by Dave Soulia

A bill introduced in the Vermont Senate would ban construction of AI data centers larger than 100 megawatts until July 1, 2030, while the Public Utility Commission studies what regulatory framework should eventually govern them. S.205, sponsored by Sen. Becca White (D-Windsor) along with Sens. Bongartz (D-Bennington), Hardy (D-Addison), Major (D-Windsor), and Vyhovsky (P/D-Chittenden Central), directs the PUC to report findings to the legislature by January 15, 2027, with a four-year moratorium giving the state time to act on those recommendations.

The bill defines an “AI data center” as any facility requiring more than 100 megawatts of new load dedicated to AI inference, training, simulation, or synthetic data generation. Vermont currently has no facility approaching that threshold. According to White’s testimony to the Senate Committee on Finance on January 15, the state does host smaller data centers, but nothing close to the 100-megawatt line. She framed the bill as “a common sense pause on development when we are experiencing an exponential growth in an unregulated market.”

Sen. Scott Beck (R-Caledonia) offered a different read in comments to Community News Service: “We don’t know nearly enough about this industry to even contemplate doing a bill.” Beck added that Vermont does not currently have companies “banging down the door” to build these facilities, and characterized S.205 as “an effort to turn away somebody that hasn’t even tried to enter the state.”

The 100-megawatt question

The scale defined in S.205 matters. One hundred megawatts is hyperscale territory — the realm of Meta, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. For context, Vermont’s entire statewide peak electrical demand typically runs around 1,000 megawatts. A single 100-megawatt facility would represent roughly ten percent of statewide peak load. Getting one through ISO-NE’s interconnection queue and Vermont’s existing Act 248 Certificate of Public Good process — which applies to any major electrical infrastructure — would take years regardless of whether a moratorium exists.

Facilities below the 100-megawatt threshold are not covered by S.205. A 20 or 30-megawatt campus — the scale a midsize regional operation might occupy — falls entirely outside the bill’s reach. The PUC study required by S.205 will nonetheless shape how those sub-threshold facilities get reviewed, because the commission’s findings will inform Act 248 proceedings by analogy.

S.205 also draws its line specifically around AI workloads. A 150-megawatt cryptocurrency mining operation or a 150-megawatt traditional enterprise cloud facility would not trigger the moratorium, despite identical grid, cooling, water, and noise profiles.

The local patchwork

White cited local action as part of her rationale. In March 2026, Royalton voters approved a five-year municipal moratorium on AI and cryptocurrency data center construction. “I’m nervous that we’re going to end up with a patchwork of municipal regulations if we don’t say there’s a plan in place,” she told the committee.

A separate bill, H.727 from Rep. Laura Sibilia (I-Windham 2), takes a different approach — proposing to regulate where and how data centers are built, rather than pausing construction.

The federal wildcard

In December 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence,” which purports to prohibit states from regulating AI. White acknowledged concern that S.205’s passage could draw federal challenge.

At the federal level, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) introduced the AI Data Center Moratorium Act in March 2026, which would impose a federal pause on AI data centers pending national safeguards. That bill has not advanced.

Where the bill lands among its peers

According to tracking by Good Jobs First and DataCenterBans.com, at least twelve states have filed data center moratorium bills in the 2025-2026 session. Maine became the first state to enact one — a one-year freeze passed in April 2026. New York’s proposal targets facilities over 20 megawatts. South Dakota’s moratorium bill failed, though a companion bill empowering local governments to regulate data centers passed. Georgia’s moratorium bills died when the Senate adjourned.

Vermont’s S.205, at four years, proposes the longest moratorium period of any state bill filed this cycle. The PUC study and report are due January 2027 — leaving more than three years between the report’s delivery and the moratorium’s expiration.

The bill remains in committee as of this week, with hearings continuing in Senate Finance.