Policymakers push for profit-sharing from AI data centers as states revolt against Big Tech’s energy appetite

The AI gold rush has a bill attached to it, and state legislators across the country have decided that tech giants should be the ones picking it up. A wave of legislation is rolling through statehouses and Congress aimed at forcing data center operators to share the financial burden of their enormous energy consumption with the communities that host them. Virginia, New Jersey, and more than 40 other states are either enacting or actively considering bills that target zoning, energy tariffs, tax exemptions, and environmental impacts tied to the facilities that power the AI boom. Virginia and New Jersey lead the charge Virginia, home to the densest concentration of data centers on the planet, fired the opening shot with an unprecedented Data Center Electricity Consumption Tax. Starting July 1, 2026, operators will pay $0.011 per kilowatt-hour consumed, with annual collections capped at $600 million. New Jersey followed with its own Data Center Fair Share Act, signed into law with an effective date of July 7, 2026. The legislation creates an entirely new ratepayer class specifically for data centers, mandating that these facilities cover their own energy costs and infrastructure impac...