Data Center: Proposed Legislation to Boost Data Center Builds in WA
By Justin Lee for WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW
Two bills with bipartisan support have been introduced in the Washington Legislature that could potentially jump-start data center construction activity in the state and create thousands of jobs.
The bills, SB 6789 : and HB 3147 :, would give companies a 15-month sales-tax break when they buy and install computers and energy for new data centers in rural counties.
The state Department of Revenue requested the introduction of the bill, which are sponsored from both political parties and all parts of the state, as well as supported by the Washington Needs Jobs (www.washingtonneedsjobs.com) coalition.
Up until November 2007, when the State Attorney General deemed that data centers did not qualify for an existing rural sales-tax exemption, the state was a a hotbed of data center construction activity.
