Rock County

Moratoriums and bans

1. July 29, 2026 Town of Turtle: Moratorium (in progress). Town board unanimously rejected a revised Panattoni cost-reimbursement agreement and approved a resolution starting a 12-month moratorium. (WIFR 23 News, July 30, 2026)
2. Aug. 17, 2026 Town of Beloit: Moratorium (in progress). Town board voted 4-0 for a 12-month moratorium resolution; a public hearing and ordinance are still required. (Beloit Daily News, Aug. 18, 2026)
3. Aug. 3, 2026 Town of Janesville: Moratorium. Town board approved a moratorium measure a week after its planning and zoning committee recommended one; Beloit Daily News grouped it with the Beloit and Turtle resolutions that start the moratorium process. (Beloit Daily News, Aug. 4, 2026)
4. Aug. 13, 2026 Rock County: Moratorium (proposed; rejected in committee). Two supervisors introduced an 18-month moratorium resolution in late May 2026; the county Planning and Development Committee unanimously rejected a 12-month version Aug. 13, 2026, after counsel said the county lacks zoning authority over the towns. (The Gazette (Janesville), June 1, 2026; The Gazette (Janesville), Aug. 13, 2026)
5. Nov. 3, 2026 Janesville: Referendum (pending). Voters will decide a citizen initiative requiring voter approval for any project over $450 million on the undeveloped GM/JATCO site. (Ballotpedia News, Feb. 12, 2026; Spectrum News 1, Oct. 6, 2026)

Updates, newest first

1. Nov. 3, 2026 Janesville: Referendum (pending) · Voters will decide a citizen initiative requiring voter approval for any project over $450 million on the undeveloped GM/JATCO site. (Ballotpedia News, Feb. 12, 2026; Spectrum News 1, Oct. 6, 2026)
2. Aug. 17, 2026 Project Cornmaze, towns of Beloit and Turtle · The Town of Beloit board voted 4-0 for a 12-month moratorium resolution, after rejecting a cost-reimbursement agreement earlier in the month. (Beloit Daily News, Aug. 18, 2026)
3. Aug. 17, 2026 Town of Beloit: Moratorium (in progress) · Town board voted 4-0 for a 12-month moratorium resolution; a public hearing and ordinance are still required. (Beloit Daily News, Aug. 18, 2026)
4. Aug. 13, 2026 Rock County: Moratorium (proposed; rejected in committee) · Two supervisors introduced an 18-month moratorium resolution in late May 2026; the county Planning and Development Committee unanimously rejected a 12-month version Aug. 13, 2026, after counsel said the county lacks zoning authority over the towns. (The Gazette (Janesville), June 1, 2026; The Gazette (Janesville), Aug. 13, 2026)
5. Aug. 3, 2026 Town of Janesville data center inquiry (Polzin and Fenric roads) · The town board approved a data center moratorium measure a week after its committee recommended one. (Beloit Daily News, Aug. 4, 2026)
6. Aug. 3, 2026 Town of Janesville: Moratorium · Town board approved a moratorium measure a week after its planning and zoning committee recommended one; Beloit Daily News grouped it with the Beloit and Turtle resolutions that start the moratorium process. (Beloit Daily News, Aug. 4, 2026)
7. July 29, 2026 Project Cornmaze, towns of Beloit and Turtle · The Town of Turtle board rejected a revised cost-reimbursement agreement and began a 12-month moratorium. (WIFR 23 News, July 30, 2026)
8. July 29, 2026 Town of Turtle: Moratorium (in progress) · Town board unanimously rejected a revised Panattoni cost-reimbursement agreement and approved a resolution starting a 12-month moratorium. (WIFR 23 News, July 30, 2026)
9. July 28, 2026 Town of Janesville data center inquiry (Polzin and Fenric roads) · The town planning and zoning committee recommended a moratorium after a crowded public meeting. (WMTV 15 News, July 29, 2026)
10. June 22, 2026 Viridian data center proposal, former GM/JATCO site, Janesville · The council unanimously let the letter of intent expire and voted to develop data center guardrails. (Spectrum News 1, June 25, 2026; The Gazette (Janesville), July 1, 2026)
11. June 22, 2026 Project Cornmaze, towns of Beloit and Turtle · Panattoni presented the plan: four buildings, more than 2 million square feet, about $1 billion. (WIFR 23 News, June 23, 2026)
12. May 19, 2026 Project Cornmaze, towns of Beloit and Turtle · Baxtel reported Panattoni had told the town it was taking over the project. (Baxtel, May 19, 2026)
13. May 6, 2026 Town of Janesville data center inquiry (Polzin and Fenric roads) · The Gazette reported the town received a letter in April proposing a data center on farmland near dozens of homes. (The Gazette (Janesville), May 6, 2026)
14. March 4, 2026 Project Cornmaze, towns of Beloit and Turtle · The Town of Beloit confirmed a pre-development agreement with Cambrin LLC, signed July 15, 2025, after a nondisclosure agreement signed Feb. 6, 2025. (Beloit Daily News, March 4, 2026; WKOW 27 News, March 4, 2026)
15. Feb. 9, 2026 Viridian data center proposal, former GM/JATCO site, Janesville · The council placed a citizen initiative on the Nov. 3 ballot requiring voter approval for projects over $450 million at the site. (Ballotpedia News, Feb. 12, 2026)
16. Nov. 10, 2025 Viridian data center proposal, former GM/JATCO site, Janesville · The city council approved a 120-day letter of intent with Viridian Acquisitions, 5-2. (WKOW 27 News, Nov. 11, 2025)

