Incentive for data center approvals gets watered down

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Republican lawmakers initially proposed a multi-million dollar incentive program to encourage cities and counties to approve data center projects, but the final version of the legislation dramatically scaled back these payments. The incentive, which linked payments to electricity usage, was reduced to approximately 1/14th of the original Senate-endorsed amount following private discussions between legislators and data center company lobbyists. House Bill 1406, signed into law by Gov. Mike Braun, now requires the Indiana Finance Authority and the Indiana Economic Development Commission to conduct a comprehensive study. This report, due by November 1st to the Legislature y ’s fiscal policy study committee, will examine the financial impact and costs of various tax incentives provided to data centers. Rep. Craig Snow, R-Warsaw, the bill's author, stated that the study aims to provide objective data to address concerns that data centers receive substantial benefits "for free." Ben Inskeep, program director for the Citizens Action Coalition, criticized the state for not quantifying the sales tax exemption's benefit to data centers, estimating it could amount to tens of billions of dollars over 50 years, largely unrecorded.