Nevada’s Democratic nominee for governor on Wednesday proposed pausing tax breaks for data centers, making him the latest in a bipartisan stream of political figures nationwide to demand such a policy.
Attorney General Aaron Ford is challenging incumbent Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo in one of the most closely watched gubernatorial races in the country, due to Nevada’s swing-state status. Though the governor’s seat has been viewed as one of Democrats’ top opportunities to flip blue, some polls appear to show Ford’s bid is losing ground to Lombardo’s reelection campaign.
With two full months until the election, the Democratic candidate this week made data centers a major focus, pledging to pause new data center tax breaks if elected. Ford also called for a systematic review of the economic effects of the existing tax incentive program, which he backed as state senator in 2015, alongside a statewide ban on evaporative cooling, the end of development of data centers on federal land, and more metrics on data centers receiving tax breaks, according to the Nevada Independent.
“I’ll use everything within my power to stop awarding tax breaks for data centers until they prove that they are holding their end of the bargain,” Ford said. “I will use the bully pulpit of the governor’s office to ensure that my intention is known — that we will not be giving new abatements to companies while we audit” those who received the tax breaks.
Ford is not alone in making the policy demand. As the number of data centers, which power the technology grid and artificial intelligence, grows, both red and blue states have either suspended tax breaks for data centers or expressed support for such a pause, including the governors of Texas, Ohio, Illinois, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Arizona.
“I’d make clear already any AI data center, even thinking about coming here, they got to bring their own money, bring their own power, reuse their own water, and do it in a way that reduces the cost of electricity for residents across our state,” Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) said earlier this summer. “We must eliminate the tax break they are getting. They must be responsible for funding their own projects here in Texas. We will get that done.”
In Nevada, Lombardo is known as generally supportive of data centers and has raised concerns that “misinformation” could be spreading about their development. In a Reno Gazette-Journal op-ed published in June, Lombardo said he supports projects that “have responsible plans in place for water usage, energy generation and infrastructure demands.”
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As he broke ground at a new Storey County data center in May, the governor argued the development would bring new jobs to the area, and that it was a prime location not in a residential or retail area, telling residents, “we’re protecting you all along the way and not to the detriment of economic expansion.”
“As trusted public officials, we must engage on a meaningful level with all sides of matters, such as this, and ensure that public discourse, no matter how well-intended, does not allow for the proliferation and dissemination of misinformation,” Lombardo wrote earlier this month, in response to a lawmaker who requested a pause on giving data centers tax breaks if they are on federal property.