As proponents of artificial intelligence insist that the AI future is inevitable, one California city is pushing back. It might not be the last.
Earlier this month, residents in Los Angeles County’s Monterey Park overwhelmingly voted to permanently ban data centers in the city, becoming the first city in the U.S. to do so. The move followed months of public backlash over a planned data center. In addition to local protests, city council members unanimously voted in March to place a ban before voters and to extend an existing moratorium on data centers. Weeks later, the developer withdrew plans for the center.
- Elizabeth Yang, mayor of Monterey Park: “(Voters) were extremely happy that all their hard work and effort came out with a good result. They spent a lot of time door knocking, putting up signs, fundraising, campaigning. So it was a lot of community effort.”
The vote points to many Americans’ growing skepticism of the projects. Seven out of 10 Americans surveyed oppose data centers, according to a March Gallup poll. But to Khara Boender, the director of state policy at the Data Center Coalition, Monterey Park’s ban sends “a signal that the area is closed for business.”
Data centers are the backbone that run AI technology and California is home to at least 287 facilities. In 2024, data centers supported more than 665,000 jobs in California and generated $14.1 billion in state and local taxes, according to the coalition.
Meta, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet are expected to spend a combined $700 billion on data centers globally by the end of this year — or nearly double the cost of California’s entire state budget.
- Peter Leroe-Muñoz, a senior vice president and general counsel for the Bay Area Council: “Data centers make modern lives possible. … (They) really are the platform for play, productivity and potential in the 21st century economy. And shutting yourselves off from those opportunities does a disservice to residents, businesses, research and entrepreneurship.”
Driven by public concern over their enormous energy use and environmental impacts, cities and counties across the state have enacted or are trying to enact moratoriums on data centers as local officials figure out how to regulate them.
Imperial County’s board of supervisors is considering placing a temporary moratorium on data center projects after the board faced criticism from residents for advancing a proposed data center.
San Jose council members voted last week to have the city manager draft guidelines for data centers. But with the city home to at least 40 centers — the most of any in California second to Santa Clara — critics are skeptical. In August 2025, the city touted a partnership with Pacific Gas & Electric Company that would make developing data centers even easier.
Focus on Inland Empire: Each Wednesday, CalMatters Inland Empire reporter Aidan McGloin surveys the big stories from that part of California. Read his newsletter and sign up here to receive it.
Other Stories You Should Know
Life after death row
What happened to California’s condemned prisoners after Gov. Gavin Newsom suspended the death penalty and dissolved the housing block that was once known as death row?
CalMatters’ Joe Garcia has a special report on how that policy affected the lives of prisoners with death sentences, especially ones with good conduct records who became eligible for rehabilitative programming for the first time.
For nearly 20 years, condemned prisoner Johnny Morales resided in a 4-by-11 foot cell inside San Quentin State Prison. Officers had to handcuff or shackle death row residents any time they were out in open space with staff, and other prisoners from a lower-security area were required to halt and turn their backs to him.
But due to Newsom’s 2019 moratorium and Morales’ near-perfect conduct record, Morales was able to relocate from San Quentin’s condemned housing unit to a lower security environment at a prison outside of Sacramento.
Now, Morales can move about from his cell to other areas, interact with peers more naturally and live a life without some of the physical and mental restrictions he endured for so many years.
He may never be released, but his experience raises questions about what kind of prisons the state should operate and what is best for public safety.
- Morales: “It’s hard to process, but when I think about all the harm and damage, I’m just blessed to be alive. We never gave the victim the opportunities that I have now.”
Fixing CA’s public defense system
A newly created commission on California’s public defense system is expected to convene in person for the first time in October, following a CalMatters investigation last year that found that criminal defendants in California are often convicted without anyone investigating the charges against them, writes CalMatters’ Anat Rubin.
The California Independent Commission on Public Defense is composed of five state legislators — including the heads of the Senate and Assembly’s public safety committees — as well as chief public defenders, retired judges, directors of criminal justice nonprofits and leaders of organizations representing California defense attorneys.
Their goal is to develop a five-year plan that would enable the state to fund a public defense system. The first public meeting will be in Berkeley, with additional meetings across the state over the next 12 months.
California is just one of two states that do not provide lawyers to poor people accused of crimes. Instead, that responsibility falls on counties. Many counties do not hire a single defense investigator who can interview witnesses or review police reports, which increases the chances of wrongful convictions.
California Voices
CalMatters columnist Dan Walters: With the ballot deadline scarcely a week away, Newsom is marshaling a coalition to oppose the billionaire tax proposal, arguing that it would spark an exodus of wealthy Californians.
Veterans in STEM helps military veterans transition from service to higher education, and state lawmakers should advance a bond proposal that would help fund this life-changing program, write Jason Williams and Angel Fulgencio, former participants of Veterans in STEM.
Other things worth your time:
A year of ICE: How LA’s immigrant communities carried on in a world shaped by fear // Golden State
In Orange County, six-figure salaries now qualify as ‘low income’ // LAist
Fresno County adopts ‘alternative’ to LGBTQ Pride month // Fresnoland
Affordable grocery fund inspired by Mamdani could come to SF // San Francisco Chronicle
Panel balks at plans to expand LA City Council to 25 members // Los Angeles Times
CA Legislature is eager to close another prison. Newsom may not be // The Sacramento Bee
In CA’s ‘Lithium Valley,’ students are training for jobs that don’t yet exist // Los Angeles Times
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