Governor Abigail Spanberger has signed an executive order creating the Data Center Accountability Framework, which her office describes as the most comprehensive and aggressive data center accountability effort in the United States. The order bans non-disclosure agreements for data center projects, calls for expedited development of noise regulations, and initiates a review of backup generators, particularly diesel-powered units, for their environmental impact on communities. The framework also directs creation of an AI task force to address workforce displacement, data privacy, and cybersecurity concerns, and establishes a planning and community engagement toolkit for local governments. Virginia joins New York and Texas, where governors have each separately moved to slow or pause data center development amid growing public concern over power and water consumption.
Virginia hosts the world's largest data center market, making its regulatory moves a potential model for other states and a direct signal to industry operators about changing conditions in their most concentrated market. The NDA ban in particular removes a tool developers have widely used to limit public scrutiny of new campus construction, which could affect project timelines and community approval processes statewide.
Virginia enacting a ban on data center NDAs as part of a formal digital infrastructure framework is a significant regulatory action by a major data center market, with direct industry-wide implications for transparency and disclosure. This story was not in the already-published list.