Statewide

2023 Wisconsin Act 19 (the 2023-25 budget) created a sales and use tax exemption, Wis. Stat. 77.54(70), for server, network, power and cooling equipment, other property built into or used at a qualified data center, and electricity, once the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. certifies the center; certification requires a qualified investment within five years of at least $150 million in a county of more than 100,000 people, $100 million in a county of 50,001 to 100,000, or $50 million in smaller counties. (Wisconsin Department of Revenue, July 31, 2024) The Legislative Fiscal Bureau did not price the exemption when it passed in 2023; a later fiscal bureau projection, reported by Wisconsin Watch in April 2026, put the cost at about $1.5 billion in sales tax not collected during construction plus $369 million a year once the Beaver Dam, Port Washington and Mount Pleasant campuses (and a smaller Epic project in Verona) are running. These are forgone-revenue estimates, not payments. (WPR (Wisconsin Watch), April 27, 2026) Assembly Bill 840 / Senate Bill 843 (Zimmerman, Quinn), which would have barred shifting data center grid costs to other customers, required water recycling and DNR water reporting and required on-site renewable generation, passed the Assembly 53-44 on Jan. 20, 2026, and cleared a Senate committee 3-2 on March 13, 2026, but died without a Senate floor vote when the session ended March 23, 2026. (Wisconsin State Legislature, Oct. 20, 2026; Wisconsin State Legislature, Oct. 20, 2026) Assembly Bill 1036 / Senate Bill 969 (Moses, Jacque), which would have barred data centers and local governments from agreements, including nondisclosure agreements, that keep data center plans from the public, and barred local approval of a project tied to a violating agreement, cleared a Senate committee 4-1 on March 13, 2026, but failed to pass when the session ended March 23, 2026. (Wisconsin State Legislature, Oct. 20, 2026; Wisconsin State Legislature, Oct. 20, 2026) Assembly Bill 722 (Democratic bill from Rep. Angela Stroud, with Sen. Jodi Habush Sinykin) would have created a very large customer utility class, water-use rules, a 70% renewable requirement and prevailing-wage rules for large data centers; WPR reported in January 2026 that Republican leaders had not scheduled a hearing, and it failed when the session ended March 23, 2026. (Wisconsin State Legislature, Oct. 20, 2026; WPR, Jan. 7, 2026) PSC docket 6630-TE-113: We Energies proposed its Very Large Customer tariff and a companion Bespoke Resources tariff in March 2025; the commission approved them with changes on April 24, 2026 (final decision May 21, 2026), lowering eligibility from 500 MW to 100 MW, requiring 15-year minimum terms, removing a capacity-only option so these customers pay 100% of new generation costs, and tightening credit and collateral rules. (WFRV Local 5, April 24, 2026; Clean Wisconsin (filing in PSC docket 6630-TE-113), June 2026; Clean Wisconsin (press release via Urban Milwaukee), July 9, 2026) We Energies, Vantage and Cloverleaf asked the PSC to reopen the credit-support terms in docket 6630-TE-113 so Oracle could take service at Port Washington; the commission did not take it up, so Clean Wisconsin said the request would be denied by operation of law on July 10, 2026. Oracle America Cloud Services separately petitioned Ozaukee County Circuit Court on June 19, 2026, for review of those terms (case 2026CV000256). (Clean Wisconsin (filing in PSC docket 6630-TE-113), June 2026; Clean Wisconsin (press release via Urban Milwaukee), July 9, 2026; Ozaukee County Circuit Court (posted by WPR), June 19, 2026) PSC docket 6680-TE-115: on May 7, 2026, the commission approved, with changes, Alliant Energy's (Wisconsin Power and Light) individual electric service agreement for Meta's Beaver Dam data center, strengthened the termination charge and directed Alliant to propose a separate large-load tariff under which future data centers above 100 MW must take service. (Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, May 7, 2026; Clean Wisconsin, May 7, 2026) Xcel Energy (Northern States Power-Wisconsin) filed a proposed large-load tariff with the PSC on June 22, 2026, for new loads or expansions of 100 MW or more, with binding 15-year terms, minimum monthly bills and exit fees so these customers cover the full cost of serving them; it cited about 2.9 GW of large-load requests and sought approval by February 2027. Docket number not found in the sources opened. (Xcel Energy (release posted by WPR), June 22, 2026; WPR, June 24, 2026; New Project Media, Aug. 4, 2026) Generation tied largely to data center demand: the PSC approved We Energies' 1,100 MW South Oak Creek gas turbines (docket 6630-CE-317) and 128 MW Paris engines (6630-CE-316), with final decisions July 2, 2025; in November 2025 We Energies sought approval for about 3 GW more (solar, battery and two gas plants, about $5.4 billion), and Invenergy's 1,186 MW Red Oak Ridge gas plant in the Town of Paris (9837-CE-100) is under review, which We Energies plans to buy. (Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, Oct. 20, 2026; Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, Oct. 20, 2026; Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, Oct. 20, 2026; Insight on Business, Nov. 6, 2025; Utility Dive, July 22, 2026) Wisconsin data centers →