“Lead sponsor of H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, requiring data centers of 100 MW or more to pay the full incremental cost of the grid upgrades needed to serve them”

The House Energy and Commerce Committee ordered H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, reported in the nature of a substitute by a recorded vote of 52-0 on July 21, 2026. The bill amends section 111(d) of PURPA to establish a federal standard that rates for a "large-load customer" (100 MW or more of peak demand at a single site or campus) "shall be designed to recover from the large-load customer the full, incremental cost of any generation, transmission, or distribution upgrade necessary to serve the load," and requires financial assurances before the utility builds those upgrades. The adopted substitute narrowed the definition to data centers. The committee's official Vote Summary records "Agreed to as amended, 52 Yeas - 0 Nays" but does not list members individually, so no per-member votes exist for this action; this record captures the bill's authorship. Outcome: Ordered reported to the full House, as amended, by yeas and nays 52-0 Recorded vote: Lead sponsor of the bill. Body: U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Measure: H.R. 9340 (119th Congress).