Adams County
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RCW 82.08.986 (with its use-tax twin, RCW 82.12.986) exempts server equipment and on-site power infrastructure (generators, wiring, batteries; not substations) bought for a qualifying data center from sales tax. The center must sit in a rural county (as RCW 82.14.370 defines it) when the application is filed, have at least 20,000 square feet of working-server space in a facility of 100,000 square feet or more, and start construction (building permit) before July 1, 2035; no new certificates issue after July 1, 2036, and the exemption ends July 1, 2048. Within six years the center must add 35 family-wage jobs (or three per 20,000 square feet of new server space, if fewer), and centers certified since June 9, 2022, must earn a green-building certification within three years of going into service, or the exempted taxes can come due with a 10% penalty. Only the 82.08.986 text was opened. (Washington State Legislature, July 1, 2026) ESSB 6231 (Chapter 266, Laws of 2026; Sens. Noel Frame and Bob Hasegawa, requested by the Office of Financial Management) passed the Senate 26-23 and the House 51-46 and was signed April 1, 2026. From July 1, 2026, it closes the refurbishment route into the rural exemption, and it also amends the separate exemption for data centers in counties of more than 800,000 people (RCW 82.08.9861, added in 2022); new construction keeps its break. GeekWire reported Department of Revenue estimates of $63.1 million in added revenue for 2025-27 and $143.9 million for 2027-29 (estimates, not collections). The rural exemption was also amended in 2025 (chapter 411, Laws of 2025); that bill was not reviewed. (Washington State Legislature, Oct. 21, 2026; Washington State Legislature, April 1, 2026; Washington State Legislature, July 1, 2026; Washington State Legislature, July 1, 2026; GeekWire, March 13, 2026) Size of the break: the workgroup's preliminary report cites Department of Revenue survey data showing data centers and their tenants reported about $584 million in tax savings from 2012 through 2023, and more than $118 million in 2023. These are savings the companies reported, not payments. (Washington Department of Revenue, Dec. 1, 2025) Executive Order 25-05 (Gov. Bob Ferguson, Feb. 3, 2025) set up a Data Center Workgroup led by the Department of Revenue, with state agencies, legislators, utilities, labor, environmental groups, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Sabey and the Data Center Coalition. Its preliminary report went to the governor Dec. 1, 2025; the final report is held until tribal consultation ends. Recommendations include model tariffs or contracts for a new large-load rate class under which new large loads cover their direct interconnection costs and the generation, transmission and distribution needed to serve them, and making sure the Climate Commitment Act and the Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA) cover fossil or unspecified power that large data centers use. Chelan PUD filed a minority report. (Washington Department of Revenue, Oct. 21, 2026; Washington Department of Revenue, Dec. 1, 2025; Davis Wright Tremaine (Energy & Environmental Law blog), March 20, 2026) HB 2515 (Rep. Beth Doglio) and its Senate companion SB 6171 (Sen. Sharon Shewmake) would have covered facilities using more than 20 MW. Utilities would have had to file tariffs or policies so data centers do not shift costs to other customers, and to plan for cutting their load in emergencies. Data centers would have had to report energy and water use and move to emissions-free power by 2045. The House passed E2SHB 2515 51-41 on Feb. 14, 2026; it got no vote in Senate Ways & Means and went back to House Rules on March 12, and SB 6171 stayed in Senate Ways & Means. Microsoft opposed the bill. The Washington State Standard reported in October 2026 that Doglio plans to bring it back in 2027. (Washington State Legislature, Oct. 21, 2026; Washington State Legislature, Oct. 21, 2026; Davis Wright Tremaine (Energy & Environmental Law blog), March 20, 2026; GeekWire, March 13, 2026; Washington State Standard, March 22, 2026; Washington State Standard (republished by The Spokesman-Review), Oct. 7, 2026) SSB 5982 (Chapter 181, Laws of 2026; Sen. Victoria Hunt), signed March 24, 2026, and in effect June 11, 2026, brings consumer-owned utilities, including port districts, and some large customers that buy or make their own power under the Clean Energy Transformation Act. The Washington State Standard reported it grew out of a workgroup recommendation meant to keep large data centers from avoiding CETA. (Washington State Legislature, Oct. 21, 2026; Washington State Standard, March 22, 2026; Davis Wright Tremaine (Energy & Environmental Law blog), March 20, 2026) UTC docket UE-260162 is a commission-led workshop series on