{"id":49147,"date":"2026-08-16T20:10:34","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T15:10:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=49147"},"modified":"2026-08-16T20:10:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T15:10:34","slug":"rep-ro-khanna-calls-for-data-center-bill-of-rights-and-says-the-industry-needs-regulation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=49147","title":{"rendered":"Rep. Ro Khanna calls for \u2018Data Center Bill of Rights\u2019 and says the industry needs regulation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"anchor-b063a9\" class=\"body-graf\">Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., called for a \u201cData Center Bill of Rights,\u201d arguing in an interview on NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press\u201d that data centers needed to be regulated so local communities have a larger say on where to build them.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-ffef01\" class=\"body-graf\">Earlier this month, Khanna introduced a Data Center Bill of Rights resolution laying out a series of suggested guardrails on data centers, which have become a prominent issue in elections across the country.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-af0c50\" class=\"body-graf\">Asked by moderator Kristen Welker whether the U.S. could lead the world in artificial intelligence if it opposes data center infrastructure, Khanna argued that \u201cyou can\u2019t shove a data center down the throats of a local community without any say that that community has.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"styles_inlineImage__FvnTh styles_medium__MEKii\" id=\"anchor-80f6b9\"><picture class=\"styles_image__i32F7\" data-testid=\"picture\" data-flavor=\"fit\" data-original-height=\"1467\" data-original-width=\"2200\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1000px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260722-Data-Center-protest-NY-aa-956-cb5a5c.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260722-Data-Center-protest-NY-aa-956-cb5a5c.jpg 1x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260722-Data-Center-protest-NY-aa-956-cb5a5c.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260722-Data-Center-protest-NY-aa-956-cb5a5c.jpg 1x\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260722-Data-Center-protest-NY-aa-956-cb5a5c.jpg\" alt=\"tu051226_datacenters advocates\" height=\"1467\" width=\"2200\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"caption styles_caption__TCewG\" data-testid=\"caption\"><span class=\"caption__container\" data-testid=\"caption__container\">Environmental advocates and progressive lawmakers hold a rally in support of legislation that would put a moratorium on new data centers in New York.<\/span><span class=\"caption__source\" data-testid=\"caption__source\">Will Waldron \/ Albany Times Union via Getty Images file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"anchor-cbb0d7\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cYou can\u2019t be jacking up electricity prices,\u201d he said. \u201cEven the technology leaders understand that there needs to be a pause so that we can get this right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-69e277\" class=\"body-graf\">Asked to clarify that he was not opposed to data centers but believes they need to be regulated, Khanna said, \u201cI believe it needs regulation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-c17902\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cI introduced a Data Center Bill of Rights, saying it should never be in a residential community or farmland, and a local community should have the say of whether to do it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-f50f29\" class=\"body-graf\">Khanna\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/khanna.house.gov\/media\/press-releases\/release-rep-khanna-introduces-data-center-bill-rights\" target=\"_blank\">resolution<\/a> would affirm that communities can ban data centers in residential areas, reject increases in electric bills and require data centers use clean energy, among other provisions.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-f82aa7\" class=\"body-graf\">Data centers have cropped up across the country to support the rise in artificial intelligence, but the centers have created controversy in local communities, where residents have raised concerns over the centers\u2019 water and energy consumption, noise and air pollution. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-2d2365\" class=\"body-graf\">Now, candidates have had to grapple with data centers as an electoral issue. A <a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/709772\/americans-oppose-data-centers-area.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">March Gallup survey<\/a> found that 71% of Americans somewhat or strongly opposed local construction of AI data centers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., called for a \u201cData Center Bill of Rights,\u201d arguing in an interview on NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press\u201d that data centers needed to be regulated so local communities have a larger say on where to build them. Earlier this month, Khanna introduced a Data Center Bill of Rights resolution laying out a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260816-ro-khanna-vl-1028a-f39957.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/49148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}