Nevada Just Told Data Centers: Pay Your Own Bills—No More Ratepayer Bailouts
On September 18, Gov. Joe Lombardo signed Executive Order 2026-005, putting new conditions on Nevada data-center tax abatements.
Under the order, developers must pay the Local School Support Tax in full, cover the cost of connecting to and using the power grid, meet local water standards, and avoid shifting emergency or infrastructure costs onto Nevada ratepayers. Projects seeking partial tax abatements must also sign a binding “Community Support Commitment.”
The order blocks applications involving facilities owned or controlled by a federally designated foreign adversary and applies to data-center applications that the state has not yet acted on.
That matters in the Las Vegas Valley, where large industrial and technology projects are increasingly competing for scarce water, electricity and public infrastructure. Nevada has spent years advertising itself as business-friendly; this policy at least says “business-friendly” does not have to mean “taxpayers pick up the tab.”
The conservative case is straightforward: welcome investment, but require companies to pay their own costs, protect schools and utilities, and keep government from handing out subsidies without accountability. The tradeoff is that stricter rules could make some projects more expensive or less likely to locate here.
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Posted Sep 21, 2026, 6:15 PM UTC