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The Georgia General Assembly wants to suspend tax breaks for high-tech data centers and won’t extend extra benefits to cryptocurrency mining operations. These operations rely on large banks of computer servers that use huge amounts of energy – a concern that was on lawmakers’ minds as they passed the data center bill and failed to advance the crypto measure.
State lawmakers also set out an election schedule for the state’s Public Service Commissioners. Voting for the elected officials who regulate utilities has been on hold for years as a voting rights challenge has moved through the courts.
Another measure, which would have re-established a public advocate for utility issues, failed to pass the House.
The legislative session that ended last week coincided with Georgia Public Service Commission hearings to address an extra request from Georgia Power for more electricity, as well as a candidate qualifying period in which some were surprised to learn the PSC would once again be left off the ballot.
Dig deeper: learn how energy regulation and policy work in Georgia
The bills that passed, and are now awaiting Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature, seek to remedy both issues.
Data center powerup
You’re using data every time you send an email, go to a Zoom meeting or stream a movie. It has to come from somewhere — generally, a data center full of computer servers.
“Data centers enable the apps, platforms and services that we use personally and professionally every day,” Josh Levi of the Data Center Coalition told WABE as the data center bill worked its way through the legislature. “They keep us connected in our modern lives.”
In 2018, Georgia introduced a tax break for data centers: a sales tax exemption for their equipment. Since then, data center construction has exploded…
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