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Roper: Is the VT block of large data centers the dumbest bill of 2026?

A pathetic attempt to look like you’re doing something when actually doing nothing.

by Rob Roper

So, the Vermont House and Senate both approved H.727 – An act relating to sustainable data center deployment, sending it off the Governor’s desk for a signature or a veto. What this bill does is create a number of logistical hurdles and hoops that any company wishing to construct a large-scale data center (20-plus megawatts) would have to jump over and through before putting a shovel into the Green Mountains. The hoped-for optics the politicians pushing this are shooting for here is heroic legislators bravely standing up for their constituents by scaring off the hairy monsters in Big Tech. But, in reality, this is just useless, time-and-money-wasting, political theater.

Why? Because the number of large-scale data centers the likes of Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Google, et al that are looking to locate in Vermont is – and I don’t need the services of a large-scale data center running AI to tell me this – zero. Nada. Not one.

H.727 is the legislative equivalent of me defiantly stating here and now that if Mike Tyson ever tries walking through my office door I will kick… his… ass. And then attributing Iron Mike’s never attempting to cross that threshold to my undeniably intimidating machismo, and not that he has no knowledge of or interest in me whatsoever.

Senator Chris Mattos (R-Chittenden N) explained his NO vote during Senate floor debate, making three critical points. First, “The regulatory structure is already in place [to oversee this kind of development]… with Act 250, with the PUC, having to deal with the utilities themselves in being able to get that power to the building.” But beyond the direct regulations involved, Mattos noted, “…the cost of electricity, the cost of the land, the cost to build here, I think are all impediments for building one of these 20 megawatt facilities here in the state of Vermont.” And finally, “I think we’ve spent a lot of time already on this bill, and I think we could spend a lot more time elsewhere on other issues that are pressing in Vermont.”

Yup. No matter what you think of data centers, good or evil, we don’t need a new set of regulations to hold them at bay because they don’t want to come here anyway, and if they did, the old rules work just fine if your goal is to chase away a business. Waste of time.

As it happens, I know someone who works for one of those mega tech companies and is involved with planning for data center development. When I asked about Vermont and H.727 all I can say is it took quite a long time for the laughter on the other end of the phone line to die down before getting a, “Yeah, no. Not gonna happen,” response.

Mattos was correct. It turns out you don’t need laws or regulations to chase away businesses when you’ve already driven up electricity costs to uncompetitive levels, have the highest property taxes in the country, decimated your labor force, and generally neglect your infrastructure.

But to Mattos’ final point, the legislature wasted a lot of time on this totally superfluous puffery. And here I did need the help of a data center running AI. According to Grok, “H.727 received substantial committee time during its development, with the Vermont Legislature’s official bill tracking page documenting approximately 28 committee meetings (18 in the House across three committees and 10 in the Senate across two committees) between February and May 2026.” That doesn’t include full House and Senate floor time, or, significantly, all the time legislative council and various agencies needed to write, research and prepare testimony for this legislation.

Given all the real problems facing our state, including those in the energy sector such as how we are going to meet rising demand for electricity even without data centers, and the viability of our electric grid, you’d think the Committee on Energy & Digital Infrastructure could find something better to do.

But the real reason for H.727 isn’t to solve an actual problem that Vermonter’s need solving. It is to manufacture an illusion – at taxpayer expense – that the Climate Warriors are doing something. Vanquishing a dragon! And not just caving to the Republicans and public pressure to repeal their crown jewel Clean Heat Standard. And not doing nothing to meet the mandates in their Global Warming Solutions Act. Which, of course, is the real story they are trying to hide: the collapse of their loony agenda.

The VNRC posted their weekly Climate Dispatch video today interviewing Representative Kathleen James (D-Manchester) hyping the data center bill, and she does her level best to convey her excitement at its passage. So excited that she’s retiring. I have no insights into James’ headspace, but having observed her in committee this year, I get the impression that she’s not excited by H.727, is frustrated by how pathetic the garbage her committee has been pushing out really is, and has come to the conclusion that it is indeed a waste of time.

So, to answer the question posed in the headline, I’m going to say, YES, H.727 is the dumbest bill the legislature took up this year (share your thoughts/nominees in the comments). It has a lot in common with 2025’s dumbest bill of the year, including its sponsor, H.125 (See coverage of that foolishness HERE) that wasted a bunch of time and money trying to make the Agency of Natural Resources waste even more time and money creating a map of gas stations and EV charging stations when the information is already available for free in an app from AAA. Happily, that boondoggle died in the Senate.

