Ban the Use of Nondisclosure Agreements in Economic Development

Nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) are secrecy contracts signed between a data center developer and local government(s) that prohibit the government from sharing information about the data center development deal with the broader public. These are widely used in data center development—in Virginia,1 25 out of 31 localities with an existing, approved, or proposed data center had an NDA—and impede the public’s ability to make informed decisions about their community. Congress can act to prohibit data center developers from entering into NDAs with state and local governments in large economic development projects.

  1. Eric Bonds and Viktor Newby, “Data Centers, Non-Disclosure Agreements and Democracy,” Virginia Mercury, April 30, 2025, https://virginiamercury.com/2025/04/30/data-centers-non-disclosure-agreements-and-democracy/?utm. ↩︎