Bill Summary
The **Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act** aims to impose a temporary halt on the construction and upgrading of new artificial intelligence (AI) data centers until comprehensive regulations are established to protect the public from the potential dangers of AI.
### Key Components:
1. **Moratorium on Construction**: The act prohibits the initiation or progression of any new AI data centers until specific laws are enacted that ensure:
- Federal approval and safety assessments for AI products before they enter the market.
- Protection against job displacement caused by AI and equitable distribution of wealth generated by AI technologies.
- Environmental safeguards, including no increase in utility costs or exacerbation of climate change risks.
2. **Definition of AI Data Centers**: The legislation specifies what constitutes an AI data center, focusing on facilities with significant energy demands and capabilities for large-scale AI operations.
3. **Reporting Requirements**: The Secretary of Energy is tasked with providing quarterly reports to Congress on the operations of AI data centers, including details on energy consumption, emissions, job creation, and adherence to the moratorium.
4. **Export Controls**: It also includes provisions for the Secretary of Commerce to prohibit the export and transfer of computing hardware used in AI if the receiving country lacks similar regulatory protections as those mandated by the act.
Overall, the legislation reflects a proactive approach to ensuring that the development and deployment of AI technologies occur responsibly and with consideration for societal impacts, labor, and environmental concerns.
Possible Impacts
The "Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act" can have various impacts on individuals and communities. Here are three examples:
1. **Job Security and Economic Stability**: The moratorium on new data centers may provide temporary relief for workers in sectors vulnerable to automation and AI-induced job displacement. By delaying the expansion of AI infrastructure, this legislation offers more time to develop policies aimed at protecting jobs, such as reskilling programs and regulations to prevent job loss, thereby fostering economic stability for workers and their families.
2. **Environmental Protection and Utility Costs**: By requiring that any new data centers do not exacerbate climate change or increase utility costs for consumers, this legislation aims to protect communities from the environmental impact of large-scale data center operations. This could lead to reduced energy consumption and lower electricity bills, benefiting local residents and promoting sustainable practices in technology development.
3. **Community Empowerment and Local Decision-Making**: The requirement that communities affected by new data centers have a say in their construction empowers local populations. This could lead to greater public engagement in decisions that impact their environment and livelihoods, allowing residents to voice concerns about issues such as noise, pollution, and the economic implications of introducing large tech facilities in their neighborhoods. This shift could foster a sense of agency and local governance over technological development.
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4214 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4214
To impose a moratorium on the construction of new data centers until
legislation is enacted that safeguards the public from the dangers of
artificial intelligence.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 25, 2026
Mr. Sanders introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To impose a moratorium on the construction of new data centers until
legislation is enacted that safeguards the public from the dangers of
artificial intelligence.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Artificial Intelligence Data Center
Moratorium Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) leading experts and industry leaders have warned about
catastrophic consequences from unchecked artificial
intelligence development and deployment, including--
(A) Elon Musk, the wealthiest person alive, and
worth $826,600,000,000 as of the date of introduction
of this Act, who stated that ``AI and robots will
replace all jobs. Working will be optional.'' and that
artificial intelligence is akin to ``summoning the
demon'';
(B) Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, who
predicted that ``AI could displace half of all entry-
level white collar jobs in the next 1 to 5 years.'' and
that ``humanity is about to be handed almost
unimaginable power, and it is deeply unclear whether
our social, political, and technological systems
possess the maturity to wield it.'';
(C) Demis Hassabis, the head of Google's Deepmind,
who stated that the AI revolution will be 10 times
bigger than the industrial revolution and 10 times
faster;
(D) Jeff Bezos, the fourth-richest person in the
world and worth $233,000,000,000 as of the date of
introduction of this Act, who has reportedly pushed his
staff for years to think big and envision what it would
take for Amazon to fully automate its operations with
plans to replace at least 600,000 warehouse workers
