ASSEMBLY TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND UTILITIES COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

[First Reprint]

SENATE, No. 3379

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JUNE 4, 2026

      The Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 3379 (1R).

     As amended and reported, this bill requires the owner or operator of a data center in the State to prepare and submit a water and energy usage report (report) to the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) on a semi-annual basis, for a period of three years beginning on the date that the data center first submits a report to the BPU, that contains, at a minimum, basic information relating to the data center, information related to energy and water usage at the data center, and any other information deemed necessary by the BPU.  If a data center receives a financial incentive from a State agency, then the bill also requires the data center to include information regarding certain performance calculations, performance indicators, and sustainability indicators for the data center.  Under the bill, data centers that have been in operation for at least one year as of the bill’s effective date are required to provide the report to the BPU within three months after the bill’s enactment; all other data centers are required to provide the report to the BPU within six months after the bill’s enactment.  Upon conclusion of the three-year reporting period, the BPU is authorized to make the reporting requirement permanent through the adoption of rules and regulations.

      Within 30 days of receiving a report from the owner or operator of a data center pursuant to the bill’s provisions, the BPU is required to publish certain information about data center energy and water usage on its Internet website and to update the information as necessary.  Information submitted to the board regarding performance calculations, performance indicators, and sustainability indicators for a data center is to be confidential and not subject to disclosure under N.J.S.A.47:1A-1 et seq. or the common law right of access to a public record.  However, information from at least five facilities that is anonymized and aggregated is to be included in the report.  The bill also clarifies that nothing in the bill is to be construed to abridge, alter, or amend the provisions of certain State laws regarding public transparency and information disclosure.

     Finally, an owner or operator of a data center that has submitted a report to the BPU pursuant to the bill’s provisions is 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 report at least 60 days prior to implementing the change.

      As amended and reported by the committee, Senate Bill No. 3379 (1R) is identical to Assembly Bill No. 4096, which was also amended and reported by the committee on this date.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to: 

(1) revise the definition of “data center”;

(2) clarify that all references to “electric utility” throughout the bill are references to “electric public utility,” as that term is defined in the bill;

(3) require the owner or operator of a data center to submit to the BPU, as part of the report required under the bill, the total and peak daily water input of the data center rather than just the total water input of the data center;

(4) revise the list of water sources to be identified in a data center’s report under the bill to include a public water system rather than a municipal water supply and, if the data center uses water from a public water system, require the data center to provide certain additional information regarding the public water system as outlined in the bill;

(5) clarify that the bill establishes certain confidentiality protections for information regarding performance calculations, performance indicators, and sustainability indicators for any data center that has submitted such information to the BPU in a report required under the bill;

(6) clarify that nothing in the bill is to be construed to abridge, alter, or amend the provisions of certain State laws regarding public transparency and information disclosure; and

(7) make technical changes.