Illinois lawmakers begin days of deep dives on data centers
[April 09, 2026]
By Nikoel Hytrek and UIS Public Affairs Reporting (PAR)
SPRINGFIELD —Illinois lawmakers are digging deep on data centers, with a
House committee hearing from mayors, labor groups, and agriculture
representatives about the facilities’ local impacts in the first of
three planned meetings.
Rep. Ann Williams, D-Chicago, the chair of the House Executive
Committee, said she wanted to hear about the benefits and challenges of
data centers as the General Assembly considers regulations like the
POWER Act.
“Whatever we do here, we have to put people first,” she said. “We have
to put communities first. Data’s important, business is important,
revenues are important, but people must come first.”
Water use, energy use, noise and how community benefit agreements are
constructed were the primary concerns lawmakers wanted to address on
Wednesday.
Generally, the speakers acknowledged data centers are part of a growing
economy and are needed to support technology like AI, cloud computing
and data storage used by various industries, from education to health
care.
Some cautioned against regulation, saying it could dissuade companies
from investing in Illinois while others aired different concerns they’ve
encountered.
An Illinois Senate committee has two data center-related hearings
scheduled for later this week as well. Environmental advocates on
Wednesday also lobbied in the Capitol for data center regulation.
Local government perspective
Mayors from Aurora and DeKalb offered competing views of the benefits
and tradeoffs data centers bring. DeKalb Mayor Cohen Barnes praised the
Meta data center that started construction in 2020 and was finished in
2023.
“When Meta first came to our community, they specifically said they want
to make a significant impact in everything they do where they have a
physical presence, and that’s just what they did,” Barnes said.
Meta, he said, has invested heavily in DeKalb by contributing to the
nonprofit community and paying tens of millions of dollars in property
and utility taxes, helping to fund schools and local police. It has also
partnered with Northern Illinois University to bring STEM classes to
area high schools.
According to the Rockford Register Star, the Meta facility’s 2024 tax
bill was $32.1 million, or 11% of the total $287.3 million in taxes
generated in all of DeKalb County.
Barnes said DeKalb didn’t require Meta to meet any standards or
requirements before construction began, and he said he worries that
requirements might drive further development away.
“I would encourage you, let’s always think about how can we foster more
economic development rather than inhibiting it with regulation and rules
and requirements. And if we do that, then we do it for every industry in
the state of Illinois,” he said.
Aurora Mayor John Laesch, on the other hand, said residents have raised
concerns about noise from data centers and the impact on the power grid.
“Residents living near data centers have described a constant low
frequency hum day and night,” he said. “It’s not loud in a traditional
sense, but persistent. People have described trouble sleeping, increased
stress, loss of quiet in their own homes.”
Aurora currently has five data centers in operation and five more under
construction.
In March, Aurora enacted ordinances that would require data center
developers to conduct and submit studies dealing with noise, water
consumption and energy needs. The ordinances also require future data
centers to meet standards for noise, vibrations, water use and energy
use. They will also need to get power from renewable energy sources.
Laesch said while the city has tried to address the issues locally, he
urged the state to take broader action.
“Water and energy in particular, need to be addressed regionally or at
the state level,” he said.
Those requirements mimic provisions in the POWER Act, a major data
center regulation bill now under consideration in both chambers of the
General Assembly.
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Environmental advocates rally for greater data center regulation in
Illinois at the Capitol on Wednesday. (Capitol News Illinois photo
by Jenna Schweikert)
Sangamon County on Tuesday approved the zoning proposal for a CyrusOne
data center project, and Marc Ayers, a former member of the Sangamon
County Board who resigned after Tuesday’s vote, said residents also
aired worries about noise and water at those meetings.
Ayers, who voted against the proposal, said he was happy to see the $500
million investment in Sangamon County, but he wanted to have more
discussions before approving the project.
He said he also wanted more information from companies about their
hiring practices for construction and for long-term operations. And he
wanted transparency about a community benefit agreement between the data
center and a local development group, especially considering the company
also owns the data centers in Aurora.
“Rather than fixing the noise in Aurora, they’re expanding with a bigger
project in Sangamon County,” he said. “So this aspect of being a good
neighbor, we’re torn with that because they’re not really being a good
neighbor right now in Aurora.”
Labor perspective
Representatives from labor were generally opposed to regulations. They
said too many rules would risk companies choosing to do business
elsewhere.
“The fact of the matter is data centers are going to be built. They are
being built. The question is whether Illinois is ready to build them
here,” said Marc Poulos the executive director of Indiana, Illinois,
Iowa Foundation for Fair Contracting and a member of Local 150.
Poulos said there’s high demand for labor to work on these long-term
construction projects in surrounding states, including hundreds of his
own members. Without “smart standards,” he said, Illinois could lose out
on that investment.
Joe Duffy with Climate Jobs Illinois, said finding a line between
economic development and environmental protections should be the
priority, but pausing perks like the data center tax credits — as Gov.
JB Pritzker has proposed — is the wrong approach.
“We believe Illinois can maintain its lead in this race with the right
balance of incentives, labor standards, local protections and
infrastructure planning,” Duffy said. “We can attract investment while
ensuring communities benefit workers are treated fairly, and our energy
and water resources are responsibly managed.”
Land use
Farmers are most concerned about how data centers use land and water,
said Bill Bodine of the Illinois Farm Bureau.
He said farmers support “bring your own energy” proposals but want
reassurance that new renewable energy sources aren’t developed on land
that could be used for farming.
“Those proposals should prioritize projects that place renewable energy
on, say, center rooftops, parking areas, land already impacted by data
center development,” he said.
He also called for water use reports and water withdrawal plans that are
reviewed by the Illinois State Water Survey as well as efficiency
standards for energy and water use.
Bodine said farmers are also concerned about data centers being
abandoned if their technology becomes obsolete, or they reach the end of
their lifespan. He asked for a decommissioning plan or process so the
facilities could be removed easily.
“We don’t want it to turn into a dangerous situation or an eyesore,” he
said.
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