State lawmakers face data-center policy decisions when session opens in January

When Iowa lawmakers return to Des Moines in January for the 2027 legislative session, they will need to address the state's role in regulating data centers, Iowa Capital Dispatch reports via KCRG. An Iowa legislator and utility stakeholders said in a recent webinar that decisions to bring data centers online should consider stakeholders across the spectrum and the long-term planning needed to connect to the grid. The webinar was hosted by Legible, a platform that tracks legislation across states, whose leadership called data-center policy a "ubiquitous, as well as pressing, issue being talked about this year." Rep. Hans Wilz, R-Ottumwa, said a community must assess power, land, infrastructure, workforce and state and local policy when deciding whether a data center fits, and called power the "number one, overreaching" factor. Wilz said putting a hyperscale data center in a rural area that makes sense "is like building 1,000 homes as far as the taxation and the energy use." Chaz Allen, executive director of the Iowa Utility Association, said large data centers run by Microsoft, Google and Apple already operate in Iowa and the state's major utilities have not had to shift costs to customers, because large-load tariffs and individual customer rates make big users pay their way. Maison Bleam, regional director of state regulatory affairs at the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, said transmission projects can take seven to 10 years, creating a "mismatch in timing" with demand growth. Gov.-elect Rob Sand has said he hopes to see data-center legislation early in the session, has called for an end to tax breaks for data centers, and for setback regulations, transparency in negotiations and assurances that data-center operators pay for increases in utility costs. Locally, the data-center question is already live: Dubuque County has a moratorium on data-center development running through July 2027, and the University of Dubuque hosts a community forum on data centers on Tuesday, Nov. 17.