Spanberger defends kicking the can down the road on data centers in TV interview

Gov. Abigail Spanberger and House Democrats want us to do another study on the long-term impacts of the billions in tax breaks we give annually to the developers of hyperscale data centers, on top of a 2024 report on the issue – 2024 is a scant two years ago – that is collecting dust on a shelf.

“What the House did in their proposed budget is build out a proposal for a commission that would be rather expansive in both understanding the current lay of the land but also asking what else could the state be requiring or incentivizing. It’s multiple pages of mandates for this commission so that there can be clear definable legislative priorities to move forward in the next session,” Spanberger said in an interview with NBC-12 in Richmond on Monday, defending the House Democrat proposal released last week.

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ICYMI

• Clean Virginia putting pressure on Spanberger, House Dems over data center tax breaks
• Spanberger, House Democrats propose data center study as way around budget impasse
• Spanberger seems to be trying to split hairs on data center tax incentives
• Louise Lucas to the ‘Data Center Diva’: No more tax breaks for data centers
• We don’t like data center tax breaks: But there’s more to it than that

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The proposal kicks the can down the road on the issue with the “establishment of a Commission to thoroughly evaluate the direct and indirect costs and benefits of the data center industry, with a report and recommendations for legislative bill and budgetary changes to address financial, energy, and air/water/noise impacts in time for consideration by the 2027 General Assembly.”

This is what you do when you want to look like you’re offering a compromise – hey, let’s study it, come up with a report, then we can talk about it again next year.

Basically, that’ll shut ‘em up.

Except that, the commission proposal isn’t shutting up State Sen. Louise Lucas, the chair of the Senate Finance & Appropriations Committee, who has drawn a line in the sand on the continuation of the tax breaks – which are set to expire in 2035, and she wants done away with next year.

Spanberger said in her local TV interview today that we’re not right not as a “now-or-never kind of moment” with respect to the data center tax breaks.

“The House is saying very clearly, which is why I’m supporting their effort, let’s take a comprehensive, long-term view about the types of incentives we give to this particular industry, let’s do it thoughtfully and in an engaged multi-step process, so that by the time the General Assembly is legislating, they can do it in a thorough way that impacts Virginia positively, from an economic standpoint to a worker engagement standpoint  to an environmental standpoint,” Spanberger said.

Note that she’s not saying here, I’m open to getting rid of those tax breaks next year.

And in fact, this is what she had to say about the industry:

“I think broadly speaking, people across Virginia are worried about long-term data center impacts, whether they’re paying their fair share on energy consumption or grid utilization. There’s also a desire to say that, you know, any industry that is growing in the Commonwealth is a good community steward and making local investments. The list goes on and on.”

She’s already kicking the can down the road, and we’re not even officially doing that yet.