Ohio moves to ban data center construction through constitutional amendment as legislature introduces 4 regulatory bills in one week

Ohio is grappling with a concerted push to restrict and potentially halt data center development across the state, marked by both a proposed constitutional amendment and a suite of new legislative bills. On March 26, the Ohio Attorney General's Office certified a petition for a constitutional amendment aiming to outright prohibit the construction of any data center with an aggregate monthly demand over 25 megawatts. This amendment, if passed, would take immediate effect. Just one day prior, on March 25, four distinct bills were introduced in the Ohio Legislature targeting data center operations. These include SB378 and HB784, which would establish water usage standards, restrictions, and mandatory reporting for data centers. SB381 seeks to require approval from the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio for data centers connecting to the electrical grid, while SB374 proposes ending sales tax exemptions for new data center developments. The constitutional amendment petition, submitted by a committee from Georgetown, Manchester, Williamsburg, and Batavia, now requires extensive signature collection to appear on a future ballot. The legislative bills have been referred to committee, with no hearings scheduled yet. This regulatory surge coincides with the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission's approval of fracking on public land, reportedly driven by data center energy demand, and the U.S. Department of Energy's announcement of a 10-gigawatt data center campus in Pike County.