The Florida Senate unanimously passed a bill Thursday to add regulations to large-scale data centers aimed at protecting consumers from potential price increases for electricity or water.

The bipartisan move came as wealthy tech companies are eyeing Florida as a potentially new frontier for the nationwide boom of data centers, the climate-controlled warehouses containing thousands of computers used to power artificial intelligence and other programs. Thursday’s vote also marked a milestone toward the fulfillment of a pledge by Gov. Ron DeSantis to add guardrails to the industry.

Senate Bill 484 would bar government employees from entering into nondisclosure agreements with data center companies, a prohibition the industry opposes.

It requires state utility regulators to ensure the public doesn’t pay more for electricity because of data centers, and that water management districts not issue permits to data centers “if the proposed use of the water is harmful to the water resources of the area.” It mandates that local officials tell residents that a data center project is under consideration, though the exact proposed location of the facility would remain confidential for no more than 12 months.

“Throughout numerous states across the country, several costs are increasing, mainly because of a spike in electricity demand” from data centers, said Sen. Bryan Avila, R-Hialeah, who sponsored the bill. “It protects our residents, it protects our ratepayers — first and foremost."

The regulations have received bipartisan praise from lawmakers, an unusual sight in a state typically wary of impeding big business.

“Our constituents are telling us they have major concerns about the impact of data centers on their electricity bills, on the environment, on water use, on so much,” said Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando. “I’m very, very grateful to be able to vote on a good bill ... that reins that in.”

How far Florida would go to regulate AI was thrown into question when President Donald Trump in December directed the Justice Department to sue states that pass AI regulations deemed overly burdensome, saying the issue should be left up to the federal government.

The White House also made calls to Florida officials to express opposition to DeSantis’ AI bills, according to a report from NBC News, which cited an anonymous source.

For months, the Florida House didn’t hear the data center bill in a single committee, imperiling its passage. Since then, the proposal has shown signs of life, passing through committees Tuesday and Thursday.

But it has a few differences from the Senate version that must get ironed out by the end of session, scheduled for March 13, for the measure to be sent to the governor’s desk.

A second bill pushed by DeSantis, called the “Artificial Intelligence Bill of Rights,” aimed at protecting minors from harmful conversations with chatbots, may not see such a comeback. It has not been heard at all in the House, though Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, said the Senate will pass it.

“You cannot replace human empathy and human compassion with a machine. It is not possible,” he told reporters.

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(Times/Herald Tallahassee bureau reporter Lawrence Mower contributed to this report.)

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