Gov. Abbott: Texas Legislature to hold hearings regarding data centers this week

Mary Ella Hastings, Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Jul 29, 2026

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Gov. Greg Abbott said the Texas Legislature will hold hearings this week to discuss data centers.

Abbott said during a press conference Wednesday afternoon in Fort Worth that those discussions will include the financing of data centers. He said they will be working on eliminating the exemption on sales taxes that data centers have, something that he has been in support of.

State tax exemptions for data centers were estimated to cost the state about $14.6 million for 2014-15. Now the projected cost in 2028-29 is around $3.3 billion, according to previous Star-Telegram reporting. Abbott said that cost is unsustainable.

In the past Abbott has said that data centers should be barred from rural neighborhoods. When asked about that on Wednesday, he said there is no reason a data center should be in any neighborhood.

On June 10, Abbott sent out a letter ordering state regulators to shield Texans from the electricity costs related to data centers. He also said data centers must be built with water-efficient technologies and large ones must report annual water and electricity use to the Public Utility Commission of Texas.

He reiterated those guidelines on Wednesday, and said that all existing and proposed data centers in Texas or wanting to build in Texas must comply with those guidelines.

“My phone is ringing off the hook with data centers calling to say, ‘Governor, we want you to know that we have been or will be in complete compliance with the standards of the state,’” Abbott said.

Data centers have become a political lightning rod in North Texas, with both cities and county officials scrambling to enact regulations alongside a slew of land purchases, proposals from developers and immense pressure from residents.

Advocacy groups in Fort Worth have been calling for a moratorium on data centers for several months. At its meeting in August, the Fort Worth City Council is set to weigh whether to initiate a months-long process of implementing a city-level moratorium on new data center developments. Hood County rejected a proposed six-month moratorium in May.

According to the Texas Tribune, San Marcos was the first city in Texas to successfully ban data centers within its city limits.