Dealing with Data Centers: Due Diligence for Our Grandchildren

1. New York: the first statewide moratorium actually takes effect

Executive Order No. 62, signed 14 July 2026, effective immediately. New York became the first state in the country to impose a statewide data center permitting pause. The order directs the Department of Environmental Conservation to stop issuing discretionary permits for construction or expansion of data centers consuming 50 MW or more, for up to one year, while the Department of Public Service develops a Generic Environmental Impact Statement. Applications deemed complete before 14 July 2026 are exempt.

The order also directs Empire State Development to publish a Community Investment Framework within sixty days; directs DPS to consider a Grid Acceleration Fund and protection against stranded-asset risk; and continues the Energize NY proceeding requiring large loads either to pay more for energy or supply their own. The Governor is separately pursuing repeal of the sales tax exemption for large facilities.

Sources: Executive Order No. 62 · Governor's release, 14 July 2026 · Community Investment Framework outline

2. The ratepayer firewall keeps hardening

• New Jersey — Data Center Fair Share Act, signed 7 July 2026. Enacted. Facilities of 50 MW or more must commit to paying at least 85 percent of projected power costs for a decade. This is the take-or-pay logic of Chapter 2's Large Load Protection Agreement, written into state law.
• Virginia — budget resolution, 30 June 2026. Enacted. The state retained its data center sales tax exemption but added a first-of-its-kind $0.011 per kWh energy consumption tax, capped at $600 million a year. A middle path between repeal and status quo, and one other states will study.
• New Hampshire — off-grid electricity providers law. Enacted. Moving the other way: easing self-supplied power for data centers. Worth watching as the behind-the-meter counter-model.

3. Water: from disclosure to prohibition

Idaho H.B. 895 — signed 2 April 2026; applies to construction beginning after 1 July 2026. Enacted. Data centers breaking ground after that date may not use water for cooling as a consumptive use unless it comes from a municipal, water district, or water-and-sewer district system. The legislative findings state expressly that data center water consumption conflicts with the local public interest.

Most 2025–2026 water legislation required reporting. Idaho restricted the source. That changes the closed-loop conversation entirely: the question becomes where the make-up water comes from, not how much is used.

4. The second ledger: incentives under review

• Arizona — data center tax incentives paused, 13 June 2026. Enacted.
• Illinois — incentive pause effective 1 July 2026. Enacted.
• Georgia S.B. 476 — would eliminate nearly all state tax credits, precluding new data center credits. Passed the Senate 12 February 2026.
• Oklahoma H.B. 4424 — would end certain incentives for facilities not operating by 1 January 2027. Introduced.
• New York — Governor pursuing repeal of the sales tax exemption for large facilities. Announced.

5. Moratorium bills: twelve states, and one that failed

Good Jobs First documents moratorium bills filed in at least twelve states — Georgia, Maryland, Vermont, Virginia, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, South Carolina and others — ranging from one year to four. Named bills worth tracking: Georgia H.B. 1012, Maryland H.B. 120, Minnesota S.F. 4298, South Dakota S.B. 232 and H.B. 1301, Virginia H.B. 1515, Vermont S.205 (a pause through July 2030), and New York S.9144 (a three-year permit freeze, separate from the Act above). All introduced; none enacted as of this update.

6. Where the center of gravity still is

More than 100 municipalities have adopted or considered local pauses, and at least fourteen states have introduced or considered statewide ones. Two local items are useful as procedural templates: Sunbury, Pennsylvania, where the council certified a citizen-led charter amendment on 15 July 2026 sending a data center cap to the 3 November ballot; and San Angelo, Texas, where a recall petition against the mayor over a proposed project reached the council agenda in July 2026.

Both illustrate the Chapter 5B point from the other direction: when a board has no adopted standard to decide against, the dispute migrates from the hearing record to the ballot.

7. The count

As of 1 July 2026, states had enacted 109 AI laws and 28 data center laws in the 2026 sessions — slightly behind the 2025 pace at the same date (121 and 27), against a 2025 full-year total of 159 and 37. More than 300 data center bills were introduced across 30 states in the first six weeks of 2026 alone.

Counts and trackers: NYU Center on Technology Policy via Tech Policy Press; MultiState Policy Watch; Good Jobs First; ArentFox Schiff state survey.

Standing caveat. Statuses are labelled as of 29 July 2026 — introduced, passed one chamber, enacted, or executive order. None of this is legal advice. Every item is a starting point for your county counsel, not a substitute for their research under your own state's law.