with robots;
(E) Bill Gates, worth $101,000,000,000 as of the
date of introduction of this Act, who predicted that
humans ``won't be needed for most things,'' such as
manufacturing products, delivering packages, or growing
food over the next decade due to artificial
intelligence;
(F) Mustafa Suleyman, the CEO of Microsoft AI, who
said that most white-collar work ``will be fully
automated by an AI within the next 12 to 18 months'';
(G) Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford, who predicted that
artificial intelligence will eliminate ``literally half
of all white-collar jobs in the U.S.'' within the next
decade;
(H) Larry Ellison, the sixth-richest person in the
world and worth $203,000,000,000 as of the date of
introduction of this Act, who said that there will be
an artificial intelligence-powered surveillance state
where ``citizens will be on their best behavior,
because we're constantly recording and reporting
everything that is going on.'';
(I) Dr. Geoffrey Hinton, considered to be the
``godfather'' of artificial intelligence, who stated
that he believes there is a ``10 to 20 percent chance
[for artificial intelligence] to wipe us out.''; and
(J) Mark Zuckerberg, the fifth-richest person in
the world and worth $214,000,000,000 as of the date of
introduction of this Act, is building a data center in
the State of Louisiana that is the size of Manhattan
and will use 3 times the quantity of electricity that
the entire city of New Orleans uses every year; and
(2) leading experts and the heads of the major artificial
intelligence companies have called for regulation and
reasonable pauses to the development of artificial intelligence
to ensure the safety of humanity, including--
(A) Elon Musk, the head of xAI, who stated--
(i) in 2018 the following: ``Mark my words.
AI is far more dangerous than nukes. So why do
we have no regulatory oversight? This is
insane.''; and
(ii) in 2025 that he had ``a lot of AI
nightmares'' and would ``certainly slow down AI
and robotics'' if he could;
(B) Demis Hassabis, the head of Google's Deepmind,
who said in 2026 that he would support an AI pause if
he knew other countries and companies also paused
development;
(C) Dario Amodei, the head of Anthropic, who said
in 2026 that he would be ``absolutely in favor of
trying'' to slow down AI development if other countries
also slowed down;
(D) Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI, who, in 2023,
wrote that ``we need some degree of coordination among
the leading development efforts to ensure that the
development of superintelligence occurs in a manner
that allows us to both maintain safety and help smooth
integration of these systems with society'' and that
``an effective global regulatory framework including
democratic governance'' is needed;
(E) more than 1,000 business leaders in the Big
Tech industry, prominent scientists, and artificial
intelligence researchers and academics, including Elon
Musk, Steve Wozniak (co-founder of Apple), and Evan
Sharp (co-founder of Pinterest), who, in March 2023,
cosigned an open letter entitled ``Pause Giant AI
Experiments'' which stated the following: ``We must ask
ourselves: Should we let machines flood our information
channels with propaganda and untruth? Should we
automate away all the jobs, including the fulfilling
ones? Should we develop nonhuman minds that might
eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace
us? Should we risk loss of control of our civilization?
Such decisions must not be delegated to unelected tech
leaders. . .Therefore, we call on all AI labs to
immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of
AI systems more powerful than GPT-4. This pause should
be public and verifiable, and include all key actors.
If such a pause cannot be enacted quickly, governments
should step in and institute a moratorium.''; and
(F) artificial intelligence pioneers Geoffrey
Hinton and Yoshua Bengio and other technology leaders,
who have called for ``a prohibition on the development
of superintelligence, not lifted before there is broad
scientific consensus that it will be done safely and
controllably, and strong public buy-in''.
SEC. 3. MORATORIUM ON CONSTRUCTION OF NEW ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE DATA
CENTERS.
(a) Definition of Artificial Intelligence Data Center.--In this
section, the term ``artificial intelligence data center'' means all the
buildings, equipment, structures, and other stationary items, such as
server racks, that--
(1) are located on a single site or on contiguous,
adjacent, or otherwise connected sites;
(2) are owned or operated by the same entity or by any
entity that controls, is controlled by, or is under the common
control of that entity, regardless of whether the site is a
single-occupant or multi-occupant facility; and
(3)(A) are used for the development or operation of
artificial intelligence models at scale; or
(B)(i) have a maximum rated power capacity or total peak
power load in excess of 20 megawatts; and
(ii) are designed or equipped--
(I) to deliver 20 kilowatts or more of electrical
power to a single server rack; or
(II) to utilize cooling systems that circulate
liquid to individual hardware components or submerge
electronic hardware in liquid.
