Executive Order 22 bans state-agency NDAs on Virginia data center deals

An executive order reaches the people who work for the governor. Seven items sit in Executive Order 22. The first is the nondisclosure ban across executive branch agencies, departments, commissions, authorities and other public employees. The rest: a community engagement toolkit for localities weighing projects; faster development of noise regulations; a review of diesel and other backup generation; work on energy affordability and grid strength; best practices for jobs and local workforce opportunities; and the AI task force ^[4]. One of the seven touches cybersecurity ^[19].

That one is the task force. Friday's accounts do not say who serves on it or when it reports. Spanberger's office said its goal is to address the risks posed by the rapid development of artificial intelligence, including data privacy, cybersecurity and potential workforce displacement ^[5].

The measures that would bind a private operator sit on the legislative list ^[20]. Spanberger asked the 2027 General Assembly to limit by-right approval and to require local approval of any data center that uses more than 25 megawatts of power ^[8][10]. By-right approval is the route a project takes when it meets existing land-use requirements and skips a local government's public hearing ^[9]. A statewide ban on the agreements for commercial data center projects would also take a statute. The order's ban applies to state entities and employees, not to local officials ^[6], who have signed such agreements as part of some data center deals ^[7].

Spanberger said at a Richmond press conference that "so many of our fellow Virginians are rightfully concerned about the impact data centers are having on our energy bills" ^[11]. Reaction on Friday was mixed, including from lawmakers in her own party who said the framework does not go far enough ^[16]. "The governor is finally feeling the heat but still ignoring the fire. Her proposal does not end the $2 billion in sales tax exemptions provided to data centers," said state Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth ^[12]. Lucas pushed this year to end those exemptions eight years before their current expiration and made it a sticking point in budget negotiations ^[18]. The Piedmont Environmental Council wanted more. In a statement, the council said a moratorium, meaning a pause on all development and new applications, should be the first step, so that the many impacts on the state and its residents can be fully addressed ^[13].

The two published accounts of the framework diverge on who is covered. Bloomberg Law reported that hundreds of data centers in Virginia will now be subject to wide-ranging restrictions, and that Spanberger said the framework's standards on transparency, clean energy and community benefits will govern data center development in the state ^[14][21]. The itemized account in Cardinal News describes instructions to state government plus a list of asks for the 2027 session ^[4][10]. Spanberger called the framework the most comprehensive and aggressive of its kind in the country ^[2]; Bloomberg Law noted that other Democratic leaders have adopted similar restrictions in recent weeks ^[15].