6) AI Grid and Worker Shield
Overview > Programs > Fair Share Grid and Worker Shield
Program 6: AI Fair Share Grid and Worker Shield
ADDRESSES: AI, DATA CENTERS AND UTILITY COSTS
What the program does
1. Data centers pay their own way
Require that grid upgrades and new power plants built for large data centers be paid for by those facilities, not by household ratepayers. This connects directly to utility bills (Program 1).
2. Community consent and benefits
Require local hearings, disclosure of water use, and binding community benefit agreements covering local hiring, tax payments and environmental safeguards for large facilities.
3. AI Worker Shield
Advance notice for mass layoffs driven by AI, portable training accounts, and wage insurance for displaced workers.
4. Basic consumer protections
Disclosure when AI is used in decisions about hiring, lending, insurance and healthcare, and protections against deceptive AI-generated content, especially for children.
Design options
Ratepayer protection and local consent appeal to rural and Republican voters; worker protections appeal to labor and younger voters. Avoid framing the program as anti-technology. Frame it as making sure ordinary families do not pay for, or get hurt by, other people’s profits.
How we will measure success
No residential rate increases caused by data center demand in participating states, and a rising share of voters who trust the sponsoring party on AI.
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What Voters Want 2026. Working analysis, November 2026. Figures from election-day and pre-election surveys; projections may change as counting finishes.