Virginia SB 417: Cloud Computing Cluster Infrastructure Grant Fund; reclaimed water usage, definitions.

Bill Text

2026 SESSION

INTRODUCED

26100086D

SENATE BILL NO. 417

Offered January 14, 2026

Prefiled January 13, 2026

A BILL to amend and reenact § 59.1-284.42 of the Code of Virginia, relating to Cloud Computing Cluster Infrastructure Grant Fund; reclaimed water usage.

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Patron—Stuart

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Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology

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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 59.1-284.42 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 59.1-284.42. Cloud Computing Cluster Infrastructure Grant Fund.

A. As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning:

"Affiliate" means an entity that directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with a qualified company.

"Capital investment" means an investment by or on behalf of a qualified company on or after January 1, 2023, but prior to July 1, 2040, in real property, tangible personal property, or both, at a facility that is properly chargeable to a capital account or would be so chargeable with a proper election.

"Construction cost" means any capital investment, except for the purchase of land, by a qualified company on or after January 1, 2023, in real or tangible personal property to develop or support a data center in a locality identified in a memorandum of understanding. "Construction cost" includes infrastructure costs.

"Facility" means the one or more buildings, group of buildings, and ancillary facilities and equipment that are located in a locality or localities identified in a memorandum of understanding and that are owned, occupied, or otherwise operated by or for the qualified company for data center and cloud computing cluster operations.

"Fund" means the Cloud Computing Cluster Infrastructure Grant Fund.

"Grant" means a grant from the Fund awarded to a qualified company that is intended to pay or reimburse the qualified company for (i) infrastructure costs related to the construction and support of facilities and (ii) costs for workforce development, recruiting, and training.

"Infrastructure costs" includes the costs related to fiber, water, wastewater, and stormwater facilities; gas pipelines; electrical transmission and distribution lines; and site clearing, grading, and other improvements to support the construction and development of a facility.

"Locality" means a county or city in the Commonwealth in which a company makes an eligible investment in a facility and creates new full-time jobs, that is identified in a memorandum of understanding, and that has entered into a performance agreement.

"Local match" means the funds committed by a locality identified in a memorandum of understanding to a qualified company related to the construction and operation of a facility. The local match shall be at least twice the amount provided from the Fund to the qualified company related to the construction of, and creation of new full-time jobs at, the facility in such locality, as set forth in a performance agreement. Expenditures by a locality that the Secretary has certified as infrastructure costs incurred by the locality at the request of the qualified company may be counted toward the local match obligation.

"MEI Commission" means the MEI Project Approval Commission established pursuant to Chapter 47 (§ 30-309 et seq.) of Title 30.

"Memorandum of understanding" means a memorandum of understanding entered into on or after January 1, 2023, between a qualified company, the Commonwealth, and VEDP that sets forth (i) the grant amount that the qualified company shall be eligible to receive for each new full-time job created and each $1 million of capital investment in construction costs made; (ii) the total aggregate amount of grants that the qualified company shall be eligible to receive; (iii) the performance date; (iv) the requirements and timing for capital investment and new full-time job creation by the qualified company; (v) the identification of the locality or localities in which such investment and job creation shall take place; and (vi) any other terms and conditions deemed necessary or appropriate to be eligible for grant payments from the Fund.

"New full-time jobs" means job positions created on or after January 1, 2023, but prior to July 1, 2040, in which the employee of a qualified company works at a facility, for which the average annual wage is at least one and one-half times the prevailing wage of the locality where the job is located, and for which the qualified company provides standard fringe benefits. Such position shall require a minimum of either (i) 35 hours of an employee's time per week for the entire normal year of the employer's operations, which normal year shall consist of at least 48 weeks, or (ii) 1,680 hours per year. Seasonal or temporary positions shall not qualify as new full-time jobs. Positions created after January 1, 2023, by contractors that are dedicated full-time to pr