Scope
Statutes of 2026, chapter 439 (SB 887) adds Public Resources Code section 21080.08 so that, notwithstanding any other law, the California Environmental Quality Act applies to the issuance of entitlements related to the development and operation of a data center; defines data center for CEQA; bars categorical exemptions for a data center project as specified; and lets the Governor certify a qualifying data center project as an environmental leadership development project under uniform statewide standards to be developed.
- Geographic scope
- California
- Jurisdiction
- State
- Authority type
- Legislature
- Issuing authority
- California Legislature
Dates
- Adopted
- 21 September 2026
- Effective
- 1 January 2027
- Scheduled expiration
- See completion condition
- Ended
- Not recorded as ended
- Completion condition
- Not yet in effect on 23 September 2026. The statute states no expiration; dates inside it are implementation deadlines, not end dates.
- Source document
- 21 September 2026
- Last checked
- 1 October 2026 (earlier than tracker date 5 October 2026; not an automatic status change)
Summary
California SB 887, approved and chaptered on 21 September 2026 as chapter 439, makes the California Environmental Quality Act apply to entitlements for developing and operating a data center, defines data center for that purpose and bars categorical exemptions for such projects as specified. It also lets the Governor certify a data center project that meets specified conditions as an environmental leadership development project, with statewide standards to be developed by state agencies. It also covers geothermal powerplant projects, which are outside this record. It takes effect on 1 January 2027.
What this does not establish
- The finding was reviewed against the California Legislature official bulk-data file for 21 September 2026, saved and linked below. The primary link is the human-readable official bill page; that site disallows automated access, so the page itself was not checked automatically.
- 1 January 2027 is not printed in the chaptered text. It is taken from the official 2026 legislative calendar entry that statutes take effect 1 January 2027 under Article IV, section 8(c), and the chaptered text carries no urgency clause.
- The geothermal powerplant provisions of the same act are not part of this record.
- The environmental leadership development act that SB 887 amends has its own statutory repeal date; that date is not stored as this record's end.
Unresolved questions
- When the uniform statewide standards for data center leadership projects will be developed was not established.
Relationships
Supersession means a later instrument replaces the earlier legal effect. Repeal links identify the repeal instrument and the measure it ends. A later implementation or related letter is not treated as a replacement unless the record says so.
- No related action is recorded.
Sources
Primary source · Reviewed alternate official source (23 September 2026)
Link status, checked 23 September 2026: The finding was checked against a saved copy of the California Legislature official 21 September 2026 bulk-data file. The human-readable primary bill page is kept for readers, but its robots.txt disallows automated review.
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB887
- Governor of California release announcing the signed data-center bills official announcement that the Governor signed the bill · 21 September 2026
- 2026 tentative legislative calendar (Senate) basis for the 1 January 2027 effective day of non-urgency 2026 statutes
- California Legislature official daily bulk file reviewed for this record actual official bulk evidence reviewed for this record; saved and checked as unchanged