Jessie Opoien
MADISON – Legislative efforts to regulate the boom of data centers in Wisconsin stalled in the state Senate, which failed to vote on any such bills before concluding its work for the year.
The Senate's inaction follows a dramatic tide shift in public opinion against these projects, with a Marquette University Law School poll last month showing 70% of Wisconsin voters believe the costs to the state outweigh the benefits.
Lawmakers in both parties have introduced bills aimed at legislating that balance, and the Assembly passed one such bill in January. While a Senate committee considered several of those proposals last month, none made it to the floor for a vote in the chamber's final scheduled votes for the year on March 17.
That could hurt Republicans on the ballot in November, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, warned at a WisPolitics Q&A event this week.
"I think it is absolutely sad the state Senate is not voting on data center regulation," Vos said. "That is a huge issue, probably bigger than most that I have seen in my 22 years."
Vos said Assembly Republicans will be able to say they did what they could to regulate data centers, but Republican senators up for reelection "who don't have that vote, I think they’re going to regret it" in the fall.
Republicans currently have an 18-15 majority in the Senate and a 54-45 lead in the Assembly. This fall, Democrats would need to pick up two seats to take the majority in the Senate, and five to earn a majority in the Assembly.
In October 2025, 55% of Marquette poll respondents said the costs of large data centers are greater than their benefits. Over a period of four months, opposition was up to 70%.
"Data centers are a big issue for almost every part of Wisconsin. It’s not partisan. Republicans, Democrats, independents are concerned that we need to have some sort of reasonable regulation," Vos told reporters while the Senate met.
Under the bill passed by the Assembly earlier this year, the state Public Service Commission would be tasked with ensuring no other ratepayers would absorb the costs of the construction or extension of electric infrastructure that primarily serves a data center. Any renewable energy facility that primarily serves a data center would be required to be located on-site.
The PSC testified that while the agency supports efforts to shield ratepayers from costs raised by data centers, the language of the legislation "would be challenging to implement."
The bill would also require any water used by data centers for cooling purposes to be used in a closed-loop system, or any other system that uses an equal or lesser amount of water. Each year, the operator of a data center would be required to report its annual water usage to the state Department of Natural Resources.
The bill would enact requirements for land restoration at the discretion of local government officials, including requiring data center operators to file a bond in advance with the DNR large enough to cover those efforts.
Developers would be required "to the extent possible" to "encourage" the hiring of Wisconsin workers for construction.
The Assembly bill passed 53-44 largely on party lines, with Rep. Lindee Brill, R-Sheboygan Falls, joining Democrats in voting no and Reps. Steve Doyle, D-Onalaska, and Jodi Emerson, D-Eau Claire, joining Republicans in support.
Democrats were generally critical of the GOP bill. Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer, D-Racine, argued at the time of the Assembly vote that it would not adequately hold corporations accountable and would defer to fossil fuels over renewable energy sources by limiting where such facilities could be located.
Last month, the Senate Committee on Utilities, Technology and Tourism held a public hearing on a slate of bills aimed at regulating data centers, including the Assembly bill, a competing Democratic proposal and a bill that would ban nondisclosure agreements for data center projects.
When asked in the Marquette poll to identify possible benefits of data centers, voters put creating new jobs for technical workers at the top of the list. Voters identified high water usage and strain on local water resources as the top cost.
Jessie Opoien can be reached at jessie.opoien@jrn.com.
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