Data center bill stalls after last-minute change opposed by industry finds support

The Senate session ended abruptly Thursday just as senators were nearing a vote on a bill aimed at ensuring data centers pay for the energy infrastructure built to accommodate them after it appeared a last-minute alternative measure had the votes to pass.

The Georgia Senate avoided voting on Senate Bill 34, which moved out of committee earlier this week after it had been changed to reflect language from House Bill 1063, which Georgia Power did not oppose and the data center industry preferred.

But the sudden adjournment came Thursday afternoon after the Senate bill’s sponsor, Rome Republican Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, attempted to revert the measure back to its original form through a floor amendment that appeared to have broad support. About a dozen Senate Republicans signed onto adding back the language that the utility company and representatives from the data center industry opposed in committee. 

“Eighty percent of the people in Georgia want this. They want this protection. We need to provide it for them,” Hufstetler said after adjournment, adding that he’s unsure if the bill will come back for a vote.

Lawmakers will return to the Gold Dome on Tuesday with a key legislative deadline awaiting Friday. The session is set to end April 2.

Senate Democrats, who backed Hufstetler’s original bill, accused Republicans of delaying action to provide economic relief to Georgians after giving data centers billions in tax breaks over the years.

“This is real affordability legislation in a year where Georgians face higher utility bills, grocery prices and health insurance premiums. Republicans need to drag themselves back to the Capitol, stop kissing Donald Trump’s ring and pass this bill. The data centers cannot be allowed to keep leeching off our state,” said Sen. Elena Parent, an Atlanta Democrat.

Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones, an Augusta Democrat, told reporters Thursday that in over a decade as a lawmaker, he had “never seen the Georgia state Senate actually decline to actually debate a bill.”

“Instead of addressing that issue today — (a) clear issue that Georgians want — what this majority did, what the Republicans did today, was say, we’re not going to address it. We’re going to actually hide from it and run, and that is amazing that this actually took place today,” Jones said.

The industry-preferred substitute adopted more flexible language that critics argued would leave the door open for Georgians to pay billions for the infrastructure needs of power-hungry data centers.

Bob Sherrier, a lawyer with the Southern Environmental Law Center who previously testified in support of the Senate bill as originally written, said in an email that “if Senator Hufstetler’s language passes, the only flexibility Georgia Power or the PSC loses is the ability to charge residential and small business customers for data center costs.”

“It’s telling, though, that Georgia Power and the data centers advocated for keeping the status quo, saying essentially ‘trust us,’” he said.

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Aaron Mitchell, senior vice president for strategic growth for Georgia Power, pushed back on the bill’s original language but said the company was “neutral” on the substitute version as “those benefits are in effect now.” He said that the original bill would have interfered with the Public Service Commission’s process for setting electricity rates.

“The very definition of rate-making is the determination of costs, or the identification and pricing of costs of service of providing electric service to a customer. That’s what (the original bill) is doing: identification of costs and telling the commission and the company how to treat those costs through recovery of rate-making,” Mitchell said. “We agree with the intent, just not that inartful way of legislating that.”

Holly Springs Republican Rep. Brad Thomas, who sponsored the House version of the proposal, chairs a House special committee that has traveled the state studying issues surrounding data centers. He defended the language in his bill and said Wednesday evening that while the Public Service Commission is already accomplishing what his bill is proposing, codifying the practice into law would prevent the commission from quickly changing the rule in the future.

“I guess it’s the greatest first step in getting (to the best policy). This isn’t over, but let’s go ahead and take care of the number one thing that people are concerned about,” Thomas said, pointing to infrastructure costs being passed on to them.

Thomas’ bill passed earlier this month with a 159-to-5 vote and is now awaiting consideration in the Senate.

Local opposition has been growing across Georgia as data centers expand beyond Atlanta and into rural parts of the state, alarming residents who worry these gigantic developments are being proposed or approved by local governments without regard for the state’s natural resources or the impact on consumers’ utility bills. Not only are they heavy water users, but they also consume massive amounts of energy. With a recent focus on energy affordability, these bills are among at least 11 proposed this session aimed at curbing their potential negative effects.

Connie Di Cicco, legislative director with Georgia Conservation Voters, said in a statement that the Senate has left “Georgia ratepayers waiting for relief.” She said lawmakers will have to make a choice to either “stand with ratepayers now, or protect corporate interests at their expense.”

“We are grateful to the senators holding firm to ensure Senator Hufstetler’s amendment restoring real ratepayer protections is adopted — because without it, families could be left subsidizing the soaring energy demands of billion-dollar data centers already receiving generous tax breaks,” Di Cicco said.