Greg Abbott wants data centers to stop passing the bill to Texans

• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott proposed stricter regulations on data centers in the state.
• Abbott wants data centers to pay their own way, citing concerns about residential electricity bills.
• Community backlash against data centers is growing across the US.

BYOE — Bring Your Own Electricity

Williams said the message he thinks Abbott is trying to send is “Texas is open for business, but be ready to bring your own electricity and be prepared to invest in local water systems.”

“They want to make sure that the companies with the big balance sheets bear the significant share of whatever the impacts may be,” he said.

Collins also said the issue of addressing data centers is largely bipartisan, a relative rarity in Texas, which could partly explain why Abbott is signaling state lawmakers to focus on it, adding there’s a pretty good shot they can get “reasonable guardrails” passed.

Texas approved a statewide sales tax break for data centers back in 2013. The Texas Tribune reported that the state gives data centers over $1 billion in tax breaks every year.

In November, Abbott called Texas “the epicenter of AI development” during a joint announcement with Google of a $40 billion investment in the state, which included new data centers.