Pa. House passes Friel bill to create ‘pause button’ on data center rush
H.B. 2496 calls for 6-month window for municipalities to prepare land-use rules
Rep. Paul Friel June 24, 2026 | 3:43 PM
HARRISBURG, June 24 – Legislation to give Pennsylvania municipalities the time and authority to rein in data center projects across the state continues its way through the General Assembly, announced the measure’s sponsor, state Rep. Paul Friel, D-Chester.
The state House of Representatives today by an overwhelming bipartisan majority passed H.B. 2496 to empower local governments in Pennsylvania to place up to a six-month “pause” on the consideration of any data center application. Municipalities could adopt, amend or repeal sections of their related land-use ordinances during the pause.
“This pause window allows local governments the time they need to thoroughly research, draft and pass comprehensive land-use ordinances pertaining to data centers,” Friel said. “The bill gives our local officials necessary breathing room to update these ordinances, evaluating demands like water and energy usage and other considerations related to protecting our communities from potential harms caused by data center development.”
Critically, the pause dates back to the moment the public was notified of the meeting agenda, and any application filed during the pause is subject to the new rules.
?“Large-scale data centers cannot be allowed to bypass community scrutiny,” said state Rep. Kyle Mullins, D-Lackawanna. “With development surging across Pennsylvania, this bill ensures critical local oversight and forces transparency before any projects are approved. It ensures that municipalities can set strict expectations and that decisions of this magnitude are made openly and in the public interest.”
“Municipal officials across Pennsylvania are being asked to make decisions about massive data center developments without having the tools, information or local regulations in place to properly evaluate them,” said state Rep. Kyle Donahue, D-Lackawanna, another cosponsor. “This legislation gives communities the opportunity to take a brief pause, gather the facts, engage residents and develop thoughtful ordinances that protect public safety and quality of life before these projects move forward. Good planning takes time, and local governments deserve the ability to make informed decisions.”
Currently, a municipality that needs time to plan for new land use has one option: a tool in Pennsylvania’s Municipalities Planning Code called a municipal curative amendment. To use this approach, the local government must formally declare its own zoning ordinance invalid and even then, it can be blocked entirely if a developer files before it is enacted. Additionally, it can only be used once every three years. Friel said that this mechanism is insufficient for the ongoing data center rush, stating that "local governments need strong tools that give them breathing room to plan and that prevent the 'race to file' we are seeing from data center developers."
“We cannot allow the rapid expansion of data centers to outpace the safety and logic of our local zoning,” said state Rep. Chris Pielli, D-Chester, who cosponsors the bill. “We are taking on headfirst the harmful impacts of rapid, unregulated industrial development on residential areas by taking a needed pause to enable our local governments to protect the health, safety and welfare of all Pennsylvanians.”
House Bill 2496 is now with the state Senate for consideration.