Rob Roper is a freelance writer who has been involved with Vermont politics and policy for over 20 years. This article reprinted with permission from Behind the Lines: Rob Roper on Vermont Politics, robertroper.substack.com

# contentMap.en
Roper: Is the VT block of large data centers the dumbest bill of 2026?

A pathetic attempt to look like you’re doing something when actually doing nothing.

by Rob Roper

So, the Vermont House and Senate both approved H.727 – An act relating to sustainable data center deployment, sending it off the Governor’s desk for a signature or a veto. What this bill does is create a number of logistical hurdles and hoops that any company wishing to construct a large-scale data center (20-plus megawatts) would have to jump over and through before putting a shovel into the Green Mountains. The hoped-for optics the politicians pushing this are shooting for here is heroic legislators bravely standing up for their constituents by scaring off the hairy monsters in Big Tech. But, in reality, this is just useless, time-and-money-wasting, political theater.

Why? Because the number of large-scale data centers the likes of Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Google, et al that are looking to locate in Vermont is – and I don’t need the services of a large-scale data center running AI to tell me this – zero. Nada. Not one.

H.727 is the legislative equivalent of me defiantly stating here and now that if Mike Tyson ever tries walking through my office door I will kick… his… ass. And then attributing Iron Mike’s never attempting to cross that threshold to my undeniably intimidating machismo, and not that he has no knowledge of or interest in me whatsoever.

Senator Chris Mattos (R-Chittenden N) explained his NO vote during Senate floor debate, making three critical points. First, “The regulatory structure is already in place [to oversee this kind of development]… with Act 250, with the PUC, having to deal with the utilities themselves in being able to get that power to the building.” But beyond the direct regulations involved, Mattos noted, “…the cost of electricity, the cost of the land, the cost to build here, I think are all impediments for building one of these 20 megawatt facilities here in the state of Vermont.” And finally, “I think we’ve spent a lot of time already on this bill, and I think we could spend a lot more time elsewhere on other issues that are pressing in Vermont.”

Yup. No matter what you think of data centers, good or evil, we don’t need a new set of regulations to hold them at bay because they don’t want to come here anyway, and if they did, the old rules work just fine if your goal is to chase away a business. Waste of time.

As it happens, I know someone who works for one of those mega tech companies and is involved with planning for data center development. When I asked about Vermont and H.727 all I can say is it took quite a long time for the laughter on the other end of the phone line to die down before getting a, “Yeah, no. Not gonna happen,” response.

Mattos was correct. It turns out you don’t need laws or regulations to chase away businesses when you’ve already driven up electricity costs to uncompetitive levels, have the highest property taxes in the country, decimated your labor force, and generally neglect your infrastructure.

But to Mattos’ final point, the legislature wasted a lot of time on this totally superfluous puffery. And here I did need the help of a data center running AI. According to Grok, “H.727 received substantial committee time during its development, with the Vermont Legislature’s official bill tracking page documenting approximately 28 committee meetings (18 in the House across three committees and 10 in the Senate across two committees) between February and May 2026.” That doesn’t include full House and Senate floor time, or, significantly, all the time legislative council and various agencies needed to write, research and prepare testimony for this legislation.

Given all the real problems facing our state, including those in the energy sector such as how we are going to meet rising demand for electricity even without data centers, and the viability of our electric grid, you’d think the Committee on Energy & Digital Infrastructure could find something better to do.

But the real reason for H.727 isn’t to solve an actual problem that Vermonter’s need solving. It is to manufacture an illusion – at taxpayer expense – that the Climate Warriors are doing something. Vanquishing a dragon! And not just caving to the Republicans and public pressure to repeal their crown jewel Clean Heat Standard. And not doing nothing to meet the mandates in their Global Warming Solutions Act. Which, of course, is the real story they are trying to hide: the collapse of their loony agenda.

The VNRC posted their weekly Climate Dispatch video today interviewing Representative Kathleen James (D-Manchester) hyping the data center bill, and she does her level best to convey her excitement at its passage. So excited that she’s retiring. I have no insights into James’ headspace, but having observed her in committee this year, I get the impression that she’s not excited by H.727, is frustrated by how pathetic the garbage her committee has been pushing out really is, and has come to the conclusion that it is indeed a waste of time.

So, to answer the question posed in the headline, I’m going to say, YES, H.727 is the dumbest bill the legislature took up this year (share your thoughts/nominees in the comments). It has a lot in common with 2025’s dumbest bill of the year, including its sponsor, H.125 (See coverage of that foolishness HERE) that wasted a bunch of time and money trying to make the Agency of Natural Resources waste even more time and money creating a map of gas stations and EV charging stations when the information is already available for free in an app from AAA. Happily, that boondoggle died in the Senate.

Rob Roper is a freelance writer who has been involved with Vermont politics and policy for over 20 years. This article reprinted with permission from Behind the Lines: Rob Roper on Vermont Politics, robertroper.substack.com