Bill
AB 245
AB 245 tightens the sales tax exemption for qualified data centers, bars crypto mining, adds WEDC revocation, and clarifies qualifying investments and county thresholds.
Status: Introduced Jan. 14, 2025. Referred to Joint Committee on Finance (FE—fiscal estimate). Assembly Amendment 1 (offered Sept. 2, 2025) was recommended for adoption by the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means (Nov. 7, 2025).
Purpose
- To revise the statutory definition and related certification rules for “qualified data centers” that are eligible for the sales and use tax exemption created by 2023 Act 19, and to clarify what investments and activities qualify — including explicit exclusions for cryptocurrency‑mining activity.
Key provisions (bill as amended / Amendment 1)
- Definition of “qualified data center”
- Requires the facility to house server computers (whether standalone or networked) used to centralize specified data processing, storage, management, retrieval, communication, or dissemination activities.
- Amendment 1 narrows/reframes the original draft’s broader language while still focusing on server‑based data activity and centralization.
- Colocation and managed services
- The introduced bill originally expanded eligibility to expressly allow facilities that offer colocation, shared utilities/cooling, enhanced security, and managed infrastructure/services; Amendment 1 adjusts the definition language (see note below).
- Cryptocurrency activity: exclusion and revocation
- The bill specifies that a qualified data center does NOT include buildings used to create cryptocurrencies or to perform the cryptographic verification/consensus processes that secure crypto transactions and blockchains.
- Amendment 1 adds those prohibited crypto activities as grounds for WEDC (Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation) to revoke a center’s certification.
- Qualified investment definition
- Amendment 1 revises the “qualified investment” concept to expressly include certain eligible costs expended at a qualified data center by an owner, operator, tenant, or their affiliate (consistent with the original statute’s multi‑party investment approach).
- Certification and timing
- The minimum investment thresholds from 2023 law continue to apply (by county population): counties >100,000 — $150M; 50k–100k — $100M; <50k — $50M, measured within five years of WEDC certification.
Who would be affected
- Data center developers, operators, and tenants (including colocation providers and hyperscalers) — eligibility for a significant sales/use tax exemption on tangible personal property used in construction, expansion, or operation.
- WEDC — reviews/certifies projects and gains explicit revocation authority tied to prohibited crypto activity.
- State and local governments — potential reduction in sales/use tax revenues where new or expanded facilities qualify; fiscal impacts are subject to the pending fiscal estimate.
- Utilities, construction contractors, equipment vendors, and related suppliers — may see demand resulting from incentivized projects.
Procedural / fiscal notes
- The bill carries a fiscal estimate designation (FE) and has been referred to the Joint Committee on Finance. The bill and the amendment were considered by Ways & Means; Amendment 1 was recommended for adoption (Nov. 7, 2025).
- Potential fiscal impact: the exemption can reduce state (and possibly local) tax receipts; the precise revenue effect depends on the number/scale of certified projects and is to be quantified in the fiscal estimate.
Context and policy implications
- The measure is an economic development incentive intended to attract large data center investments while excluding crypto‑mining uses that states have sometimes treated differently due to energy/utility concerns.
- Amendment 1 refines eligibility language and strengthens the anti‑crypto/recission mechanics and the scope of qualifying investment by including tenant/operator expenditures.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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