The Pennsylvania House of Representatives has passed two bills addressing the expansion of data centers, focusing on local zoning and resource use reporting.

Lawmakers approved House Bill 2151 in a 124–77 vote and House Bill 2150 in a 133–68 vote, both introduced by Rep. Kyle Donahue, Democrat.

House Bill 2151 directs the Department of Community and Economic Development to produce a model zoning ordinance for municipalities to use when regulating data centers. The guidance would be optional and seeks to aid local governments in addressing issues such as siting, facility scale, noise, and infrastructure demands. The bill would not impose statewide siting requirements but could have an impact on how municipalities evaluate projects and resolve zoning disputes.

“Right now, communities across the Commonwealth lack clear standards to address the noise, size, water usage, and other impacts data centers can have on local neighborhoods,” Donahue said. “House Bill 2151 gives municipalities an optional tool they can use to ensure data centers are responsibly sited and operated while protecting residents' quality of life. The rapid growth of data centers across our state has real impacts on the neighborhoods around them, and that growth shouldn't come at the expense of the people who live, work, and go to school nearby.”

House Bill 2150 requires data center operators to report energy and water use to the Department of Environmental Protection, which would publish an annual report on cumulative impacts. The measure would also introduce a statewide dataset on resource consumption in the sector.

Proponents, including groups such as the Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club of Pennsylvania, say the bills improve oversight. Opponents, including Food & Water Watch, contend that they fall short.

Even though municipalities would not be forced to adopt the model ordinance, it may be cited in zoning disputes as evidence of what is considered reasonable — and Harrisburg should not be deciding what's reasonable,” said Ginny Marcille-Kerslake, Eastern Pennsylvania senior organizer for Food & Water Watch.

“[Governor] Shapiro's mad dash to bring Big Tech data centers to the Commonwealth will only hurt the communities looking for good-faith guidance,” Marcille-Kerslake said.

“The Senate must side with families over Big Tech and stop HB 2151. Instead, we need a data center moratorium to protect Pennsylvanians and the environment by pausing development so local government and state agencies can evaluate the impacts and update their regulations.

“Until then, any development of these energy-hungry, water-guzzling facilities is irresponsible,” she added.

Both bills will now move to the state Senate.

The bills are not the first to target the data center market. In March, the Pennsylvania House passed a bill seeking to shield ratepayers from rising utility costs related to data center growth in the state. Under the proposal, the new rate would apply to facilities with a capacity of 25MW or more and prohibit public utilities from shifting the costs of new generation and transmission infrastructure onto ratepayers.