Meet the progressive Democrat bucking data center moratoriums

Washington state Rep. April Berg, a prominent progressive Democrat, is actively urging her legislative colleagues to avoid imposing moratoriums on artificial intelligence data centers. At a recent summit hosted by the National Conference of State Legislatures in Chicago, Berg emphasized the indispensable nature of data centers in daily life, stating they "are ubiquitous to everything we do in life. Period. Full stop. They are not going away."

Berg, known for her role in enacting an income tax on millionaires in Washington, advocates for the development of intelligent regulations rather than outright bans on these resource-intensive facilities. She humorously dismissed the notion of opposing data centers via email, highlighting the inherent contradiction of using server-dependent communication to argue against data center existence. Her stance marks a departure from some progressive views that often consider such moratoriums.