Half a dozen Democrats in the Ohio Senate say they are getting ready to introduce extensive legislation targeting data centers.
Among the bills the Senate Minority Caucus is drafting are legislation to require community investments by data centers, restrict their water usage, reaffirm local home rule on decision-making about data centers, and otherwise further regulate them.
Sen. Kent Smith (D-Euclid) said he also wants to end the tax breaks on the books for the electric-intensive facilities taking over swaths of farmland.
“There’s some states that are getting more revenue with far less data centers,” Smith said during a Tuesday news conference. “This tax break, maybe this was a good idea six years ago, eight years ago.”
During the 2026-2027 biennial budget, lawmakers tried ending the 100% sales tax exemption on the materials to build data centers, but Gov. Mike DeWine overruled them. The Chamber of Commerce has also defended the exemption, arguing its elimination would result in 35% less in investment and $500 million less in revenues by 2030.
But as recently as Wednesday, and since July, House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) has shown desire to vote to override DeWine’s veto.
“Everybody else has to build a building, they (have to) pay tax when they go down to the local lumber yard,” Huffman told reporters Wednesday. “I don’t know how much lumber is in a data center, but you get the idea.”
Last month, Reps. Gary Click (R-Vickery) and Kellie Deeter (R-Norwalk) introduced a bill creating a data center study commission. Smith said that does not go far enough.
“Those two House members, and again, I believe they have good intentions,” Smith said, “But neither of them are on the Public Utilities Committee in the House, where I would think these issues have been percolating in members minds for a while.”
So far, the Democrats in the Senate do not have any GOP senators on board with their bills.
