SENATE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 3379

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  FEBRUARY 12, 2026

      The Senate Environment and Energy Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 3379.

      This bill would require the owner or operator of a data center in the State to prepare and submit on a semi-annual basis, for a period of three years, a water and energy usage report to the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) that contains the following information, at a minimum: (1) basic information relating to the data center; (2) information related to energy and water usage at the data center; and (3) any other information determined by the BPU to be necessary.  If a data center receives a financial incentive from a State agency then the data center would also need to include the following information: (1) performance calculations and indicators for the data center, including the energy reuse factor, power usage effectiveness, renewable energy factor, and water usage effectiveness; and (2) sustainability indicators for the data center.  Data centers that have been in operation for at least a year would be required to provide the report to the BPU within three months after the bill’s enactment, and all other data centers would be required to provide the report to the BPU within six months after the bill’s enactment.  Within 30 days of receiving a water and energy usage report from the owner or operator of a data center pursuant to the bill’s provisions, the BPU would be required to publish certain information about data center energy and water usage on its Internet website, and update the information as necessary.  The information submitted to the board would be confidential and not be subject to disclosure under the P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.), or the common law right of access to a public record, except for information from at least five facilities that is anonymized and aggregated would be included in the report.

      An owner or operator of a data center that has submitted a water and energy usage report to the BPU pursuant to the bill’s provisions would be required to notify the BPU of any substantial change in operations or technologies at the data center that would require an update to the information provided in the water and energy usage report at least 60 days prior to implementing the change in operations or technologies at the data center.  Upon conclusion of the three-year reporting period, the BPU would be able to make the reporting requirement permanent through the adoption of rules and regulations.