COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio is facing a coordinated effort to halt data center development in the state through both a proposed constitutional amendment and new legislation, according to filings with the Attorney General and the General Assembly.
On March 26, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office certified a petition for a proposed constitutional amendment that would prohibit the construction of any data center in Ohio. The proposed amendment would add Section 36a to Article II of the Ohio Constitution and states simply: “The construction of a data center is hereby prohibited.”
Just a day earlier, on March 25, four bills targeting data center operations were introduced in the Ohio Legislature.
The constitutional amendment defines a data center as any facility with an aggregate monthly demand or peak load greater than 25 megawatts that is used primarily or exclusively for digital information services, including data management, storage, processing, and dissemination. The proposed amendment is self-executing, meaning it would take effect immediately upon passage without requiring additional legislation.
Four bills, one day
The four bills introduced on March 25 would regulate data centers through water reporting requirements, utility approval processes, and the elimination of tax incentives:
SB378 — Responsible Water Use by Data Centers Act would establish water usage standards and restrictions for data centers, setting limits on how much water facilities can consume for cooling and operations.
HB784 — Data Center Water Consumption Reports would require data centers to regularly report their water consumption to state regulators, creating public transparency around water usage.
SB381 — PUCO Approval for Grid Connection would require data centers to obtain approval from the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio before connecting to the electrical grid, adding a regulatory review process for new facilities.
SB374 — End Data Center Sales Tax Exemptions would prohibit the state from granting new sales tax exemptions to data centers, eliminating a tax incentive that has been used to attract data center development to Ohio.
What happens next
The constitutional amendment petition was submitted by a committee of five petitioners from Georgetown, Manchester, Williamsburg, and Batavia. The Attorney General’s certification states the title and summary are “fair and truthful statements,” but notes the certification “should not be construed as an affirmation of the enforceability and constitutionality of the proposed amendment.”
To reach the ballot, petitioners must collect signatures from registered voters equal to at least 10% of the vote cast in the most recent gubernatorial election. Those signatures must come from voters in at least 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties, with each county providing at least 5% of its gubernatorial vote total.
If sufficient signatures are verified by the Secretary of State at least 65 days before an election, the amendment would appear on the next regular or general election ballot occurring at least 125 days after filing.
The four legislative bills have been referred to committee, but no hearings have been scheduled.
The broader context
The push to restrict or ban data center construction comes as Ohio has approved multiple large-scale energy infrastructure projects tied to data center development.
On March 27, the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission approved fracking on nearly 9,000 acres of public land in a 13-minute meeting, dismissing more than 1,300 public comments. Advocates said the expansion was driven by energy demand from data centers.
Also this month, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a $33 billion natural gas megaplant and 10-gigawatt data center campus in Pike County on contaminated federal land at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant.
None of the petition materials or legislative bill summaries references these projects or explains which specific data center development prompted the legislature’s regulatory response.