Scope
Maryland Executive Order 01.01.2026.16, signed 23 September 2026 and effective immediately, establishes the Maryland Data Center Accountability Task Force, a Maryland Data Center Framework, Framework Determinations for individual projects and a public Maryland Data Center Dashboard. It covers a data center with a projected or actual peak electric demand of 25 megawatts or more, including an expansion that adds 25 megawatts or more. For a project found Not Aligned or Non-Performing, or that has sought no Determination, the order tells Executive Department agencies, to the fullest extent consistent with law, not to provide the coordinated review pathway, facilitation, letters of support or advocacy, and to defer substantive review until the developer documents required local land-use approvals, comprehensive-plan consistency and any required water appropriation or wastewater discharge authorization; the Department of Commerce is not to recommend, certify or approve a discretionary State incentive for it. Discretionary incentives require an Aligned or Conditionally Aligned Determination. The order does not prohibit data centers, does not change a statute or a tariff, does not direct the Public Service Commission or another independent unit, and creates no enforceable right.
- Geographic scope
- Maryland
- Jurisdiction
- State
- Authority type
- Executive
- Issuing authority
- Governor of Maryland
Dates
- Adopted
- 23 September 2026
- Effective
- 23 September 2026
- Scheduled expiration
- See completion condition
- Ended
- Not recorded as ended
- Completion condition
- The order says it is effective immediately and states no expiration date.
- Source document
- 23 September 2026
- Last checked
- 5 October 2026
Summary
Governor Wes Moore signed Executive Order 01.01.2026.16 on 23 September 2026, effective immediately. It sets up a Maryland Data Center Accountability Task Force, a public dashboard and a project-by-project Framework Determination for data centers of 25 megawatts or more. State agencies are told, as far as the law allows, to withhold coordinated review, letters of support, advocacy and discretionary State incentives from a project that is not aligned with the framework or has not sought a determination. The order is not a moratorium and does not prohibit data centers.
What this does not establish
- The order operates prospectively. An application that an Executive Department agency found administratively complete on or before the effective date is governed by the law and procedures in effect when it was submitted, and a permit, approval or incentive certification issued on or before that date is not affected.
- Its directions to agencies apply only to the fullest extent consistent with law, and it creates no right enforceable against the State.
- It does not direct the Public Service Commission, the Office of People's Counsel or any other independent unit.
- DataCenterData read the Governor's signed 19-page order. No Task Force appointment, Framework guidance, Determination or dashboard entry was reviewed.
Unresolved questions
- Whether the Task Force has been appointed, and whether any Framework Determination has been issued, is 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
https://governor.maryland.gov/media/1083