As data center backlash grows, Big Tech spends big to sway California lawmakers

by Katherine Ortiz and Khari Johnson, CalMatters August 29, 2026August 28, 2026

Polls show voters are turning sharply against data centers and several bills to regulate the facilities are advancing in the California Legislature. Utilities and tech companies, meanwhile, are spending millions lobbying state officials. A lobbyist talks on his phone at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Sept. 12, 2025. (Fred Greaves for CalMatters)

COMPANIES BACKING DATA CENTER CONSTRUCTION are flooding Sacramento with cash, hoping to stop or defang seven bills that would regulate the facilities as they head toward approval in the California Legislature this week.

The pro-data-center spenders include Big Tech companies like Amazon and AI titan Anthropic. But they are led, dollar-wise, by old school utility giant Pacific Gas & Electric, which earlier this year clocked its second biggest lobbying quarter since 1999.

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