Ohio Lawmakers Introduce Sweeping New Data Center Legislation
The proposal would cap new sales-tax exemptions at 50% and shift electricity and water costs to operators, lawmakers said.
- Ohio lawmakers unveiled a sweeping data center bill on Tuesday that caps property tax abatements at 50% and mandates stricter water and electricity usage tracking for developers.
- Figures from the Ohio Department of Taxation show the state provided nearly $1.57 billion in sales-tax exemptions last year, nearly 12 times initial estimates, largely due to 40-year contracts for Meta, Google, and Amazon.
- To "make sure the ratepayers are kept harmless," Senate Finance Chair Brian Chavez proposed cutting general tax exemptions to 50%, with 75% allowed for brownfield projects bringing their own power.
- The Senate Energy Committee is scheduled to advance the bill Wednesday morning, though state Sen. Bill DeMora criticized provisions on nondisclosure agreements as insufficient.
- Regional grid operator PJM Interconnection urged states to develop regulations ensuring data center costs are borne by companies, warning otherwise these expenses could shift to residential consumers.
16 Articles
16 Articles
Ohio lawmakers fail to reach agreement on data center regulations
The Ohio lawmakers were unable to reach a compromise on new data center regulations before they went on summer recess.The House and the Senate didn't have enough votes to pass Substitute House Bill 646, which created new rules and standards for the tech hubs."We don't think we should be granting tax exemptions to multi-billion dollar corporations, especially when many of them are already coming here to build these data centers anyway, because of…
Ohio lawmakers unveil data center regulations
Ohio lawmakers have unveiled legislation aiming to regulate the state's consistently growing data center development.Substitute House Bill 646, which is now nearly fifty pages, was created after just a few weeks of committee hearings."The Joint Data Center Study Committee has done its job," Senate Finance Chair Brian Chavez (R-Marietta), who is also the co-chair of the data center committee, said.Among many provisions, the legislation creates an…
Ohio’s biggest data centers secured decades of tax breaks
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio lawmakers are trying to reduce a controversial tax break for data centers, but contracts signed during the Kasich administration leave the state’s largest tech companies largely untouched.
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