A 10852: Prohibits allocation of economic development power to data centers; provides for certain caps on amounts and eligibility for industrial development agency financial assistance; provides for the return of industrial development agency-awarded financial assistance if certain job levels are not maintained within 5 years of project completion; designates the department of environmental conservation as the mandatory lead agency for environmental quality review of any action consuming over 20 megawatts; requires environmental quality review for any action within 10 miles of a federally recognized Indian nation's territory.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 10852  IN ASSEMBLY April 8, 2026 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. KELLES -- read once and referred to the Committee on Environmental Conservation AN ACT to amend the economic development law, the general municipal law and the environmental conservation law, in relation to enacting the "stop subsidizing data centers act" The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as 2 the "stop subsidizing data centers act". 3 § 2. Section 187 of the economic development law is amended by adding 4 a new subdivision (h) to read as follows: 5 (h) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no application for 6 economic power allocation shall be approved under this section, where 7 such allocation would be for the operation of a data center. For the 8 purposes of this subdivision, the term "data center" means a facility 9 primarily housing computer systems of the kind typically associated with 10 telecommunications and/or data storage infrastructure. 11 § 3. Subdivision 11 of section 874 of the general municipal law, as 12 added by chapter 563 of the laws of 2015, is amended and a new subdivi- 13 sion 13 is added to read as follows: 14 (11) (a) Each agency shall develop policies for the return of all or a 15 part of the financial assistance provided for the project, including all 16 or part of the amount of any tax exemptions, as specified in the policy, 17 which [may] shall include but [shall] not be limited to material short- 18 falls in job creation, as provided under paragraph (b) of this subdivi- 19 sion, and may include but shall not be limited to retention projections 20 or material violations of the terms and conditions of project agree- 21 ments. All such returned amounts of tax exemptions shall be redistrib- 22 uted to the appropriate affected tax jurisdiction, unless agreed to 23 otherwise by any local taxing jurisdiction. 24 (b) An agency's policy for the return of all or part of the financial 25 assistance provided for a project for material shortfalls in job 26 creation, developed pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision, shall 27 require that each agreement executed by such agency shall include a EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD14850-01-6 
 A. 10852 2 1 provision under which such return of financial assistance shall be trig- 2 gered if the recipient fails to create and maintain a specified job 3 level within five years of project completion. Such policy shall provide 4 for the annual submission of a certification of compliance with such 5 specified job level until the end of such five-year period. 6 (13) (a) Financial assistance shall not be awarded for any project in 7 an amount exceeding five hundred thousand dollars for each full-time job 8 anticipated to be created by such project, as indicated in the project 9 application. 10 (b) Financial assistance shall not be awarded for any project that is, 11 upon completion, capable of consuming more than one hundred megawatts 12 during normal operations. 13 (c) For the purposes of this subdivision, the term "financial assist- 14 ance" shall include, but not be limited to, sales tax exemptions, mort- 15 gage recording tax exemptions, and real property tax exemptions. 16 § 4. Subdivision 6 of section 8-0111 of the environmental conservation 17 law, as added by chapter 612 of the laws of 1975, is amended to read as 18 follows: 19 6. Lead Agency. When an action is to be carried out or approved by two 20 or more agencies, the determination of whether the action may have a 21 significant effect on the environment shall be made by the lead agency 22 having principal responsibility for carrying out or approving such 23 action and such agency shall prepare, or cause to be prepared by 24 contract or otherwise, the environmental impact statement for the action 25 if such a statement is required by this article. In the event that there 26 is a question as to which is the lead agency, any agency may submit the 27 question to the commissioner and the commissioner shall designate the 28 lead agency, giving due consideration to the capacity of such agency to 29 fulfill adequately the requirements of this article. The department 30 shall be the mandatory lead agency for any action capable of consuming 31 over fifty megawatts during normal operations. 32 § 5. Section 8-0109 of the environmental conservation law is amended 33 by adding a new subdivision 10 to read as follows: 34 10. An environmental impact statement shall be prepared for any action 35 found to be located within ten miles of a federally recognized Indian 36 nation's territory. Prior to the preparation of such environmental 37 impact statement, the applicant shall consult with such Indian nation, 38 and include any comments submitted by such Indian nation pursuant to 39 such consultation in its environmental impact statement. 40 § 6. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after 41 it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amend- 42 ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen- 43 tation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and 44 completed on or before such effective date.