Florida governor Ron DeSantis has signed a new law that enacts a range of regulations governing how large data centers are permitted, powered, and financed in the state.

SB 484 sets out a range of provisions, including prohibiting utilities from passing data center infrastructure costs on to residential and small-business ratepayers and requiring large-scale users to bear their full cost of service. It also bars utilities from providing service to data centers owned or controlled by foreign countries of concern.

The bill also preserves local government authority over zoning, permitting, and planning decisions, allowing communities to impose stricter standards or deny projects outright. A dedicated permitting process for large-scale data centers will be established under the law, with major modifications treated as new applications rather than amendments.

The bill also addresses water use from the data center sector, blocking water management districts and the Department of Environmental Protection from issuing consumptive use permits to large-scale data centers under certain conditions. In addition, it will allow reclaimed water to count toward permitting requirements, which was a concession to operators seeking alternatives to freshwater sources.

Finally, on issues of transparency, the law requires public disclosure of data center development agreements after an initial exemption period expires, and establishes statutory definitions intended to close classification loopholes.

“Today in Lakeland, I signed legislation to protect our citizens and communities from hyperscale data centers. These are much-needed protections for taxpayers and our natural resources,” said DeSantis. “SB 484 ensures that local governments maintain the authority to reject data center development in their communities, prevents data center costs from being passed on to consumers, including electricity costs, and protects Florida’s water resources from data center consumption.”

The bill passed the Florida Senate 37-0 and cleared the House 92-16 before receiving final Senate approval in a 31-6 vote. It will take effect July 1, 2026.

The state becomes the latest to enact legislation focused on protecting ratepayers from the impacts of data center growth.

Ohio was one of the first states to pass legislation to this effect, with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) approving a new rate class in July. It requires new data center customers in Ohio to pay for a portion of their energy requests, even if they use less, to cover the cost of the infrastructure required to bring electricity to those facilities.