DeWine hits pause on new data center tax breaks as legislature launches review
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has directed a pause on new data center tax exemption requests while a bipartisan legislative committee begins a comprehensive review of the industry's growth and impact in the state. This move follows revelations of underestimated tax break costs and increasing scrutiny. A separate volunteer-led campaign is also gathering signatures for a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit the construction of large data centers.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced a directive on Wednesday to pause the consideration of any new data center tax exemption requests. This decision by the governor comes as the Ohio General Assembly's Joint Data Center Committee convened its first meeting in Columbus to study the industry's growth and impacts across the state. Senator Bill Reineke, representing several counties including Seneca and Sandusky, is a member of this bipartisan panel.
The pause, which will take effect after the Ohio Tax Credit Authority's June 1 meeting, specifically targets new exemption proposals and does not affect ongoing data center construction or tax breaks previously granted to companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta. The legislative committee, co-chaired by Sen. Brian Chavez and Rep. Adam Holmes, aims to gather accurate information on the economic, environmental, and security implications of data center development in Ohio. They plan weekly meetings to hear from workers, residents, and companies such as Google and Meta.
Governor DeWine's new stance is more cautious than his previous defense of the tax breaks, which included vetoing a budget line that would have ended the Ohio Department of Taxation's authority to grant them. The recent shift follows a report from Signal Ohio indicating the state had underestimated the cost of these tax breaks by over $1 billion. Simultaneously, a volunteer-led campaign is actively collecting signatures for a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban data centers with a peak load exceeding 25 megawatts per month, aiming for the November ballot.