Data Center Legislation Under Consideration at the State Capitol
There is no question that data centers are a significant and increasingly contentious political issue in Wisconsin. While these projects bring major economic development value, including large private investment, job creation, and growth in the AI and tech sectors, the benefits of data centers are widely debated due to energy and environmental concerns.
Despite Wisconsin’s success in attracting data centers and becoming a key state for AI infrastructure, questions regarding the economic and environmental costs of these projects have made data centers a high-profile political and policy issue at the State Capitol, leading to the introduction of several data center-related legislative proposals. The WEDA Government Affairs Team is closely monitoring the following data center bills currently being considered by lawmakers in Madison:
- Assembly Bill 840 / Senate Bill 843 – This legislation is focused on regulating the development and operation of large data centers in the state, particularly their energy, utility, and environmental impacts. The bill directs the Public Service Commission to ensure that costs for new electric infrastructure serving a data center are borne by the facility rather than other utility customers, while also establishing requirements such as new utility rate structures, environmental and water-use measures (including closed-loop cooling and reporting), and other operational standards. Supporters say it aims to capture economic benefits from data-center growth while protecting ratepayers, whereas critics argue it may not sufficiently address environmental concerns or fully shield residents from potential costs.
- Status: Assembly Bill 840 passed the Assembly on a partisan 53-44 vote; The bill received a public hearing before the senate Utilities and Technology Committee on 02/17/25.
- Senate Bill 729 / Assembly Bill 722 – This wide-ranging bill focuses on regulating large energy users – especially data centers – by establishing new utility and environmental requirements. The bill would create fees for large energy customers based on projected peak demand, direct regulators to set up a special “very large customer” utility class and optional renewable energy tariffs, and require data centers to meet building and sustainability standards, report energy and water use, and pay prevailing wages on major construction projects. It also ties certain tax benefits to using high levels of renewable electricity and grants rule-making authority to state agencies to implement the framework, with the overall goal of ensuring large facilities cover their infrastructure and environmental costs while promoting clean energy use.
- Status: The bill received a public hearing before the Senate Utilities and Technology Committee on 02/17/25.
- Senate Bill 969 / Assembly Bill 1036 – The bill would prohibit data centers and related parties – such as local governments or contractors – from entering into nondisclosure agreements or similar arrangements that conceal key information about a data center from the public, aiming to ensure community access to details about proposed facilities and their impacts. This measure is part of a broader legislative effort to increase public oversight as Wisconsin evaluates multiple large-scale data-center developments.
- Status: The bill received a public hearing before the Senate Utilities and Technology Committee on 02/17/25.
Please direct any questions to WEDA Legislative Affairs Director Michael Welsh at mwelsh@weda.org.
