Maine LD 307 / override failed 72-65 / first state ban dies

Plain-English framing: a 'statewide moratorium' is a single state legislature voting to freeze data-center development across every jurisdiction inside the state — much bigger blast radius than the city-by-city pauses above. Maine got within one veto of being the first state in the country to do it. The sequence: the bill passed the legislature, Mills vetoed on April 25, the House voted on the override on April 29, and the override failed by 23 votes (72-65 against the 2/3 threshold). The 20 MW threshold is the design choice to flag: it is small enough to catch essentially every meaningful data center (a single hyperscale building is hundreds of MW). If Maine had passed it, copy-paste versions in other state legislatures would have used the same 20 MW number as a starting point. The replacement — an Advisory Council via executive order — is materially weaker than a moratorium but is the new political template for governors who want to look responsive without freezing development. Expect other governors facing similar legislative pressure to copy this exact move: 'veto the bill, create an advisory council.' Sources: Maine Morning Star 'Despite initial support, Legislature fails to override Mills' veto of landmark data center ban'; Portland Press Herald 'Maine Legislature sustains Mills' veto of data center moratorium'; TechCrunch 'Maine's governor vetoes data center moratorium'; Data Center Knowledge 'Maine Vetoes Data Center Moratorium, but Pressure Continues'; Press Herald 'How Janet Mills' data center veto reverberated around the country'.

Primary source · Maine Morning Star / Press Herald / TechCrunch / Data Center Knowledge ↗