(b) Moratorium.--Beginning on the date of enactment of this Act,
the construction or upgrading of new or existing artificial
intelligence data centers may not commence or proceed until--
(1) 1 or more laws are enacted that ensure that--
(A) the Federal Government shall review and approve
artificial intelligence products before those products
are released, for the purpose of ensuring that those
products are safe and effective and do not threaten the
health and well-being of working families, privacy and
civil rights, and the future of humanity;
(B) the economic gains of artificial intelligence
and robotics will benefit workers, not just the wealthy
owners of Big Tech companies, including by--
(i) putting policies in place to prevent
job displacement due to artificial
intelligence; and
(ii) ensuring the wealth generated by those
companies is shared with the people of the
United States; and
(C) with respect to any artificial intelligence
data center built or upgraded after the termination of
the moratorium under this subsection--
(i) the artificial intelligence data center
does not increase utility or electricity bills
of consumers;
(ii) the artificial intelligence data
center does not exacerbate the threat of
climate change or harm the environment;
(iii) communities that would be affected by
the artificial intelligence data center are
empowered to approve or reject the construction
or upgrading of that artificial intelligence
data center;
(iv) no government subsidy is provided for
the construction, upgrading, or operation of
that artificial intelligence data center; and
(v) the artificial intelligence data center
creates union jobs with strong labor standards,
including payment of prevailing wages and use
of registered apprenticeship programs and
project labor agreements; and
(2) a provision in the 1 or more laws described in
paragraph (1) expressly terminates the moratorium under this
subsection.
(c) Reports.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary of Energy shall--
(A) submit to Congress quarterly reports on
artificial intelligence data centers; and
(B) make those quarterly reports publicly available
on the website of the Department of Energy.
(2) Contents.--A report submitted by the Secretary of
Energy under paragraph (1) shall include, at a minimum, for the
period covered by the report and with respect to each
artificial intelligence data center--
(A) all financial vehicles involved in the
operation of the artificial intelligence data center;
(B) the water usage of the artificial intelligence
data center;
(C) the energy usage and infrastructure needs of
the artificial intelligence data center;
(D) the on- and off-site greenhouse gas emissions
of the artificial intelligence data center, including
the results of fenceline air quality monitoring;
(E) the wastewater discharge and thermal outputs of
the artificial intelligence data center;
(F) the cooling chemicals used at the artificial
intelligence data center;
(G) the noise levels at the artificial intelligence
data center;
(H) information on wages and benefits provided to
workers at the artificial intelligence data center;
(I) the number of temporary and permanent jobs
created at the artificial intelligence data center;
(J) agreements entered into by the artificial
intelligence data center relating to land acquisitions,
utilities, or government entities, if any; and
(K) a certification that the artificial
intelligence data center has not utilized any Federal,
State, or local subsidies.
(3) Verification.--The Secretary of Energy may obtain and
verify information relating to the moratorium under subsection
(b) and reporting requirements described in paragraph (2),
including by--
(A) issuing subpoenas;
(B) requiring written interrogatories;
(C) conducting inspections; and
(D) conditioning future permitting on compliance
with this section.
SEC. 4. EXPORT CONTROLS ON COMPUTING INFRASTRUCTURE HARDWARE.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Computing infrastructure hardware.--The term
``computing infrastructure hardware'' means semiconductors,
integrated circuits, and products containing integrated
circuits, including computers, networking equipment, and data
storage systems.
(2) Export; in-country transfer; reexport.--The terms
``export'', ``in-country transfer'', and ``reexport'' have the
meanings given those terms in section 1742 of the Export
Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4801).
(b) Export Controls.--On and after the date of the enactment of
this Act, the Secretary of Commerce shall prohibit the export,
reexport, or in-country transfer of computing infrastructure hardware
for an end-use described in subsection (c)--
(1) to or in any country that does not have in effect
statutes or regulations that are comparable to the laws
described in section 3(b)(1); or
(2) to any person in a country described in paragraph (1).
(c) End-Uses Described.--An end-use referred to in subsection (b)
is use--
(1) in an artificial intelligence data center; or
(2) otherwise in the training or deployment of artificial
intelligence models at scale.
<all>