Virginia’s governor signed Executive Order 22 on September 18, 2026, and it took effect the moment she signed it. EO 22 The order immediately stops state agencies from signing new secrecy agreements about proposed commercial data center projects, and it cuts large new projects off from some state help. Most of the rest of the governor’s plan is a list of studies, rules and bills that have not happened yet.
What the order bans starting September 18
A nondisclosure agreement, or NDA, is a contract in which the parties promise to keep information secret. Under the order, no state agency, board, commission or employee under the governor’s supervision may sign, require or enforce an NDA that hides material facts about a proposed commercial data center. EO 22 The covered facts include the public incentives offered, the power and water the project expects to use, and its likely effects on the community. The only exception the order names is extraordinary circumstances, such as national security.
NDAs that state agencies signed before September 18 still stand. The same paragraph of the order tells agencies to honor existing contracts and NDAs, while also barring them from enforcing NDAs. The order does not say how those two instructions fit together. Read plainly, an old NDA survives and any new one breaks the order.
A developer should assume that facts it hands a state agency from now on may become public. One law firm tells clients to separate out trade secrets and security details and to rely on the specific protections written in state statutes, not only on a broad NDA. Law firm analysis
Does the ban reach counties and cities?
The ban does not reach them, because the order binds only state officials under the governor, and county and city economic development officials are not among them. Virginia Lawyers Weekly Local officials can still sign NDAs today. The governor says she will ask the General Assembly in its 2027 session to pass a law banning NDAs at the local level. Virginia Mercury, Governor’s framework
Roanoke County shows what that gap looks like. A regional industrial authority signed a deal on September 14 to sell 94 acres of the Wood Haven Technology Park, owned by Roanoke city, Roanoke County and Salem, to a Delaware developer, Clearview Dynamics. The sale agreement says the parties signed an NDA on March 26, 2024. Virginia Business On September 22 the authority confirmed Clearview is weighing the site for a data center, and it named the order as one reason for speaking up. WDBJ7 The order did not force that disclosure. The local authority chose it.
| What the order changed | Before September 18 | Since September 18 |
|---|---|---|
| New NDAs signed by state agencies | Allowed | Barred, unless extraordinary circumstances such as national security |
| NDAs state agencies signed earlier | In force | Still honored |
| VEDP help for new projects of 25 megawatts or more | Available through Business Ready Sites and fast permitting | Cut off |
| Eastern Virginia Groundwater Management Area | No cooling water designation | To be designated an area where cooling water use threatens other water needs |
| Who leads state data center policy | No statewide framework | Office of the Chief Energy Officer |
The parts that bind now and the parts that wait
VEDP, the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, is the state agency that recruits businesses. It may no longer help a new project whose expected peak demand is 25 megawatts or more through the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program or any expedited permitting program. EO 22 Peak demand is the most electricity a site draws at any one moment, and a megawatt is a unit of that power. The project can still seek ordinary local and state approvals. It just loses the state’s help getting through them faster.
Everything else in the order is a direction to study or to start writing rules. The Chief Energy Officer’s planning toolkit for local governments is due within 120 days, which is January 16, 2027. The state environmental agency’s plans for noise rules and its review of backup diesel generators are due within 180 days, by March 17, 2027. EO 22 Virginia Energy’s siting recommendations are due by May 16, 2027. A tiered rating system for responsible projects is due by the end of 2027.
Ending by right approval is only a proposal. By right approval lets a project that already meets the zoning rules go ahead without a public hearing or a vote. The governor’s framework would require local approval for any data center using more than 25 megawatts, regardless of earlier approvals. Governor’s framework That change needs a law from the General Assembly. Virginia Lawyers Weekly corrected its own first story, which had reported that the order itself ended by right approvals.
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