Assembly Republicans have announced a push to pass legislation that would regulate data centers, including an effort to shield other ratepayers from the coming expense to power the facilities.
GOP Rep. Mark Born at a Beaver Dam press conference yesterday said that AB 840, introduced Friday, will get a hearing this week.
“Whether we like it or not, data centers are here,” said the Beaver Dam Republican, who is among the bill’s cosponsors.
Meta announced in November plans to construct a $1 billion, 700,000 square-foot AI data center in the city of 16,700 people.
GOP members also held press conferences in Milwaukee, Green Bay, Eau Claire and Wausau as they lined up behind AB 840, which was introduced by 29 Assembly Republicans and six Senate Republicans. It includes provisions that would require the Public Service Commission ensure that new energy costs tied to data centers are not passed onto other ratepayers.
It would also require data centers to use closed-loop cooling systems to minimize water use and to host on-site any renewable energy facilities principally serving the data center.
“It’s a super responsible bill and also a pretty aggressive bill to ensure these data centers, when they come in, that they don’t change the fabric of Wisconsin,” said Assembly Majority Leader Tyler August, R-Walworth.
The bill will receive a public hearing Wednesday before the State Affairs Committee.
Born said he was “hopeful” that the bill would receive bipartisan support but said that representatives would know more after that hearing.
Democrats already introduced their own bill regulating data centers, AB 722, last month. That bill includes several similar provisions, including ones to control water usage and prevent data centers from receiving preferential rates from utilities.
Born said he objected to a requirement in the Dem bill for data centers to draw at least 70% of their power from renewable resources, saying it would adversely increase land use.
Assembly Dems didn’t immediately provide comment on the GOP bill.
