POWER Act stalls as Illinois General Assembly wraps up spring session
The Protecting Our Energy, Water and Ratepayers (POWER) Act, which aimed to regulate data centers in Illinois, stalled in the General Assembly, failing to reach a floor vote. Environmental advocates are vowing to continue their fight for greater transparency and environmental impact disclosures from data center developers. Governor Pritzker has also proposed pausing a tax incentive program for data centers.
The Protecting Our Energy, Water and Ratepayers (POWER) Act, legislation designed to regulate Illinois' burgeoning data center industry, failed to pass during the spring session of the Illinois General Assembly. Both the Senate and House bills supporting the act did not secure enough votes to reach a floor vote.
Hundreds of environmental, labor, and community leaders, including Brenda Santoyo of the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, rallied at the Illinois Capitol, emphasizing that their fight for data center regulation would continue. The POWER Act sought to mandate environmental impact disclosures, require renewable energy for operations, prohibit non-disclosure agreements, and impose reporting requirements on water and energy use for large data center developers. Supporters argued the legislation would prevent local communities from bearing the costs of the multi-billion dollar tech industry.
Despite the legislative setback, Senate bill sponsor Sen. Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago) and House sponsor State Rep. Robyn Gable (D-Evanstown) encouraged advocates to persist, stating that negotiations with stakeholders would continue throughout the summer. The stalling of the POWER Act has shifted attention to Gov. JB Pritzker's proposal to pause a state tax incentive program for data centers, an idea he floated during his February budget address.
The broader debate over data center development continues across Illinois, with local examples including Sangamon County officials approving zoning for a CyrusOne data center in April, while Champaign County leaders enacted a one-year moratorium on data center development the same month.