State assistance and transparency
Virginia’s September 2026 Executive Order 22 directs the Virginia Economic Development Partnership to withhold site-readiness, expedited-permitting and similar discretionary assistance from new data-center projects with anticipated peak demand of at least 25 megawatts. This provision concerns specified state assistance; it does not cancel every project’s permits. [1]
The order also restricts state executive-branch NDAs that conceal material information about proposed data centers. It preserves existing contractual commitments and recognizes exceptions, including extraordinary national-security circumstances. Other provisions commission environmental analysis and proposed rules, whose completion is separate from signing the order. [1]
A dedicated AI policy function
The same order establishes a rapid-response AI Task Force and an AI Policy Planning Unit. Their work includes assessing cyber risks, workforce and privacy issues, identifying existing enforcement options and coordinating with frontier-model developers. Those directions establish a state policy and coordination role; the order alone does not show that later recommendations or safeguards were delivered. [1]