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Read. Follow. Verify.Idaho House Bill 609 revises tax exemptions for data centers and capital investments
Last action · February 10, 2026: Reported Printed and Referred to Revenue & Taxation
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What This Bill Proposed
Idaho House Bill 609 updates eligibility requirements for sales tax exemptions on data center equipment and property tax exemptions for large capital investments. The measure requires new data center projects receiving tax exemptions after March 1, 2026, to fully cover utility electricity costs and provide advance written water consumption notices to local water providers. Additionally, the bill prohibits taxpayers from claiming both the data center sales tax exemption and the large capital investment property tax exemption simultaneously.
Data center operators and large capital investors seeking state tax exemptions face stricter eligibility criteria, including mandatory electricity rate arrangements and formal water consumption reviews with local providers.
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Qualifying business entities
Data center operators must meet stricter investment, utility cost recovery, and water notification requirements to qualify for tax exemptions.
Local water providers
Providers receive advance written notices detailing anticipated water consumption needs from proposed data center projects.
Electric utilities
Utilities must ensure electricity rate schedules or agreements fully recover all costs incurred in providing electricity to qualifying data center properties.
Key Facts
- Data center tax exemptions require qualifying businesses to invest at least $250,000,000 within the first five years and create at least 30 new jobs within two calendar years.
- Data centers receiving exemptions after March 1, 2026, must obtain electricity service under a rate schedule or agreement that fully recovers all utility costs incurred in providing electricity.
- Data centers receiving exemptions after March 1, 2026, must provide written notice to local water providers detailing anticipated water consumption needs prior to commencing construction.
- Taxpayers are prohibited from receiving both the data center equipment sales tax exemption and the new capital investment property tax exemption.
Show all 6 facts
- The property tax exemption for new capital investments applies to property in excess of $400,000,000 located within a single county, conditioned on a qualifying investment of at least $1,000,000,000.
- The State Tax Commission is authorized to promulgate rules to administer and enforce the tax exemption provisions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What new obligations do data centers face regarding water use under the bill?
Can a business receive both the data center sales tax exemption and the capital investment property tax exemption?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died at adjournment · in House committee.
Procedural history
2 actions- Feb 10, 2026CommitteeReported Printed and Referred to Revenue & Taxation
- Feb 9, 2026IntroducedIntroduced, read first time, referred to JRA for Printing
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Incorporation of Utility and Water Safeguards
The bill shifts data center tax policy from purely financial investment and job creation metrics to include mandatory utility cost recovery and local water provider notifications.
Connected Entities
Sources
legislature.idaho.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 75)
- Controversy50Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz40Current news / social attention level
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