Data Center Tax Break Tracker: Every 2025-26 State Bill

Original research · LegiScan state bill data, read and sorted by hand · Last updated September 28, 2026

Data through: state bills and their status as of September 28, 2026 (LegiScan). Latest bill action in our data: Sep 25, 2026.

The short answer: States are turning against data center tax breaks, but slowly. In 2026, 56 bills in 21 states tried to cut, limit or end a data center tax break, compared with 14 bills in 8 states that tried to add or widen one. Few passed either way: 5 states added or widened a break in 2025-26 and 3 cut one. The bigger change was on electric bills: 15 states passed laws meant to keep data center power costs off other customers’ bills.

Key findings

• 541 bills in 46 states. That is every 2025-26 state bill we found that is mainly about data centers or the very large power users they create. 55 became law (51 separate laws once House and Senate twins are counted once) in 26 states.
• Tax break cuts now outnumber tax break adds. Across both years, 75 bills in 21 states tried to cut or limit a data center tax break. 40 bills in 17 states tried to add or widen one. In 2025 the adds led, 26 bills to 19. In 2026 the cuts led, 56 to 14.
• What passed on tax breaks: Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Montana and Wisconsin added or widened breaks. Maine, New Jersey and Washington cut them. Every other bill to add a break has died; 21 bills to cut one are still alive in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
• 15 states protected electric customers. Alabama, California, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia passed 20 laws that make data centers and other huge new power users pay their own way, or order regulators to check. 107 bills on this were filed in 35 states, more than any other topic.
• No pause has become law. 32 bills in 17 states would have paused new data centers. Maine’s passed and was vetoed. New York’s one-year permit pause (A11560) passed both chambers in June and was still waiting on the governor as of September 28, 2026.
• 133 bills are still alive, all in states whose lawmakers meet year-round or into the fall: Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Most other legislatures have adjourned for 2026, so their unpassed bills are dead.

Tax breaks: more states want to cut them, few have

Most states that court data centers do it with a sales tax exemption on the servers and equipment inside. Some add property tax cuts. These breaks can be large, and in 2026 more lawmakers started asking whether they are worth it.

“Cut” here includes bills that end a break, shrink it, move up its end date, or add new strings to it, such as wage, water or energy rules a data center must meet to keep it. 8 states filed bills both ways: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.

Only 8 tax break bills became law, and they split both ways:

Still in play: 21 bills to cut data center tax breaks are alive: Michigan (6); Ohio (5); Pennsylvania (10). 5 of them have already passed one chamber: OH HB646, PA HB1667, PA HB2198, PA HB2359, PA HB2650. No bill to add a break is still alive.

A few other bills went after data centers from a different side. 8 bills in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Virginia would have put a new tax, fee or power surcharge on data centers. None passed.

Electric customers: 15 states passed protections

A big data center can use as much power as a small city. When a utility builds power plants or lines to serve one, the question is who pays. These laws try to make the data center pay, not households and small businesses. For what those power plants run on in each state, see electricity sources by state. Most do it with a special rate class or contract for “large loads,” usually customers using tens of megawatts or more.

Two more passed and were stopped: New Jersey’s A5462 (pocket veto Jan 20, 2026); Vermont’s H0727 (vetoed May 29, 2026). New Jersey then passed a similar rule, A796, in July 2026. 21 more electric-customer bills are still alive, including New Jersey’s A4801, which passed the Assembly 79-0.

Several states also passed power supply laws that shape how data centers get electricity, such as Utah’s SB 132 (large loads can buy from other suppliers if the utility cannot serve them) and West Virginia’s microgrid law (HB 2014). We count those separately under power supply and grid.

Pauses and moratoriums: none passed

32 bills in 17 states would have paused new data centers or their permits, statewide or in one area. None has become law. Maine’s LD307 passed and was vetoed on Apr 29, 2026. New York’s A11560 passed both chambers on June 3-4, 2026, and had not been acted on by the governor as of September 28, 2026. Pennsylvania’s HB 2496, which passed the House, is still alive.

What else lawmakers tried

Siting and local rules (zoning, setbacks, noise reviews, cleanup plans) drew 74 bills. Disclosure bills, which make data centers report their power and water use, drew 55. 67 of the bills came from Virginia, the most of any state, followed by New Jersey (52), Michigan (45) and Pennsylvania (39).

All 541 bills

Search by state, bill or keyword, or pick a topic. Click a column heading to sort. Bill numbers link to LegiScan, where you can find the official bill text. Download all 541 bills (CSV).

