Ohio House waits on data center study vote

After rapidly advancing a bill to study data centers through committee, Ohio House lawmakers took a beat Wednesday, and held off on putting the measure to a floor vote. But that pause, Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman said, wasn't a matter of cold feet. "I like the data center commission," he said before the House session. "It's not on the agenda for today, but I think it will be before we leave at the end of March. I support this." Ohio House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn is skeptical about the study commission's membership. Unions representing electricians and plumbers and pipefitters have seen their ranks soar due the influx of data centers, but organized labor doesn't get a seat on the commission. Isaacsohn noted Democrats won't have much of a voice on the commission either. The measure proposes a total of four lawmakers split evenly between party and chamber. On the other hand, the majority party gets to select several the bulk of the commission's subject matter experts. "So, it's not that we shouldn't have a study. We absolutely should have a commission to look at these issues, and look broader, frankly, at artificial intelligence policy," Isaacsohn said. "But it shouldn't be just another commission that is in the pocket of the people who it would impact." Isaacsohn stopped short of committing to vote for or against the measure. "We'll see what shape it's in when it comes to the floor," he said, "but I'm certainly supportive of studying the issue more." The tax break overrideWhile Huffman suggested a vote on the study commission is coming, he also hinted at bigger plans. In Ohio's last operating budget, state lawmakers moved to eliminate a sales tax exemption for data centers. Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed that provision. In his veto message, the governor defended the incentive as an important tool to attract investment. DeWine added it's a discretionary benefit handed out on a case-by-case basis. More recently, DeWine reiterated, "I think data centers do help our economy." He acknowledged most of the jobs they create are shorter term construction work, "but they also bring other companies in. I think we have pretty good evidence of that." "Having said that," DeWine added, "I think there's a strong consensus that data centers need to pay their own way." Huffman has been telegraphing plans to override that veto for months. "We are whipping votes, as we say, to try to do that," he said Wednesday morning. "(That) would be a House initiative, and we're going to see what we can get done also, before the end of March on the veto override." The Ohio Senate's viewBecause the budget bill is an Ohio House measure, any veto override would have to start in that chamber. But if the House can clear the required 60% threshold for passage, the Ohio Senate seems ready to get on board. "I mean, it was a Senate proposal when it got into the budget," Ohio Senate President Rob McColley said. "We put it in." He pointed to Ohio House Bill 15 — a sweeping energy measure clearing the path for facilities like data centers to invest in their own on-site power plants. "Given the fact that we'd recently gave them the ability to build power behind their own meter and not take it off the grid, we didn't think that there was a need for the sales tax exemption anymore," McColley explained. Across the aisle, Ohio Senate Democrats rolled out a kind of data center agenda with several bills eliminating tax breaks and requiring facilities pay for new infrastructure. If an override lands in the Senate, Minority Leader Nickie Antonio said her members would consider it. "I expect that some will definitely take a look at it, consider it," she said. "And we have at least a couple folks who have bills that talk about those tax credits. So I anticipate some Democrats would vote for it."