The Economic Development Committee (ECON) convened on July 22, 2026, at 9:30 a.m. to consider two expedited bills establishing a moratorium on building permits for data centers. After discussion and amendments, the committee voted to recommend enactment of Expedited Bill 19-26, as amended, and Expedited Bill 24-26 was withdrawn.
Good morning everyone. My name is Natalie Fani Gonzalez. We're here in the economic development committee work session. We had two very critical bills in front of us. They're both expirated. And we're gonna start with the first one that came to the council first. So it's expedited bills 19 26 buildings, moratorium on permits for data centers established. Not just this one in the economic development committee, but also the one in the afternoon with the ZTA with the zoning text amendment. I think the most important thing is for the folks to understand that the definitions of data centers have to match what we have here in econ and what we will have in the ZTA in the afternoon, they must match. So the way we'll it will work is like if I'm not gonna because I cannot predict the future. I'm gonna say that if this committee um has a consensus on the moratorium, then once we get to the ZTA in PHP, which is the planning housing in Parks Committee, and the good thing is that I have another member of the PHP committee. Uh Councilmember William is our guest here in eCom, but he's a member in PHP. Um we need to make sure that those definitions match. And the way we're gonna make sure that happens is in full council, because we're gonna make a decision in income. We're gonna make another decision in in PHP, and then when everything comes to the full council on Tuesday, um July 28th. Um we are gonna first take on the um on the ZTA, and then we're gonna take on the moratorium right after, and uh and we'll make sure that those definitions are in sync. Um so that's the process. And with that explanation, we are gonna ask Council staff to please kick us off on the first bill 19-26. Go ahead. Uh good morning, Chair Fanny Gonzalez, and thank you for the explanation. That's less on my part to be able to explain, so I appreciate that. But exploited uh bill 1926 would establish a temporary moratorium on permits for a data center issued by the Department of Permitting Services. Um, as the purpose of this legislation is to allow the county time to study, evaluate, and adopt appropriate laws, zoning requirements, um governing data centers in the county. Uh uh council staff took a look at just other jurisdictions to see what they were doing to see how we were Montgomery County would be aligned. Um, as already known, the executive uh county executive issued a moratorium, uh executive order on June 12, 2026, establishing a temporary six-month administrative moratorium. Um along with that, uh Council staff also thought Prince George's County issued one for two years, and uh Queens Anne County um adopted a moratorium for one year, and then New York City, New York State is the first to enact um a statewide one-year moratorium. So that gives a little bit of background of the different jurisdictions that's doing that. Um in relation to the impact statements, uh fiscal economic climate assessment and racial equity did not um determine. The Office of Legislative Oversight did not determine any potential impacts. Um along with that, we had a public hearing on June 16, 2026, which the committee is aware of. The council received extensive written testimony. Um and just for the record, I'll just you know explain some of the things that were mentioned during the public hearing. Uh some of the concerns that uh uh some of the um testimony included was public health risks, um environmental health risks by large-scale data centers. Um there were also concerns about energy consumption and climate impacts. Um also concerns about the health and noise impacts um and the continuous uh emitting of those noise. Uh, in terms of amendments for the bill, there were some that uh testified that six months was simply not enough time to develop a necessary regulatory framework and was suggesting a longer um uh time frame and uh uh environmental justice concerns were raised, and uh some also talked about merging the bills. So that kind of gives us the broad legislative uh foundational history of the bill so far. Um there are a few issues for the committee to discuss on the bottom of page three. We have the definition center. I'm not sure if we want to still go through the friendly amendment. Okay. And so on the bottom of page three, uh, one of the things is when uh exploited bill 1926 was introduced, uh as introduced, it excluded um cable communication systems. I believe council member glass uh may have an amendment there. Uh thank you very much for that background, Ms. McCartney Green. Um, and thank you, Madam Chair, for uh this morning's conversation, um, bringing together the two proposals with exactly the same goal of hitting pause to making sure that we get this right. Um I know this has been a contentious issue, not only within the council, but out in the community trying to um marry and merge uh various ideas, various concerns, um, both environmental, um, both technological, uh, but the reality is there are so many unanswered questions that we need to get this right. Um so uh I have been putting forward various proposals in an attempt to get this right, and I'm glad we're at this point today. Um with regard to this bill, as Ms. McCartney Green noted, when originally introduced, the legislation said very specifically that there would be a six-month pause on data centers.