Commerce CA 45-day data center urgency ordinance (2026)
Commerce, California — Immediate 45-Day Urgency Ordinance Prohibiting Approval of Land-Use Permits, Entitlements OR AGREEMENTS Involving Data Center Development Anywhere in the City (August 11, 2026)
Commerce, CA · City of Commerce, Cal. — urgency ordinance imposing a 45-day data center moratorium (adopted August 11, 2026)
- Status
- Expired
- Took effect
- August 11, 2026
- Applies to
- Developers seeking land-use permits, entitlements or agreements involving data center development anywhere in the City of Commerce
- Enforced by
- City of Commerce planning and development / Commerce City Council
The Commerce City Council adopted an URGENCY ORDINANCE at its August 11, 2026 meeting imposing an immediate forty-five-day moratorium on new data center development, while officials determine how the massive power, water and infrastructure demands of such facilities should be regulated. City officials cited electricity demand, water use, noise and air quality. The drafting detail worth noting is the breadth of what is frozen: the ordinance temporarily prohibits approvals of LAND-USE PERMITS, ENTITLEMENTS OR AGREEMENTS involving data center development ANYWHERE IN COMMERCE. Including AGREEMENTS is the part most municipal pauses miss. A moratorium that stops permits and entitlements but says nothing about agreements leaves the city free to enter — or bound by — a development agreement, an annexation agreement or a memorandum of understanding that vests rights the later ordinance cannot touch. That is precisely how Rockford Illinois, Cle Elum Washington and Lowell Massachusetts each lost the project their moratorium was written for. Commerce closed all three doors at once. Forty-five days is the initial term California's urgency ordinance procedure allows before extension, so this measure has very likely been extended or superseded and should be rechecked. Commerce is a small, heavily industrial city in Los Angeles County.
Who is protected: Commerce, California residents; city air quality, water supply and electrical capacity
Legal detail
City of Commerce, Cal. (Los Angeles County) — URGENCY ORDINANCE adopted by the City Council at its AUGUST 11, 2026 meeting, imposing an IMMEDIATE 45-DAY MORATORIUM on new data center development. STATED GROUNDS: the massive ELECTRICITY DEMAND, WATER USE, NOISE AND AIR QUALITY implications of the facilities, pending a determination of how they should be regulated. OPERATIVE BREADTH, and the transferable drafting: the ordinance temporarily prohibits approvals of LAND-USE PERMITS, ENTITLEMENTS **OR AGREEMENTS** involving data center development ANYWHERE IN COMMERCE. THE INCLUSION OF 'AGREEMENTS' IS THE CRITICAL TERM AND IS ABSENT FROM MOST MUNICIPAL MORATORIUMS IN THIS DATASET. A pause that reaches only permits and entitlements does not prevent the municipality from executing, or being bound by, a DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT, ANNEXATION AGREEMENT or memorandum that vests rights surviving the later ordinance. Three entries here document exactly that failure: Rockford IL six-month data center moratorium (2026) (a pre-existing ANNEXATION AGREEMENT put the Monarch site outside the moratorium), Cle Elum WA emergency data center moratorium (2026) (a 2002 DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT may permit the Blue Fern project regardless), and Lowell MA Markley data center diesel generator injunction (2026) (Markley sued and SETTLED for the right to proceed with pre-moratorium plans). Commerce's formulation forecloses the permit route, the entitlement route and the agreement route together. PROCEDURAL FORM: an interim urgency ordinance under Cal. Gov. Code \u00a7 65858, whose initial term is 45 days, extendable by 10 months 15 days and then one further year \u2014 the sequence Patterson CA data center moratorium extension Ord. 890 (2026) followed through Ordinances 889 and 890. THE SOURCE DOES NOT REPORT ANY EXTENSION, so expires_date is the unextended 45-day endpoint and SHOULD BE PRESUMED SUPERSEDED. JURISDICTION: Commerce is a small, heavily industrial city in Los Angeles County, a profile that makes by-right industrial admission of a data center a live risk absent specific regulation.
Key facts
| Jurisdiction | Commerce, CA |
|---|---|
| Level | City / local |
| Enacted | August 11, 2026 |
| Citation | City of Commerce, Cal. — urgency ordinance imposing a 45-day data center moratorium (adopted August 11, 2026) |
| Private right of action | No, agency enforcement only |
| Penalties | No land-use permit, entitlement or agreement involving data center development may be approved during the 45-day period |
| Topics | data-center siting and energy · consumer protection · government use of AI |
| News report | Commerce Halts Data Center Development With Emergency 45-Day Moratorium — Los Cerritos Community News |
Related data-center siting and energy rules elsewhere
- Superior WI Data Center Moratorium (1-year) · In effect
- Dane County WI Hyperscale Data Center Moratorium · In effect
- Madison WI Data Center Moratorium (1-year) · In effect
- Manitowoc County WI Data Center Moratorium · In effect
- WA SB 5982 (Data Center / Clean Energy) · In effect
- Dayton OH data center moratorium (180-day, Apr 2026) · In effect
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