Senate committee hears testimony on data center bills
MADISON (WKOW) — Several bills surrounding data center restrictions got a public hearing at the State Capitol Tuesday afternoon.
SB 843 and AB 840 address regulating companies wanting to build data centers in Wisconsin.
SB 729 would regulate energy consumption of data centers and SB 932 addresses the legal status of artificial intelligence.
People for and against the bills filled the Senate Committee on Utilities, Technology and Tourism meeting Tuesday.
Many of them asked for more transparency from tech companies.
“There are people from all walks of life, and they just want answers,” said Rep. Clint Moses (R-Menomonie), who is a co-author on one of the bills.
Nearly a dozen people showed support for SB 969, which would prohibit non-disclosure agreements that would conceal information surrounding a data center.
“We’ve seen instances of NDA’s being used across Wisconsin to hide information from the public including in Beaver Dam, Menomonie, Kenosha and Janesville and elsewhere to hide information from local government,” Sen. André Jacques said, a co-author of the bill.
Constituents took to the podium to cite their concerns about the lack of transparency when data centers began arriving to the Badger state.
“Our state’s public policy statement regarding open records and transparency calls forth, we cannot see that,” said one person.
Wisconsin comedian and actor Charlie Berens also weighing in over video on his support of the bill.
“What I saw is this sentiment of people feeling like they were cut out of the process, of having this huge, huge building, an unprecedented building size with power usage. And they didn’t know what was happening until it was too late,” Berens said.
People against the bill claim that not having NDA’s would hurt business competition and consumer security details.
Brad Tietz with the Data Center Coalition testified against the bill, claiming the bill only targets data centers that are helping to power the creation of AI and new technology.
“Companies evaluate locations, they share sensitive information with utilities, local governments and economic development agencies. Everything from power load forecast and fiber routes to customer identities and fazed out and fazed build out plans. Without the ability to protect those conversations, many companies will take that elsewhere,” Tietz said.
Right now, tech giants like Meta and Microsoft are the two leading companies that are planning to build data centers in Wisconsin. QTS recently decided to pause its pursuit of a data center in DeForest.
The bills will now go to a vote in the Senate Committee on Utilities, Technology and Tourism. Passage would then send them to the full Senate.