# Act 173 of 2024 (SB 78) — Amendments to the Arkansas Data Centers Act of 2023 > *Enrolled/engrossed act text (As Engrossed: S4/23/24), 8 pages. The original PDF is preserved alongside this extract.* ## Source metadata - **Publisher:** Arkansas General Assembly, 94th General Assembly, Fiscal Session 2024 - **URL:** arkleg.state.ar.us FTPDocument (ACTS/2024F/Public/173.pdf) - **Published:** engrossed 2024-04-23; Act 173 of the 2024 Fiscal Session - **Archived:** 2026-06-10, by Invoke-WebRequest (TLS 1.2, browser UA) - **Wayback snapshot:** none found via availability API; SPN retry pending ## Extract (key provisions, verbatim where quoted) **Title:** "AN ACT TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS DATA CENTERS ACT OF 2023; TO CREATE REQUIREMENTS FOR NOISE REDUCTION IN THE OPERATION OF A DIGITAL ASSET MINING BUSINESS; TO CLARIFY THE ABILITY OF AN ARKANSAS RESIDENT TO ENGAGE IN HOME DIGITAL ASSET MINING; TO PROHIBIT FOREIGN-PARTY-CONTROLLED OWNERSHIP OF A DIGITAL ASSET MINING BUSINESS IN ARKANSAS; TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES." Sponsors: Senators J. Bryant, Irvin; Representative McClure (SB 78). - **§ 14-1-604(a) amended** (Section 2): a digital asset mining business may operate if it complies with "(2)(1) Any ordinance concerning operations and safety ordinance..." — strike/add formatting showing the compliance list reworked to subject mining businesses to local operations-and-safety ordinances. - **§ 14-1-604(b)(3) noise-reduction requirements** (Section 3): mining businesses must "[a]pply noise-reduction techniques, including without limitation" sound-dampening measures, with relocation alternatives "[u]pon approval by the local government" to "(i) A minimum of two thousand feet (2,000') from the nearest residential or commercial use structure; or (ii) An area zoned for industrial use or an otherwise approved use." - **Private enforcement** (§ 14-1-604(b)(4)): "A person who owns land within two thousand feet (2,000') of the nearest property line of a digital asset mining business may commence an action in a circuit court ... to enforce the noise reduction techniques," with prevailing-party attorney's fees. - **Home-mining carve-out** (Section 4, new § 14-1-604(f)): "A local government shall not pass an ordinance that: (1) Prohibits an individual from engaging in home digital asset mining; or (2) Requires an individual to obtain approval ... before engaging in home digital asset mining." - **§ 14-1-605(a) preemption narrowed, not eliminated** (Section 5): "Except as provided by subsection (d) of this section, a local government shall not: (1) Enact or adopt an ordinance, policy, or action that limits the sound decibels generated from home digital asset mining other than the limits set for sound pollution generally; (2) Impose a different requirement for a digital asset mining business than is applicable to any requirement for a data center; (3) Rezone rezone an area in which a digital asset mining business is located without complying with applicable state law and local zoning ordinances; or (4) Rezone an area with the intent or effect of discriminating against a digital asset mining business." - **Foreign-ownership prohibition** (Section 6, new § 14-1-606): "A prohibited foreign party shall not acquire or hold ... a digital asset mining business," with a 365-day divestiture window for existing holdings and Attorney General investigation/divestiture-order powers. - Emergency clause: legislative findings that "digital asset mining businesses have potential to generate excessive noise..." ## Notes - Tier: 2 — enrolled act text from the state legislature's official document service; primary public record of what the statute says. - **Characterization caution for citing pages:** Act 173 does **not** wholesale-repeal Act 851's local-preemption framework. It *narrows* § 14-1-605(a)'s preemption (anti-discrimination limits survive — a local government still cannot impose "a different requirement for a digital asset mining business than is applicable to any requirement for a data center," nor discriminatorily rezone), *adds* mandatory noise-reduction duties with a neighbor private right of action (2,000-ft standing), *protects* home mining from local prohibition, and *adds* the foreign-ownership bar. Local authority is restored insofar as mining businesses must now comply with generally-applicable operations-and-safety ordinances and noise standards — but the data-center-parity clause (§ 14-1-605(a)(2)) is the surviving preemption hook that matters for county/municipal data-center regulation: regulations applicable equally to data centers remain permissible against mining businesses, and vice versa. - Cited by: [[Arkansas Data Centers Act of 2023 (Act 851) and 2024 Amendments]], [[AG Opinion 2023-060 and County Authority Over Data Centers]].