Abbott recommends sweeping data center regulation, including eliminating sales tax exemption

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Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday released sweeping regulatory recommendations on data centers for the Legislature to pass in the 2027 session, as Texas grapples with an explosion of artificial intelligence-driven development and soaring power demands.

In a letter to state regulators, Abbott outlined a series of proposals designed to ensure data centers shoulder the costs of their growth rather than Texas ratepayers.

Among his legislative priorities:

- requiring new facilities to add power generation to the state’s power grid

- requiring data centers pay for their own grid interconnection and infrastructure costs

- mandating the use of “closed-loop” water systems, which draw a large amount of water at the start but reuse it over some period of years

- require annual reporting by all data centers on electricity and water use
establishing best-practice standards to address community concerns like noise

- repealing data center sales tax exemptions and “other outdated or unnecessary incentives for data centers”

Greg Abbott recommends data center industry crack down

The recommendations for legislative action amount to a striking call for industry regulation by the Republican governor in a state that has long prided itself on being a favorable environment for business.

www.texastribune.org

 

[KevinK]

Business-friendly until businesses start impinging on our rural and exurban population.

 

[coldsolder215]

The funny thing about this guy is after he earned his hotwheels in an accident settlement and used that money to become a politician, he pulled up the ladder on accident settlements for anyone else unfortunate enough to earn their hotwheels in that crummy mean little state. Definitely not someone who "believes" in anything, by any stretch.