Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is pitching new limits on data centers as part of an “AI bill of rights” he wants the state Legislature to pass in the coming year.
The second-term Republican is among the first governors to push back against a data center boom promoted by the Trump administration. DeSantis argued that Big Tech companies are rushing to build data centers that would make electricity more expensive, water more scarce and local quality of life worse — in exchange for artificial intelligence products that are intrusive, unsafe for children or put people out of work.
“We’re going to make sure that we put Floridians first, that we look out for our own people, and not just have people get harmed by this rush to create data centers,” DeSantis said last week at a press conference in which he also criticized “AI slop.”
DeSantis wants Florida lawmakers to prohibit utilities from charging residential ratepayers more to support data center development. He also wants to bar state or local subsidies for data centers, enable local governments to reject projects more easily and pass more restrictions on data center siting, including setback requirements, noise abatement policies and limits on foreign ownership.
