North Carolina would pause approvals for large datacenter locations

State agencies and local governments would stop issuing approvals needed to locate covered datacenters in North Carolina. Covered facilities must be designed for an electrical load of at least 100 megawatts and mainly store, manage, and process digital data. Related support facilities and equipment are included. The restriction would cover permits, certifications, and approvals required to locate a covered datacenter. The bill would generally take effect when it becomes law. It specifies August 1, 2026, as the approval pause's beginning and August 1, 2028, as its end.

The North Carolina Collaboratory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill would study datacenter impacts and suggest legislation it finds necessary to address harms. The study would examine electricity demand and customer rates, water and wastewater systems, and effects on nearby communities. The study would examine impacts in other states and involve state agencies and local government associations. Air quality, noise, and property-value reviews would cover areas within three miles of datacenters. The study requirement would take effect when the bill becomes law. The one-time funding is for fiscal year 2026–2027. Findings and any proposed legislation would be due by December 1, 2027.

Datacenters covered by the tax rules would need a yearly certificate from the Department of Revenue to receive sales-tax exemptions on purchases. These rules cover businesses defined in state tax law as an eligible internet datacenter or a qualifying datacenter. Certificates would be valid only for the tax year in which they are issued. Regular certificates would require the prior tax year's details about ownership, local benefits and incentives, workers, and spending. Construction costs would be reported once, after completion. Before construction starts, a datacenter could receive a conditional certificate and report that year's information within 90 days after the tax year ends. Failure to meet the conditional certificate requirements would make exempted taxes due when the certificate expires, with interest from the original purchase date. The certificate rules would take effect July 1, 2027, and apply to purchases on or after that date.

Datacenters would give past business data to the Departments of Revenue and Commerce. Commerce would report estimated state revenue lost through datacenter tax exemptions. The disclosure would cover datacenters already located or under construction in North Carolina when the bill becomes law, for their five most recent tax years claiming the exemption. The disclosures would include ownership, local benefits and incentives, workers, and spending. Commerce would combine the submitted data and estimate lost sales-tax revenue for the five most recent tax years. These duties would take effect when the bill becomes law. Datacenter disclosures would be due by December 1, 2026. Commerce reports would be due to legislative finance committee chairs by March 1 each year.