{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://castor.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=405289", "Castor Champions Passage of Bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act to Shield Neighbors from Higher Electric Bills Tied to Data Centers", "2026-09-16", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "House", "FL", "Kathy Castor", "C001066", "castor.house.gov", "castor", "https://castor.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 U.S. Reps. Kathy Castor (FL-14) and Gabe Evans (CO-08) celebrated the passage of their bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act, which protects American families and small businesses from the costs of energy and grid upgrades required for new hyperscale data centers.\n\nThe Ratepayer Protection Act requires state utility regulators to establish rules ensuring communities do not pay for the costs of building new power plants, transmission lines and other upgrades to serve data centers. Without proper safeguards, families and small businesses in communities where data center development occurs could see their electric bills skyrocket. The Ratepayer Protection Act ensures that wealthy Big Tech companies cover the full energy and infrastructure costs of new data center development and are held accountable for their promises.\n\n\u201cFloridians already are dealing with sky-high electric bills. They should not be forced to subsidize the enormous energy demands of the world\u2019s richest corporations,\u201d said Rep. Castor. \u201cIf Big Tech builds a massive AI data center, the Big Tech company\u2014not hardworking families, farmers or small businesses\u2014should pay for their power and grid upgrades. The bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act is an important first step that can help lower costs for our neighbors back home and empower states to set strict guardrails.\u201d\n\n\u201cHardworking families should not have to subsidize the energy demands of data centers. America needs the infrastructure to lead the world in AI and outcompete Communist China, but we cannot have that growth at the expense of hardworking families, farmers, seniors, and small businesses. My bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act ensures large data centers pay for the infrastructure they require while giving states the flexibility to determine what works best for their communities. I\u2019m incredibly proud to lead the charge on this pivotal issue, ensure our ratepayers are protected, and keep American innovation moving forward,\u201d said Rep. Evans.\n\nCastor strongly opposes data center development in Hillsborough County due to high electric bills and environmental concerns and pressed the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners in a September 10, 2026 letter to \u201cact decisively to protect Hillsborough County residents, resources and long-term sustainability.\u201d\n\nThe Ratepayer Protection Act builds on Rep. Castor\u2019s leadership on the Stopping Hikes in Electricity from large Load Demands (SHIELD) Act, which she introduced with Rep. Mike Levin (CA-49) in January.\n\nBackground\n\nIf enacted, the Ratepayer Protection Act would direct state regulators to adopt new guardrails for new data centers with a demand of 100 megawatts or more, including:", 1, "2026-09-17T09:52:05Z", "2026-09-17T09:53:00Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://castor.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=405289"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8429731242358685, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}