Search: Topic: All topicsTax break added (40)Tax break cut (75)Tax break changed (9)New tax or fee (8)Protect electric customers (107)Power supply and grid (57)Water and environment (49)Siting and local rules (74)Pause or moratorium (32)Disclosure (55)Other (35)

“Died” means the bill failed or its legislature adjourned for good without passing it. “Merged into another bill” means lawmakers moved forward with a twin bill instead. “What it does” is our plain-English summary where we wrote one; otherwise it is the official title, shortened.

What this means for electricians, HVAC and other contractors

A data center under construction is mostly electrical and mechanical work: power lines, switchgear, backup generators and a lot of cooling. Tax breaks help decide where those projects land, so a state that cuts its break may see fewer new projects later on. Some cuts apply only to new projects; others, like Washington’s, also reach equipment at existing sites. If you are thinking about bidding on this work, watch the tax bills in your state. Also watch the local siting fights, which can delay a project for months.

The electric-customer laws matter for every small business that pays a power bill. They are meant to stop data center grid costs from showing up on your rate. They do not lower prices, and it will take years of rate cases to see whether they work. For what power costs service businesses today, see commercial electricity costs by state. To see whether prices have actually risen faster in the top data center states, see are data centers raising power bills?

• For how the AI building boom is lifting demand for hands-on trades, see trade jobs vs. tech jobs since ChatGPT.
• For where electricians, HVAC techs and plumbers are most concentrated, see trade labor density by state.
• If you run a cooling business, how to get commercial HVAC maintenance contracts covers the kind of service work large facilities buy.

How this fits with our data center boom study

Our data center boom by state study shows where data centers are being built and where the power is going. This tracker goes deeper on the laws. It uses the same LegiScan data, pulled the same day, and the counts line up. Here are the differences:

• That study counted the 452 bills whose title or summary names data centers. We read those plus hundreds of other search hits by hand. We kept 446 of the 452 and added 95 bills about “large loads” and other huge power users that do not say “data center” in the title, such as Texas SB 6 and Indiana HB 1007.
• So we count 51 laws in 26 states, where that study lists 36 laws in 21 states. The extra 15 are mostly large-load power laws. We also count two more tax break laws, Indiana’s HB 1601 and Wisconsin’s AB 140, that do not name data centers in their titles.
• We count 32 pause bills in 17 states where that study counted 30 in 15. We read each bill and added St. Louis’s one-year permit pause (Missouri HB 3369) and an Oklahoma statewide moratorium (SB 1488).

Methods and sources

• Source: LegiScan’s national bill database, pulled September 28, 2026. We searched 2025 and 2026 state sessions for “data center,” data centers plus tax words, data centers plus rate words, “large load,” and “large energy use.” That returned 1,915 unique bills.
• Screening: We kept every bill whose title names data centers, then read the text or summary of the rest to find bills that are mainly about data centers or very large power users. 710 bills made it to the hand review; we kept 541.
• What we left out (169 bills): resolutions, federal bills, budget and omnibus tax bills where data centers are one line among many, crypto-mining-only bills, bills about state IT systems (not data center buildings), bills where data centers are a small part, and a bill carried over into a new session (counted once).
• Topics: Each bill is filed under one main purpose, so a bill that does several things appears once. Studies are filed under their subject. The topics:
  • Tax break added (40 bills): A new or bigger tax break (sales tax exemption, property tax class, credits).
  • Tax break cut (75 bills): Ends, shrinks, pauses or puts new conditions on a tax break (for example, wage, water or energy rules to keep it).
  • Tax break changed (9 bills): Changes a break, but the direction is mixed or unclear.
  • New tax or fee (8 bills): A new tax, surcharge or fee aimed at data centers.
  • Protect electric customers (107 bills): Rules so data center power costs are not passed to homes and small businesses: large-load rates, contracts, cost studies.
  • Power supply and grid (57 bills): Where data centers get power: on-site plants, microgrids, demand response, grid studies.
  • Water and environment (49 bills): Water use limits and reporting, noise, backup generator emissions.
  • Siting and local rules (74 bills): Zoning, setbacks, site reviews, local approval, shutdown and cleanup plans.
  • Pause or moratorium (32 bills): Stops new data centers or permits for a set time, statewide or locally.
  • Disclosure (55 bills): Public reporting of energy and water use, bans on secret deals.
  • Other (35 bills): Labor rules, foreign ownership, how tax money is spent, and other topics.
• Status: From LegiScan, checked against the legislature for vetoes and the New York pause bill. A bill counts as alive only if its legislature can still act on it in 2026. House and Senate twins are counted once when we count laws (55 bills, 51 laws).
• Limits: Bill summaries are short, and a law’s final version can differ from its title. Some laws take effect later. A missed bill is possible, especially a large-load bill that never uses our search words. This is not legal or tax advice; check the official bill text before you rely on it.
• Bill data courtesy of LegiScan (CC BY 4.0). The classification and summaries are ours.