“Voted Nay on Minnesota HF 16, the two-sided data center package that extended the equipment tax exemption to 35 years while adding a peak-demand fee and water permits”

Minnesota's 2025 data center law was a two-sided package. HF 16 extended the sales and use tax exemption on data center equipment and software from 20 to 35 years from a facility's first qualifying purchase - striking the prior "or by June 30, 2042, whichever is earlier" cap while still requiring certification before July 1, 2042 - and created a new "qualified large-scale data center" category eligible for the break. At the same time it imposed a new annual fee of $2-5 million tiered on peak electricity demand, added water-appropriation permit requirements, authorized a clean energy and capacity tariff, and attached prevailing wage and sustainable-building certification conditions. The repeal of the separate sales tax exemption on data center electricity purchases was enacted the same day in the omnibus tax bill, HF 9 (Chapter 13), not in HF 16. Because the bill both expanded and conditioned the tax break, and because opposition came from both environmental/consumer DFL members and conservative Republicans, individual stances on this roll call are recorded as mixed rather than assigned to one side. The vote page does not print party, so no party is recorded for these members. Outcome: Passed - 85 Yea, 43 Nay; became 2025 1st Special Session Chapter 12 Recorded vote: Nay. Body: Minnesota House of Representatives. Measure: MN HF 16 (2025 1st Special Session).