An eleventh-hour effort before summer recess to send data center regulations to Gov. Mike DeWine died late Wednesday night.
The last-minute legislation Ohio lawmakers were considering would have created an electric rate class for the state鈥檚 data centers, cut local tax abatements of facilities at 50%, and regulated water usage and discharges by them, among other measures.
But objections by House members to extend a sales and use tax break ultimately killed negotiations. The amended version of is unlikely to see any substantive action before November.
What comes next?
Sen. Brian Chavez (R-Marietta) said the legislature is limited in how much it can do because of multi-decade commitments.
鈥淭hat was established in the Kasich administration,鈥� Chavez told reporters. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 go back, that cake is baked and half eaten. There may be some things that we can do, but that鈥檚 not anything that we can do right now.鈥�
Most existing contracts between the Ohio Department of Development and existing data centers stretch years, and sometimes decades, into the future.
Amazon, Meta and Google are benefitting for any facility they build statewide through at least 2055, 2056 and 2058, according to Department of Development contract documents obtained by the Statehouse News Bureau.
Director Lydia Mihalik suggested Ohio could try and renegotiate.
鈥淏ut candidly, they鈥檙e going to make those decisions based on the best movement forward for their business,鈥� Mihalik told the Joint Data Center Committee on Thursday morning.
The state underestimated the cost of the sales tax break in 2025 by more than $1.4 billion. Rep. Chris Glassburn (D-North Olmsted) said the lack of insight into the real revenue loss has left him 鈥渁ngry鈥� and 鈥渆xhausted.鈥�
鈥淲e need to renegotiate those agreements,鈥� Glassburn told reporters. 鈥淚 also think if ... we don鈥檛 even know what we鈥檙e doing, we鈥檙e going to look like idiots, and right now, we look like idiots.鈥�
The Ohio House could reconvene June 24, but Chavez said Thursday the Senate won鈥檛 be.