PRESS RELEASE
Data Centers Done Right: McMorrow Releases Comprehensive Plan to Make Data Centers Work for Michigan
MICHIGAN – Today, Michigan Senate Majority Whip and candidate for U.S. Senate Mallory McMorrow announced a robust plan to ensure data centers are directly benefiting Michigan communities –– and not the other way around. Informed by conversations with labor, environmental and community groups, McMorrow’s plan lays out a comprehensive policy to extract tangible investments from data center developers that address urgent needs in Michigan communities: lowering energy costs, creating good-paying union jobs, and generating tax revenue that directly benefits local communities.
In response to Michiganders’ frustrations with a lack of transparency as data centers set up shop in their communities, McMorrow’s plan bans NDAs between Big Tech companies and local governments.
“When it comes to data centers, Michigan has an opportunity to show the country how to do it right,” said McMorrow. “Today I’m announcing a plan to make sure data centers bring in transformational investments for Michigan communities when they build here. That means data center companies, not Michigan families, will pay for their own energy, grid upgrades for the benefit of all ratepayers; pay their fair share in taxes to fund our schools, roads, and communities; and pay our workers by creating good-paying union jobs.”
“Michigan revolutionized auto manufacturing to be safer, cleaner, and union-built. We can do the same for data centers – and show the rest of the country how it's done,” McMorrow continued.
MCMORROW’S PLAN FOR DATA CENTERS DONE RIGHT
Ensure data centers developers pay their own way –– and then some, so that ratepayers get relief and not a rate hike from data center investment.
Enact strong ratepayer protections to ensure protection from new costs associated with data center expansion, including upfront costs for new power generation and transmission infrastructure.
Require data center developers – not ratepayers – to bear 100% of the infrastructure, generation, and transmission costs needed to serve them.
Require that data centers invest in grid and infrastructure improvements that help bring rates down and increase access to high-speed internet for rural and low-income residents, as well as upgrades to water and energy infrastructure to account for the resources they consume.
Require that projects are built with union labor, using “hire local” requirements and job quality standards that provide a living wage to workers, and local investments in workforce development.
Ban the use of non-disclosure agreements between tech companies and local governments that hide the true impact of these facilities from the communities they affect. Increase transparency by publishing monthly data relating to the water and energy usage, evaluating economic impact projections, and requiring annual independent audits of data center claims paid for by fees collected from data center developers and AI companies.
Ensure data centers bring tax revenue into our communities and include strict penalties for companies that fail to protect ratepayers, environmental requirements, labor standards, and pay their fair share in taxes to fund our schools, roads, and communities.
Require new data centers to source at least 90 percent of projected electricity from renewables — leveraging their investments to build out our clean energy infrastructure and industry in Michigan.
Create a community reinvestment fund with required annual contributions from data center developers and AI companies to be used for workforce training, upgrades to critical infrastructure, the development of green space projects and related needs serving the communities hosting these data centers.
Ban AI data center construction or operation in adversarial nations, such as China and Iran, revoke Trump’s authorization for Nvidia AI-chips to be sold to China, and require senior national security officials to permit building AI data centers anywhere outside of trusted ally nations.
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