). While this is generally good, the bill would provide very little time for DES to complete these reviews, and there is no provision for public input. Instead of eliminating the data center sales-tax exemption like S 784, S 867 would retain it and add a new income-tax incentive for data centers that are built at brownfield sites.
Community members opposing a huge data center in Colleton County
S 867 also includes some concerning language about seeking to position South Carolina to be “nationally competitive” at attracting data centers and AI-driven industry here. Given their enormous resource consumption, environmental impacts, and relatively little job creation, the Conservation League is not convinced that it is in South Carolinians’ best interest to attract more data centers to our state.
The next subcommittee hearing on S 867 will take place in Room 308 of the Gressette Building on the Statehouse Grounds at 9 AM, Tuesday, February 17. You will need to pass through security to enter the building, and we encourage you to show up early to sign up to speak.