Across Delaware County and the northern edge of Franklin County, the signs are already visible. Survey stakes in farm fields. New road alignments. Utility work that seems oversized for what used to be quiet stretches of countryside. And now, in Columbus, a fast-moving piece of legislation that acknowledges something residents here have sensed for months.
Ohio House Bill 646 is not about whether data centers are coming. It is about what happens when they arrive faster than the rules meant to guide them. The bill, introduced in January 2026, would create a 13-member Ohio Data Center Study Commission charged with answering a simple but urgent question: how should the state manage an industry that is reshaping land use, infrastructure, and community life from Sunbury to Lewis Center to the Polaris corridor.
And it would do so quickly. HB 646 is written as an emergency measure, meaning it would take effect immediately upon passage, with the commission required to report its findings within six months. That timeline alone tells you how seriously lawmakers are taking what is unfolding on the ground…