Sec. 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Michigan Waterway Protection and Data Center Accountability Act".

Sec. 2. Legislative findings and intent. The legislature finds that:

• The Great Lakes of Michigan represent the single greatest freshwater resource in the world, containing more than 20 percent of the world's surface fresh water, and that resource belongs to the people of this state and not to corporations.
• A single hyperscale data center can consume between 1,000,000 and 5,000,000 gallons of water per day and, over the course of a year, can consume more water than 10,000 residents of this state combined.
• In 2024 alone, data centers in the United States consumed 560,000,000,000 liters of water, the equivalent of the annual water use of more than 833,000 American households.
• This state offers abundant surface water, deep aquifer systems, and a temperate climate that reduces cooling costs, making it a prime target for technology companies whose site-selection teams exploit this state's permissive regulatory environment.
• Data center agreements of a single utility alone represent 1.4 gigawatts of new demand, increasing that utility's total load by 25 percent, with an additional 6 to 7 gigawatts in the pipeline, the equivalent of adding multiple major cities to this state's power grid within 2 to 3 years.
• When data centers draw from municipal water supplies, there is no tracking or reporting requirement regarding water usage, creating a complete lack of accountability.
• This state's 2024 tax incentives for data centers could cost the state $90,000,000 by 2065, while most data centers employ only between 10 and 100 permanent workers, with the national average cost per subsidized data center job estimated at $2,000,000 per position.
• This state is not prepared for the water demands being placed upon it by large-scale data center development.
• The Constitution of the United States and the state constitution of 1963 obligate this state to protect the health, safety, welfare, and natural resources of the people of this state.

Sec. 3. Definitions. As used in this act:

• "Commission" means the independent data center impact review commission created under section 9.
• "Data center" means a facility, or a group of facilities under common ownership or control, used primarily to house computer systems, servers, and associated equipment for the storage, processing, or distribution of data, together with its cooling, power, and water infrastructure.
• "Department" means the department of environment, Great Lakes, and energy.
• "Great Lakes basin" means the watershed of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River within this state, including all surface water and groundwater that drains directly or indirectly into the Great Lakes.
• "Hyperscale data center" means a data center of a scale that consumes substantial quantities of water and electric power, including a facility capable of consuming 1,000,000 or more gallons of water per day.
• "Moratorium period" means the period during which new data center development is suspended under section 4, pending completion of the independent environmental and economic impact review required by this act.
• "State agency" means a department, agency, board, commission, or other instrumentality of this state, and includes a county, municipality, or other unit of local government when acting under authority of state law.

Sec. 4. Moratorium on new data center development. All new data center development, construction, permitting, and site approval are suspended throughout this state during the moratorium period, pending completion of a full independent environmental and economic impact review. During the moratorium period:

• A state agency, county, or municipality shall not issue a new permit, approval, or authorization for the development, construction, or operation of a data center.
• A site approval or permit application pending on the effective date of this act is held in abeyance until the moratorium period ends and the review required by this act is complete.

Sec. 5. Suspension and repeal of tax incentives. The sales and use tax exemptions granted to data center operations under 2024 PA 181 and 2024 PA 207 are suspended. The department of treasury shall not grant or renew a sales or use tax exemption for a data center operation while this section is in effect. The legislature declares its intent that these exemptions be repealed, and that the taxpayers of this state not subsidize corporations that deplete the state's water, strain its power grid, and deliver minimal employment in return.

Sec. 6. Mandatory audit and disclosure by existing facilities. Each data center operating within this state on the effective date of this act shall, not later than 30 days after that date, submit to the department a full and complete disclosure that includes all of the following:

• Daily water consumption.
• Energy usage.
• The source of the facility's water supply.
• Wastewater output.

A data center that fails to comply with this section is subject to immediate suspension of its operating permits.

Sec. 7. Great Lakes protection standard. A data center, whether existing or proposed, shall not draw water from any source connected directly or indirectly to the Great Lakes basin unless all of the following conditions are satisfied:

• The withdrawal is approved by the legislature.
• A complete independent environmental impact study of the withdrawal has been conducted.
• A binding public vote by the affected communities has approved the withdrawal.

Sec. 8. Community protection. A data center shall not be approved in any community in this state unless all of the following are provided:

• A binding community benefit agreement.
• Demonstrated local employment commitments.
• Full transparency regarding the environmental impact of the facility.
• Written consent from the affected municipality and its residents.

Sec. 9. Independent data center impact review commission. The independent data center impact review commission is created within the department. The commission shall consist of 12 members and shall be constituted not later than 15 days after the effective date of this act. The commission's membership shall include environmental scientists, water policy experts, independent economists, constitutional attorneys, and citizen representatives from affected communities. The commission shall deliver a full public report of its findings and recommendations not later than 180 days after the effective date of this act.

Sec. 10. Permanence of protections. The protections established by this act are enacted as permanent law of this state. It is the intent of the legislature that the state's water and power infrastructure not be conveyed, committed, or subordinated to corporate interests without full public accountability, and that no future administrative action diminish the protections established by this act except by act of the legislature.

Sec. 11. Effective date. This act takes effect 90 days after the date it is enacted into law.