large-load connections and tariffs for investor-owned electric utilities; the docket page lists it as filed March 16, 2026, while the commission's April 14 notice says the docket was opened April 7. The commission held a technical conference April 27, 2026, and another workshop Aug. 12, and said it planned a draft policy statement in fall 2026 and a final one by the end of 2026. No large-load tariff filed by Puget Sound Energy or Avista was found in the sources reviewed. (Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, March 16, 2026; Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, April 14, 2026; The Seattle Times (republished by The Spokesman-Review), Aug. 28, 2026) Avista disclosed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding with an unnamed 500 MW data center developer in a May 29, 2026, SEC filing, then paused talks on June 12, 2026, citing public concern and the need for coordinated planning. The utility said existing customers will not pay to serve a new large customer and that any final service agreement needs approval from state regulators. Avista said the site is in its Washington service area but did not name it. (Avista Corp. (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1), June 12, 2026; The Spokesman-Review, June 12, 2026) Grant County PUD: Rate Schedule 15 (Resolution 9073, effective April 1, 2025) covers industrial customers of 10 MW or more and sends any New Large Load to Rate Schedule 94 (not opened). The PUD says its eight data center operators used about 280 average MW in 2025, about 37% of its roughly 757 average MW load. It also says about 800 MW of large-load requests are in its queue, and that large users must pay for the new generation, transmission and distribution built to serve them. The Spokesman-Review reported a $260 million Quincy transmission expansion with six new lines by 2029. (Grant County PUD, April 1, 2025; Grant County PUD, Aug. 28, 2026; The Spokesman-Review, July 26, 2026) Chelan County PUD staff presented a large-load power supply framework to commissioners on June 2, 2025, for customers generally above 5 average MW. It offers three supply routes: short-term wholesale power the PUD buys and resells, wholesale power the customer identifies and the PUD buys, or a negotiated contract that may include PUD hydropower only if the board authorizes it. In its minority report to the workgroup, the PUD said its interconnection queue held 1,428 MW of requests against an average load of about 228 average MW. (Chelan County PUD, June 2, 2025; Chelan County PUD, June 17, 2025; News Radio 560 KPQ, June 17, 2025; Washington Department of Revenue, Dec. 1, 2025) Douglas County PUD serves Microsoft's East Wenatchee data centers under its Schedule 4 Power Delivery Service, which covers customers above 1,000 kVA. KPQ reported in 2022 that the contract runs from Jan. 6, 2023, to Dec. 31, 2029, ending before CETA's 2030 requirements start. (News Radio 560 KPQ, Dec. 13, 2022) Seattle City Light told the Seattle Times it was drafting new terms for large data center customers that would likely require them to find their own power. Snohomish County PUD treats any request above 2.5 MW as a large load, makes developers pay for the infrastructure they need, and said in May 2026 that it served no data centers. No Benton PUD or Franklin PUD large-load policy was found in the sources reviewed. (The Seattle Times (republished by The Spokesman-Review), May 1, 2026; The Everett Herald, May 16, 2026) Klickitat County queue: besides the data center requests listed as projects, the Goldendale Sentinel reported a BPA transmission queue entry called Energizer II (L0702) on 101 Bar Ranches land near the Chamberlain Goodnoe and Goodnoe Hills roads, with a proposed load of 1,000 MW in early scoping. A Klickitat PUD commissioner said its backers had not ruled out a data center, an AI facility, or both, so it is not listed as a data center project. The paper noted that a place in BPA's queue does not mean approval. Klickitat PUD officials said large-load customers must bring their own power and pay the cost of serving them, and the Washington State Standard reported in October 2026 that six projects had sought power in the county. (Goldendale Sentinel, Sept. 2, 2026; Columbia Gorge News, Aug. 26, 2026; Washington State Standard (republished by The Spokesman-Review), Oct. 7, 2026) Air permits: the Department of Ecology issues Notice of Construction approval orders for data center diesel backup generators. Comments in the workgroup's preliminary report describe a proposed Ecology general order for data centers near Quincy, East Wenatchee and Malaga that would cap emergency diesel generators at 21 per site; whether the order was adopted was not checked. (Washington Department of Revenue, Dec. 1, 2025; Washington Department of Ecology, April 6, 2026) Washington data centers →