Democrats See Georgia's Failure to Curb Data Centers as an Electoral Gift
Efforts to pass stricter regulations or limit tax breaks stalled before lawmakers ended their annual session Thursday.
Efforts to pass stricter regulations or limit tax breaks stalled before lawmakers ended their annual session Thursday.
ATLANTA, April 6, 2026 (AP) — Georgia state lawmakers spent months debating ideas to curb the impact of data centers. But as their annual legislative session ended Thursday, they did nothing.
Now with election season upon them, lawmakers are returning home to find local communities up in arms against the warehouses full of computers that power artificial intelligence.
“I think they failed us, that's what I think” said Judy Mullis, an activist fighting plans for a data center near Newnan, southwest of Atlanta. “I think they had the opportunity to do the right thing, and they didn't. I'm so tired of them prioritizing big money.”
The lawmaker’s bill would allow broadband projects to bypass some environmental and historical reviews.
The state says 30,000 locations are expected to remain unserved after federal deployments finish.
Gigabit subscriptions have grown fivefold since 2020 as network investment surge.
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