Williamson County

Moratoriums and bans

1. Oct. 8, 2026 Taylor: Ban petition (rejected). City officials said a resident petition to restrict data centers could not go forward through the initiative process under Texas law. (CBS Austin, Oct. 8, 2026; San Antonio Express-News (via GovTech/TNS), July 17, 2026)

Updates, newest first

1. Oct. 8, 2026 Taylor Technology Campus · The City Council approved the annexation agreement 5-0; a petition to restrict data centers was ruled ineligible under Texas law. (CBS Austin, Oct. 8, 2026)
2. Oct. 8, 2026 Taylor: Ban petition (rejected) · City officials said a resident petition to restrict data centers could not go forward through the initiative process under Texas law. (CBS Austin, Oct. 8, 2026; San Antonio Express-News (via GovTech/TNS), July 17, 2026)
3. Oct. 2, 2026 Taylor Technology Campus · The city announced a negotiated annexation deal setting rules for noise, water, setbacks and community benefits. (KUT 90.5, Oct. 2, 2026)
4. Sept. 2025 Taylor Technology Campus · Developers withdrew their first annexation and zoning requests amid concerns about noise and water. (CBS Austin, Oct. 8, 2026)

Statewide

SB 6 (89th Legislature, 2025) makes the PUCT set interconnection standards for loads of 75 MW or more in ERCOT, requiring site control, study fees, financial security, disclosure of duplicate requests and backup generation, and emergency curtailment of new large loads; effective June 20, 2025, with PUCT rules due by Dec. 31, 2026 (Projects 58479-58484, 58000). (POWER Magazine, Aug. 4, 2026; Foley & Lardner, March 31, 2026) PUCT draft large-load interconnection rule (published March 2026) would require $50,000 per MW in security, $100,000-$300,000 study fees, a $50,000-per-MW nonrefundable fee and full customer payment of direct interconnection costs; interconnection standards rulemaking (Project 58481) was still in scoping as of August 2026. (Foley & Lardner, March 31, 2026; POWER Magazine, Aug. 4, 2026) ERCOT batch study framework (NPRR1325/PGRR145), approved by the PUCT June 18, 2026, required $50,000 per MW of security by July 10 for 'Batch Zero', with results due April 2027; large-load requests totaled about 474 GW in June 2026, about 421 GW of it data centers. (POWER Magazine, Aug. 4, 2026) Gov. Abbott's Aug. 3, 2026 directive ordered the PUCT and ERCOT to audit every data center in the interconnection queue and deny grid access to projects that fail to disclose ownership, financial, water and community-impact information, which several outlets described as a de facto statewide pause. (POWER Magazine, Aug. 4, 2026; E&E News by POLITICO, Aug. 11, 2026) State sales and use tax exemption for qualifying data centers (Tax Code Secs. 151.359 and 151.3595; created by HB 1223, 83rd Legislature, 2013, expanded 2015); the Comptroller has certified 138 data centers, and estimates of cost run from about $3.2 billion for 2026-27 to $3.3 billion for 2028-29. (Public Citizen (testimony to Texas Senate Finance Committee), July 27, 2026; Texas Public Radio / The Texas Newsroom, July 28, 2026) Local property tax abatements under Tax Code Chapter 312 are the main county and city incentive; school-district value limits under Chapter 313 expired at the end of 2022 and were replaced by the JETI program (HB 5, 88th Legislature, 2023), which data center power projects such as Pacifico's Bastrop proposal have applied to. (Community Impact, Feb. 23, 2024; Community Impact, July 15, 2026; Haskell County Commissioners Court, Jan. 9, 2026) Texas data centers →