allow the Public Utilities Commission to assess actual costs to data centers that are customers of public utilities.

Establishes eligibility criteria requiring data centers to have a peak demand of ten megawatts or greater to be subject to actual cost assessments for service request processing.

Requires all moneys collected under the new assessment provision to be forwarded to the state treasurer for deposit in the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission gross receipts tax fund.

Adds a specific definition of 'data center' as a centralized repository for storage, management, dissemination, and processing of electronic data and information, including digital currency mining.

Mandates that the Public Utilities Commission assess actual costs associated with processing requests for approval of contracts with deviations or other electric service agreements for eligible data center customers.

Added official header information including the 101st Legislative Session designation, 2026 South Dakota Legislature identification, and House Bill 1038 title with committee designation.

Removed browser compatibility warnings and technical notices that were present in the initial draft version.

Added explanatory text indicating that underscores represent new language and overstrikes represent deleted language in the markup.