California SB 978: State government: budget: state publications: format.

Bill Text

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 
 Bill Text - SB-978 Data centers: labor: electricity rates.

• 

• skip to content

• home

• accessibility

• FAQ

• feedback

• sitemap

• login

• x

 Quick Search:

 Bill Number
 Bill Keyword

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• Home

• Bill Information

• California Law

• Publications

• Other Resources

• My Subscriptions

• My Favorites

• Bill Information
 >>

• Bill Search
 >>

• Text

 Bill Text

 PDF2
 Bill PDF

 |Add To My Favorites |Track Bill | Version: 03/23/26 - Amended Senate
 03/09/26 - Amended Senate
 02/04/26 - Introduced

 SB-978 Data centers: labor: electricity rates.(2025-2026)

 Text

 >>

 Votes

 >>

 History
 >>

 Bill Analysis
 >>

 Today's Law As Amended
 >>

 Compare Versions
 >>

 Status
 >>

 Comments To Author

 >>

 Track Bill
 >>

 Add To My Favorites
 >>

 SHARE THIS:

 Date Published: 03/23/2026 02:30 PM

SB978:v97#DOCUMENTBill Start

 Amended
 IN 
 Senate
 March 23, 2026

 Amended
 IN 
 Senate
 March 09, 2026

 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

 Senate Bill

No. 978

Introduced by Senator Pérez
(Coauthors: Senators Arreguín, Hurtado, and McNerney)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Connolly, Harabedian, Rogers, and Schiavo)

February 04, 2026

 An act to amend Section 913.11 of, and to add Section 740.22 to, the Public Utilities Code, relating to large-scale energy facilities. public utilities.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 978, as amended, Pérez.
 Large-scale energy facilities: Data centers: labor: electricity rates.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the PUC to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable.

This bill would require the PUC to establish a special rate structure for large-scale energy users, who would be defined as customers of electrical corporations operating facilities with operational requirements of at least data centers, as defined, taking transmission level electrical service with an estimated peak demand of at least 75 megawatts of electricity, except as provided,
 electricity to, among other things, protect other customers of electrical corporations, prohibit cost shifts to those other customers, and require large-scale energy users data centers to pay for the electrical corporations’ upfront costs of transmission or distribution infrastructure upgrades necessary for the provision of electrical service to those users. the data centers. The bill would require the construction of those facilities
 data centers subject to the special rate structure to comply with certain labor requirements.

Existing law establishes the policy of the state that eligible renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources supply 90% of all retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers by December 31, 2035, 95% by December 31, 2040, and 100% by December 31, 2045. Existing law requires the PUC, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, and the State Air Resources Board, in consultation with all California balancing authorities, to annually issue a joint report related to meeting that state policy.

This bill would require that the joint report also includes the impacts of large-scale energy users data
 centers subject to the special rate structure on the state’s ability to achieve the above-described state policy.

Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime.

Because the provisions of the bill would be part of the act and a violation of a PUC action implementing the bill’s requirements would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Digest Key

 Vote:
 MAJORITY 
 Appropriation:
 NO 
 Fiscal Committee:
 YES 
 Local Program:
 YES 

Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

 Section 740.22 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:

740.22.

 (a) For purposes of this section, all of the following definitions apply:

(1) (A) “Data center” means a facility that primarily contains electronic equipment used to process, store, and transmit digital information, that may be a free-standing structure or a facility within a larger structure, and that uses environmental control equipment to maintain the proper conditions for the operation of electronic equipment.

(B) “Data center” does not include any publicly funded
 research facility, public safety facility, national security facility, publicly owned facility, and other utility facility, inclu