H.R. 9442 · Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act

H.R. 9442 was introduced in the House on 24 June 2026 and referred to Energy and Commerce and, in addition, Foreign Affairs. Standing is “Introduced.”

Section 1 titles the Act the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act. Section 3 contains the moratorium and reporting programme. Section 4 adds export-control duties on computing infrastructure hardware for listed end-uses.

Section 3(a) defines an “artificial intelligence data center” as buildings and equipment on a single or connected site under common control that are used for development or operation of AI models at scale, or that exceed 20 megawatts peak load and are designed to deliver 20 kW or more to a rack or to use liquid cooling to components or immersion cooling.

Section 3(b) would bar construction or upgrading of new or existing AI data centres from enactment until Congress enacts one or more laws that (1) require federal review and approval of AI products before release for safety and specified public interests, (2) ensure economic gains benefit workers including anti-displacement and wealth-sharing measures, and (3) for post-moratorium facilities satisfy consumer-bill, climate, community-consent, no-subsidy and union-labour conditions, and (4) expressly terminate the moratorium.

Section 3(c) would require the Energy Secretary to submit quarterly public reports on each AI data centre covering finance, water, energy, emissions, wastewater, cooling chemicals, noise, wages, jobs, land/utility agreements and a no-subsidy certification, with subpoena and inspection powers.

Section 4 would require Commerce to prohibit export, reexport or in-country transfer of computing infrastructure hardware for AI data-centre or at-scale training/deployment end-uses to countries lacking statutes comparable to the Section 3(b)(1) safeguards, or to persons in those countries.

• Moratorium trigger · covered facilities over the § 3(a) definition.
• Release condition · new federal safeguard laws plus express termination clause.
• Transparency · quarterly DOE facility-level public reports.
• Trade adjunct · Commerce hardware export ban tied to peer-country safeguards.

Introduced text is not law. No construction ban or DOE reporting duty exists under this vehicle until enactment.

Section 2 findings quote named executives and open letters. Those quotations are part of the bill’s legislative findings. They are attributed claims inside the bill, not separately verified facts on this page.

IEA electricity projections are a different vehicle. H.R. 9442 is a legislative ask about infrastructure pause and safeguards, not a measurement report.

This briefing tracks the introduced text as of 24 June 2026. Committee amendments could change definitions, thresholds or the safeguard list; introduced text creates no construction ban or DOE reporting duty until enactment.

The following actors are linked to this vehicle in the graph. Their presence here records institutional role on the page, not an independent finding that each actor has completed a compliance duty.

• United States Congress (legislature): The federal legislature in which current proposals address foundation-model transparency, evaluation standards and AI data-centre development.
• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (legislator): United States representative and sponsor of the House AI Data Center Moratorium Act.

Each block below is an explicit evidence row: a claim that points to one supporting passage. Read the quote and locator before treating the paraphrase as settled.

• H.R. 9442 proposes a conditional moratorium on AI data centres. The proposal ties new compute infrastructure to prior federal action on product review, workers, consumers, climate and community consent. Operational note: It turns infrastructure constraints into a direct federal policy ask rather than a reporting or permitting reform alone.
• H.R. 9442 would require quarterly public infrastructure reporting. The reporting provision would create an ongoing public record alongside the proposed construction pause. Operational note: It shows that the vehicle contains a transparency programme as well as a moratorium.

Dated events attached to this vehicle. Each entry is a graph event with its own update page when present.

• 2026-06-24 · introduction · AI Data Center Moratorium Act introduced in the House. The proposal joined a construction pause to federal safeguards and a public reporting programme for facility impacts. Consequence recorded: Brought a direct federal AI-infrastructure growth-control ask into Congress.

A vehicle is an instrument. Asks are the outcomes the instrument is treated as advancing in the AI Tribune graph.

• Pause new large AI data centres pending resource and security review Status: introduced. Pause construction or upgrading of covered AI data centres until Congress enacts specified safeguards and expressly terminates the moratorium.

These documents are the originals behind the evidence rows. Prefer the document text over secondary paraphrase when the two diverge.

• H.R. 9442 · Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act (Bill, 2026-06-24). House bill proposing a conditional moratorium on covered AI data-centre construction and upgrades.