(The Center Square) – An Arizona bill aimed at helping counties plan for data centers and nuclear energy advanced out of committee.
On Thursday, the state House Committee on Artificial Intelligence and Innovation voted 4-3 in favor of House Bill 2452.
HB 2452 amends the state’s comprehensive planning laws to permit accommodations for data centers and small modular nuclear reactors.
The bill prevents counties from using zoning to block data centers or SMRs from their comprehensive land-use plans.
HB 2452 says the plans need to include electric power production and demand, SMRs and data centers.
The legislation says counties with more than 125,000 people must designate land for data centers. Counties with a small population can choose not to designate land.
HB 2452 also requires counties to designate land for thermal and non-thermal electric generating units, including SMRs.
If the bill becomes law, counties with more than 125,000 residents will need to revise their comprehensive plans within two years.
HB 2452’s sponsor, state Rep. Justin Wilmeth, R-Deer Valley, said the state needs to be cautious with data centers as it moves forward.
At the hearing, Russell Smolden, representing the Arizona Municipal Power Users Association, testified in favor of the bill.
As Arizona has worked on data centers since 2013, one of the things people did not anticipate was the impact on local communities and governments, he said.
Upcoming Arizona economic projects, such as semiconductors and advanced manufacturing, depend on data centers for energy, Smolden noted.
He said planning for small modular nuclear reactors is “incredibly important.”
Smolden said SMRs are a big part of the future of energy. The reactors can be set up at former coal and gas plants, especially in rural areas, he noted.
Dave Morris, director of grassroots operations for Americans for Prosperity Arizona, testified in favor of the bill. “A good regulatory structure has guardrails without speed bumps,” which he said is “exactly what this bill does.”
Jacob Emnett, representing the County Supervisors Association of Arizona, spoke in opposition.
The association is concerned the legislation “conflates a comprehensive plan, which is a document that broadly sets out general land use guidance with specific zoning on individual parcels,” he said.
Emnett noted when counties create comprehensive plans, they use broad categories such as industrial, rural, urban and commercial. He said projects such as data centers can fall into more than one of these categories.
Additionally, counties will use subcategories within those broad categories when developing a comprehensive plan, he told committee members.
Emnett explained the association doesn’t think it is “appropriate” to single out data centers and SMRs for “broad categories of their own.”
“As this bill contemplates, they likely fit better and indeed may already be included in some of these subcategories that already exist, such as commercial, light industrial warehousing and others,” he said.
Another of the association’s concerns is that the bill seeks to amend comprehensive plans “outside of the established process,” Emnett stated.
He noted creating comprehensive plans is “very public” and long process that includes feedback from people with an interest in land use, such as residents, developers and industry.
During the bill’s deliberations, Rep. Junelle Cavero, D-Phoenix, said she would vote “no” but could change her vote on the floor. Reps. Anastasia Travers, D-Chandler, and Betty Villegas, D-Tucson, also voted against the bill due to concerns about taking control away from counties.
Besides Wilmeth, state Reps. James Taylor, R-Surprise; Julie Willoughby, R-Chandler; and Nick Kupper, R-Buckeye, voted “yes.”
Kupper said HB 2452 “was too important to be held in committee.”
Meanwhile, a Goldwater Institute report says Arizona needs to pursue free market solutions to remain a leader in the data center industry. See the story Friday at thecentersquare.com.
