The San Diego County Board of Supervisors today approved Chair Terra Lawson-Remer’s proposal to support state legislation aimed at preventing the rapid growth of Big Tech data centers from driving up electricity costs for working families.

The Board voted to back SB 886 and SB 887, authored by State Senator Steve Padilla and co-sponsored by State Senator Akilah Weber Pierson. The bills would establish new statewide protections requiring massive data centers to cover the costs they impose on the electrical grid while promoting commitments to strong environmental, clean energy, labor, and community standards.

“San Diegans are already paying too much for electricity. They shouldn’t get stuck paying for the massive power demands of some of the richest corporations in the world,” said Lawson-Remer. “We can welcome new technology without handing Big Tech a blank check. California should grow the economy, protect our environment and keep electricity affordable at the same time.”

Hyperscale data centers require enormous amounts of electricity and can trigger costly new investments in generation and transmission infrastructure. SB 886 would direct state regulators to create a special rate structure ensuring those costs are recovered from large data center operators rather than shifted onto working families.

Lawson-Remer, who serves as Chair of the San Diego Community Power Board, has made lowering electricity costs a focus of her regional energy work. Earlier this year, Community Power approved its most competitive generation rates to date, including options below comparable SDG&E generation rates. Lawson-Remer has also pushed to expand access to affordable clean energy for lower-income San Diegans.

“At Community Power, we’re proving that the clean-energy transition and affordability can go hand in hand,” Lawson-Remer said. “The same principle should apply to the AI boom: grow the economy fairly, build the technology of the future safely, but don’t stick families with the bill.”

“Done correctly, these massive infrastructure projects can support the grid and provide economic opportunity for the community. However, we have seen when these projects are unchecked, they cause skyrocketing energy costs for consumers and environmental damage,” said Senator Padilla. “Our community cannot be the collateral for wealthy companies to plunder for record-breaking profits. I am thankful for the County’s support as we work to make these common-sense protections into law.” 

SB 887 would establish environmental and community safeguards for new hyperscale data centers, including protections related to water use, clean energy and grid reliability, while offering an expedited review process to projects that meet higher standards.

The County will now formally communicate its support for both bills to state lawmakers.