MADISON, Wis. – Today, the Wisconsin Assembly considered AB 840, a Republican-authored bill that restricts the ability of Wisconsin data centers to use off-site renewable energy resources while placing loose restrictions on those centers’ water use.
Power usage, water usage, and water pollution are among the most pressing public concerns with data centers, both in Wisconsin and nationally, along with significant use of diesel backup power generation, lack of permanent job creation, and over reliance on public subsidies.
Rep. Madison voted against AB 840, along with the majority of the Democratic Assembly caucus.
Rep. Madison (D-10) released the following statement:
“Today, I confidently voted against AB 840 along with the vast majority of my Democratic colleagues. It’s an inadequate, poorly written response to the pressing question of how data centers can and should impact Wisconsin’s communities.
AB 840 fails to address the glaring, potentially disastrous problem of data center energy consumption. It provides no guarantees that the jobs created will be safe and well-compensated, much less union. Wisconsin badly needs those good paying, safe, union-protected jobs. AB 840 does nothing to meet that need.
Above all, AB 840 fails to protect ratepayers from the looming threat of nearly doubled electricity demand in southeast Wisconsin. My office has already proposed AB 785, a cornerstone affordability policy that caps residential utility bills at two-percent of household income and would lower energy costs for hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin households.
My Democratic colleagues and my office continue to work on real, substantive solutions to this critical issue affecting our communities – but Republicans refuse to work with us and instead are proposing empty solutions supported by very few stakeholders. We remain willing and able to craft legislation that effectively, justly regulates data centers and artificial intelligence in Wisconsin. AB 840, however, is an almost complete failure of legislative leadership. It simply isn’t good enough.”
