Plain-English background. Four separate regulatory clocks all reach 12:01 AM Wednesday July 1, 2026 at the same instant. Three are state-level and point toward friction — they increase cost or reduce access for hyperscalers building in that state. One is...
Greenberg Traurig — Virginia Legislature Approves Tax on Data Center Electricity Consumption (Jun 2026) + Data Center Knowledge — Virginia Approves First-Ever Data Center Power Tax + Illinois Governor's Newsroom — Gov. Pritzker Pauses New Data Center Tax Incentives + Capitol News Illinois — Gov. JB Pritzker to Suspend Tax Breaks for Data Centers, Urging More Discussion + The Hill — Pritzker Pauses Data Center Tax Incentives in Illinois + MultiState — State Data Center Policy Shifts as Governors Impose New Restrictions (Jun 22 2026) + Whitehouse.gov — Executive Order 14318 Promoting Advanced Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Security (Jun 2026) + AI Governance Institute — EO 14318 Accelerating Federal Permitting Data Center Infrastructure 2026 + Henrico Citizen — Virginia Has a New Two-Year Budget. Here's What Lawmakers Now Require of Data Centers + Kiplinger — Virginia Approves First Data Center Power Tax ↗
ERCOTPJMMISOEPAMoratoriumTax incentiveInterconnection
Read why it matters →Plain-English background. Virginia has two governors who matter for data centers: the Republican-appointed State Corporation Commission (SCC) that sets utility rates, and the elected governor who signs budgets. Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) was elected in...
Virginia Mercury — Virginia General Assembly approves Spanberger's budget amendments, ending monthslong impasse (Jun 29 2026) + VPM News — Lawmakers accept Spanberger's budget amendments, averting state funding crisis (Jun 29 2026) + News From The States — Virginia has a new two-year budget. Here's what lawmakers now require of data centers + Canary Media — Virginia slaps data centers with big new tax — but no climate rules + Northern Virginia Daily — General Assembly OKs Spanberger's budget amendments, ending impasse + Virginia Scope — Data center debate spills over into Spanberger bill signing ↗
VirginiaMoratoriumTax incentiveBehind-the-meter
Read why it matters →Plain-English background. Data centers are huge users of electricity, and US states have spent the last 10-15 years competing for data center investment by offering tax breaks. The two main breaks are (a) a sales-tax exemption on the hardware (servers,...
Virginia Mercury — Virginia legislators advance $205B budget including new tax on data centers (Jun 22 2026) + Data Center Knowledge — Virginia Approves First-Ever Data Center Power Tax + Croke Fairchild Duarte & Beres — Governor Pritzker Directs DCEO to Pause Data Center Investment Program Agreements Effective July 1, 2026 + Gov. Pritzker Newsroom — Gov. Pritzker Pauses New Data Center Tax Incentives (Jun 5 2026) + Capitol News Illinois + Multistate — State Data Center Policy Shifts as Governors Impose New Restrictions (Jun 22 2026) ↗
VirginiaIllinoisTax incentiveBehind-the-meter
Read why it matters →Plain-English version of what just happened. Virginia is the data center capital of the world. Northern Virginia's Loudoun County alone hosts more data center capacity (~3.5 GW operating, another ~7 GW in the queue) than any other county on earth, and...
Virginia Mercury — Virginia legislators advance $205B budget including new tax on data centers (Jun 22 2026) + Data Center Knowledge — Virginia approves first-ever data center power tax + Kiplinger + HB30 Conference Report Item 3-5.24 (budget.lis.virginia.gov) + Bisnow — Virginia keeping data center tax breaks adding tax energy use ↗
PJMVirginiaTax incentiveInterconnectionBehind-the-meter
Read why it matters →Plain-English framing. Arizona has used a Computer Data Center sales-tax exemption since 2013 to attract hyperscaler builds in the Phoenix metro and Pinal/Maricopa counties; the program currently exempts qualifying equipment purchases from state sales tax....
Arizona Capitol Times / CALO News / BGOV ↗
TexasOhioArizonaMoratoriumTax incentiveBehind-the-meter
Read why it matters →Plain-English framing. Yesterday's digest flagged HB 646 with a 48-hour-to-floor-vote scenario. That outer-bound timing did not materialize. The substitute bill was discussed in committee June 10, but a committee report-out and Senate floor vote did not...
Statehouse News Bureau / Policy Matters Ohio ↗
OhioTax incentiveBehind-the-meterHyperscaler
Read why it matters →HB 1030 was Colorado's primary 2026 attempt to attract data-center investment via tax incentives — the bill was first introduced in January and modeled loosely on the sales-and-use exemption regimes that Texas, Virginia, Georgia, Ohio, Iowa, Nebraska, and...
KUNC / CPR News / The Colorado Sun / The Durango Herald ↗
ERCOTPJMMISOTexasMoratoriumTax incentiveRatepayer protection
Read why it matters →SB 484 (sponsored by Sen. Bryan Ávila with companion in the Florida House) cleared both chambers earlier in the 2026 session and was signed at a Lakeland press conference May 7 alongside several other technology-related bills. The statute directs the Florida...
WFSU / Florida Politics / Tallahassee Reports / Florida Senate (SB 484 bill text) ↗
TexasVirginiaOhioFloridaTax incentive
Read why it matters →Five separate jurisdictions moved on data-center moratoria or rejections in the May 4-8 window. (1) Northampton County NC (rural northeastern NC, ~17,500 population, near the Roanoke-Chowan area) approved a 32-month pause unanimously on May 4 after residents...
NC Health News / Fox Baltimore / The Banner / Post & Courier (Colleton) / First Alert 4 (Ferguson) / KSHB (Gardner) / Tom's Hardware ↗
North CarolinaGeorgiaMarylandKansasMoratoriumTax incentive
Read why it matters →SpaceX filed an application for property tax abatements with Grimes County, Texas, for a semiconductor fabrication and advanced-packaging facility branded 'Terafab' that would cost $55 billion in initial phases and up to $119 billion if all planned expansions...
Tom's Hardware / KBTX / TechCrunch / ERCOT ↗
ERCOTTexasTax incentiveInterconnectionHyperscaler
Read why it matters →At Monday's contentious Hermantown MN City Council meeting, a Google Technical Infrastructure team representative gave the company's first in-person presentation on the proposed 1.2 million sq ft data-center site. Project disclosures: $650 million for Phase...
MPR News / Northern News Now ↗
North CarolinaMinnesotaMoratoriumTax incentiveHyperscaler
Read why it matters →After a packed Hermantown City Council meeting Monday night with hours of public comment, Councilor John Geissler moved to table both the tax-abatement and the development agreement for Google's 1.2 million sq ft data center, citing the need for clarity on...
Duluth News Tribune ↗
North CarolinaMinnesotaMoratoriumTax incentiveHyperscaler
Read why it matters →Two parallel local-opposition lawsuits this past week. Yorkville, IL: Preserve our Yorkville & Community filed against the City of Yorkville to halt the 1,034-acre Project Cardinal data center; April 24 court hearing extended to May 8 with both legal teams...
Shaw Local (Yorkville) ↗
MinnesotaMoratoriumTax incentiveHyperscaler
Read why it matters →Per yesterday's update, the Virginia General Assembly rejected most of Governor Spanberger's substantive amendments to HB 1393 (Bolling) / SB 253 at the April 22 reconvened session, returning the bills to her desk as-passed. The constitutional clock to sign,...
Virginia Mercury ↗
VirginiaTax incentive
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