State and local policy

State and local policy tracker

A sourced seed of state and local data-center policy actions. It is not a list of which states are allowed, and it is not a 50-state audit.

Recorded actions
6
States in this seed
2
Checked through
22 September 2026
Seed boundary.

This is an initial seed of actions whose primary sources were opened, not a 50-state audit. A state with no row here has not been cleared. Absence from this seed is not a finding that restrictions, incentives, or studies are absent for that state or its local governments. No state is described as open.

State and local policy tracker
StateLocalityJurisdictionActionStatusStageEffectiveExpirationRecord
TexasStatewide or grid-wideStateStatewide permit or approval pauseIn effectPermitting21 September 2026None scheduledTCEQ data-center permit pause
Primary source
TexasStatewide or grid-wideStateReporting or resource-use requirementIn effectReporting14 September 2026None scheduledWater-use reporting enforcement directive
Primary source
TexasStatewide or grid-wideStateStatewide permit or approval pauseIn effectInterconnection3 August 2026None scheduledERCOT approval pause pending audit
Primary source
TexasStatewide or grid-wideRegional gridGrid-interconnection pauseIn effectInterconnection3 August 2026None scheduledERCOT large-load interconnection pause
Primary source
New YorkStatewide or grid-wideStateStatewide permit or approval pauseIn effectPermitting14 July 2026None scheduledDEC hold on large data-center permits
Primary source
TexasStatewide or grid-wideStateIncentive or explicitly supportive policyIn effectIncentiveNo single effective day is statedNone scheduledData center sales-tax exemption
Primary source

Texas: Temporary approval and permit pauses pending reviews—not a permanent ban on existing facilities.

How the Texas actions fit together

These Texas records are related instruments. None is recorded as superseding another. Together, the approval and permit directives are a temporary approval and permit pause pending an audit. This is not a permanent ban on existing facilities. The 3 August 2026 letter tells the Public Utility Commission and ERCOT to audit data centers advancing through ERCOT interconnection before any additional data centers are approved to move forward. It states no end date. ERCOT's 3 August 2026 market notice postponed Batch Zero classification of large loads past 7 August 2026. ERCOT's 20 August 2026 presentation says energization approvals are paused for data centers and virtual-currency mining facilities of 75 MW or greater until Batch Zero eligibility verification is complete. The 14 September 2026 board update says that pause continues until the verification and audit and the community-impact review are complete. Those materials give 10 December 2026 as a report-filing goal, not as a legal expiration. That energization pause does not, on ERCOT's description, apply to non-data-center large loads or to medium loads. The 21 September 2026 letter tells TCEQ to halt permits sought by data centers until ERCOT completes its review, and it says no other state agency should move regulatory approvals forward until the requested information is acquired. 19 October 2026 is a compliance-update date, not an expiration. The same letter says the governor will seek legislation to eliminate data-center financial incentives. That legislation is not recorded as enacted. The Comptroller was still describing the sales-tax exemption program on 22 September 2026.

Download the policy dataset (JSON). Policy actions are not facility, project, claim, update, or directory counts.