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Legislation Document
SPONSOR:
Sen. Poore & Rep. Burns & Rep. Heffernan & Rep. Minor-Brown
Sens. Hansen, Pinkney, Sokola, Sturgeon; Reps. Gorman, Griffith, K. Johnson, Morrison, Snyder-Hall
DELAWARE STATE SENATE
153rd GENERAL ASSEMBLY
SENATE BILL NO. 312
AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 9, TITLE 22, AND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DATA CENTERS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE:
Section 1. Amend Part I, Title 9 of the Delaware Code by making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by underline as follows:
Chapter 4. Data Centers
§ 401. Nondisclosure agreements prohibited.
(a) For purposes of this chapter:
(1) “County” means a county or any person or entity with authority to act on its behalf.
(2)
“Data center” means a facility consisting of 1 or more buildings that has a primary purpose of providing for the storage, management, processing, or transmission of digital data, and that contains equipment such as routers, graphics processing units, servers, and switches.
(3) “Large-scale data center” means a data center that uses or is able to use 100 megawatts of power or more.
(4) “Nondisclosure agreement” means a contract, agreement, clause, term, condition, or understanding, whether verbal or written, that has the purpose or effect of restricting or prohibiting the disclosure of information, including confidentiality agreements, secrecy provisions, side letters, memoranda of understanding, or settlement agreements.
(b) A county may not enter into a nondisclosure agreement if the nondisclosure agreement restricts the county from disclosing information to the public about potential or actual large-scale data center development in the county.
(c) An agreement or contract, or a provision of an agreement or contract, that violates this section is against public policy and is void and unenforceable.
Section 2. Amend Title 22 of the Delaware Code by making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by underline as follows:
Chapter 21. Data Centers
§ 2101. Nondisclosure agreements prohibited.
(a)
For purposes of this chapter:
(1) “Data center” means a facility consisting of 1 or more buildings that has a primary purpose of providing for the storage, management, processing, or transmission of digital data, and that contains equipment such as routers, graphics processing units, servers, and switches.
(2) “Large-scale data center” means a data center that uses or is able to use 100 megawatts of power or more.
(3) “Municipality” means a municipality or any person or entity with authority to act on its behalf.
(4) “Nondisclosure agreement” means a contract, agreement, clause, term, condition, or understanding, whether verbal or written, that has the purpose or effect of restricting or prohibiting the disclosure of information, including confidentiality agreements, secrecy provisions, side letters, memoranda of understanding, or settlement agreements.
(b) A municipality may not enter into a nondisclosure agreement if the nondisclosure agreement restricts the municipality from disclosing information to the public about potential or actual large-scale data center development in the municipality.
(c) An agreement or contract, or a provision of an agreement or contract, that violates this section is against public policy and is void and unenforceable.
Section 3. Amend Chapter 6, Title 29 of the Delaware Code by making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by underline as follows:
§ 612. Data center nondisclosure agreements.
(a) For purposes of this section:
(1)
“Data center” means a facility consisting of 1 or more buildings that has a primary purpose of providing for the storage, management, processing, or transmission of digital data, and that contains equipment such as routers, graphics processing units, servers, and switches.
(2) “Large-scale data center” means a data center that uses or is able to use 100 megawatts of power or more.
(3) “Nondisclosure agreement” means a contract, agreement, clause, term, condition, or understanding, whether verbal or written, that has the purpose or effect of restricting or prohibiting the disclosure of information, including confidentiality agreements, secrecy provisions, side letters, memoranda of understanding, or settlement agreements.
(4) “State agency” means as defined in § 9002E of this title.
(b) A state agency may not enter into a nondisclosure agreement if the nondisclosure agreement restricts the state agency from disclosing information to the public about potential or actual large-scale data center development in this State.
(c) An agreement or contract, or a provision of an agreement or contract, that violates this section is against public policy and is void and unenforceable.
SYNOPSIS
This Act prohibits state agencies, counties, and municipalities from entering into nondisclosure agreements that would restrict the public from accessing information about potential or actual large-scale data center development in this State. Large-scale data centers, defined in this Act as data centers that use or are capable of using 100 megawatts of power or more, can pose significant challenges for the communities in which they are located. When nondisclosure agreements are used to shield information about proposed or planned data centers from the public, it deprives those communities of the opportunity to understand and respond to issues that directly affect them.
Author: Senator Poore