Assembly Bill A10852

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   10852
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                               April 8, 2026
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by M. of A. KELLES -- read once and referred to the Committee
   on Environmental Conservation
 
 AN  ACT to amend the economic development law, the general municipal law
   and the environmental conservation law, in relation  to  enacting  the
   "stop subsidizing data centers act"
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may  be  cited  as
 the "stop subsidizing data centers act".
   §  2. Section 187 of the economic development law is amended by adding
 a new subdivision (h) to read as follows:
   (H) NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER PROVISION OF  LAW,  NO  APPLICATION  FOR
 ECONOMIC  POWER  ALLOCATION  SHALL BE APPROVED UNDER THIS SECTION, WHERE
 SUCH ALLOCATION WOULD BE FOR THE OPERATION OF A  DATA  CENTER.  FOR  THE
 PURPOSES  OF  THIS  SUBDIVISION, THE TERM "DATA CENTER" MEANS A FACILITY
 PRIMARILY HOUSING COMPUTER SYSTEMS OF THE KIND TYPICALLY ASSOCIATED WITH
 TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND/OR DATA STORAGE INFRASTRUCTURE.
   § 3. Subdivision 11 of section 874 of the general  municipal  law,  as
 added  by chapter 563 of the laws of 2015, is amended and a new subdivi-
 sion 13 is added to read as follows:
   (11) (A) Each agency shall develop policies for the return of all or a
 part of the financial assistance provided for the project, including all
 or part of the amount of any tax exemptions, as specified in the policy,
 which [may] SHALL include but [shall] not be limited to material  short-
 falls  in job creation, AS PROVIDED UNDER PARAGRAPH (B) OF THIS SUBDIVI-
 SION, and MAY INCLUDE BUT SHALL NOT BE LIMITED TO retention  projections
 or  material  violations  of  the terms and conditions of project agree-
 ments. All such returned amounts of tax exemptions shall  be  redistrib-
 uted  to  the  appropriate  affected  tax jurisdiction, unless agreed to
 otherwise by any local taxing jurisdiction.
   (B) AN AGENCY'S POLICY FOR THE RETURN OF ALL OR PART OF THE  FINANCIAL
 ASSISTANCE  PROVIDED  FOR  A  PROJECT  FOR  MATERIAL  SHORTFALLS  IN JOB
 CREATION, DEVELOPED PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH (A) OF THIS SUBDIVISION, SHALL
 REQUIRE THAT EACH AGREEMENT EXECUTED BY  SUCH  AGENCY  SHALL  INCLUDE  A
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD14850-01-6
 A. 10852                            2
 
 PROVISION UNDER WHICH SUCH RETURN OF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE SHALL BE TRIG-
 GERED  IF  THE  RECIPIENT  FAILS  TO CREATE AND MAINTAIN A SPECIFIED JOB
 LEVEL WITHIN FIVE YEARS OF PROJECT COMPLETION. SUCH POLICY SHALL PROVIDE
 FOR  THE  ANNUAL  SUBMISSION  OF A CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE WITH SUCH
 SPECIFIED JOB LEVEL UNTIL THE END OF SUCH FIVE-YEAR PERIOD.
   (13) (A) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE SHALL NOT BE AWARDED FOR ANY PROJECT  IN
 AN AMOUNT EXCEEDING FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR EACH FULL-TIME JOB
 ANTICIPATED  TO  BE CREATED BY SUCH PROJECT, AS INDICATED IN THE PROJECT
 APPLICATION.
   (B) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE SHALL NOT BE AWARDED FOR ANY PROJECT THAT IS,
 UPON COMPLETION, CAPABLE OF CONSUMING MORE THAN  ONE  HUNDRED  MEGAWATTS
 DURING NORMAL OPERATIONS.
   (C)  FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS SUBDIVISION, THE TERM "FINANCIAL ASSIST-
 ANCE" SHALL INCLUDE, BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO, SALES TAX EXEMPTIONS,  MORT-
 GAGE RECORDING TAX EXEMPTIONS, AND REAL PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTIONS.
   § 4. Subdivision 6 of section 8-0111 of the environmental conservation
 law,  as added by chapter 612 of the laws of 1975, is amended to read as
 follows:
   6. Lead Agency. When an action is to be carried out or approved by two
 or more agencies, the determination of whether the  action  may  have  a
 significant  effect  on the environment shall be made by the lead agency
 having principal responsibility  for  carrying  out  or  approving  such
 action  and  such  agency  shall  prepare,  or  cause  to be prepared by
 contract or otherwise, the environmental impact statement for the action
 if such a statement is required by this article. In the event that there
 is a question as to which is the lead agency, any agency may submit  the
 question  to  the  commissioner and the commissioner shall designate the
 lead agency, giving due consideration to the capacity of such agency  to
 fulfill  adequately  the  requirements of this article.   THE DEPARTMENT
 SHALL BE THE MANDATORY LEAD AGENCY FOR ANY ACTION CAPABLE  OF  CONSUMING
 OVER FIFTY MEGAWATTS DURING NORMAL OPERATIONS.
   §  5.  Section 8-0109 of the environmental conservation law is amended
 by adding a new subdivision 10 to read as follows:
   10. AN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT SHALL BE PREPARED FOR ANY ACTION
 FOUND TO BE LOCATED WITHIN TEN MILES OF A  FEDERALLY  RECOGNIZED  INDIAN
 NATION'S  TERRITORY.  PRIOR  TO  THE  PREPARATION  OF SUCH ENVIRONMENTAL
 IMPACT STATEMENT, THE APPLICANT SHALL CONSULT WITH SUCH  INDIAN  NATION,
 AND  INCLUDE  ANY  COMMENTS  SUBMITTED BY SUCH INDIAN NATION PURSUANT TO
 SUCH CONSULTATION IN ITS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT.
   § 6. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
 it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition,  amend-
 ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
 tation  of  this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and
 completed on or before such effective date.