RENO, Nev. (KOLO) – Democratic Candidate for Governor Alexis Hill is hosting a town hall tonight to discuss data centers in Nevada at the National Automobile Museum. “We are having a town hall on data centers. This is a huge issue that has been coming up on the campaign trail since I announced in September, and as a county commissioner, I certainly have been dealing with this issue, talking about residents in the region, there are concerns with data centers, and it comes up at every public event that I have.”
Hill is laying out her intentions on handling data centers in Nevada. She is currently the Chair of Washoe County’s Commissioners, and she is calling for more policies and regulations at the state level. “I believe now, as a county commissioner living this on the ground every day, that our state needs to step up and properly regulate data centers and make sure that they’re paying their fair share. Right now, they get about 75% tax abatements on their personal property tax, from anything from a decade to 20 years. They don’t pay their sales tax either as an economic development package. And I don’t think that these uses need to be subsidized by the taxpayer.”
The Democratic Candidate says she plans on implementing Executive Orders to stop all new tax abatements for data center construction and review the environmental impacts relating to water and energy use. “I also want the legislature to look at how we can make sure that data centers are not increasing our energy costs or are dependent on coal energy. So data centers need to make sure that they are meeting the highest portfolio standard when they are permitted now, which ensures that they go out and get clean energy for their usage.”…