SB410: SB410 State Sales and Use Taxes; the data center equipment sales and use tax exemption; repeal

Georgia currently lets high-technology companies and data centers apply for certificates exempting them from sales and use taxes on certain equipment (O.C.G.A. § 48-8-3). This bill would stop new certificates of exemption from being issued under those provisions after the bill takes effect, while letting anyone who already holds a certificate keep using it under the old rules. The bill also adds a new requirement for the Public Service Commission's oversight of electric utilities. Any contract between a utility and a 'large load customer' (one expecting 100 megawatts or more of peak demand at a site) signed after the bill takes effect must include terms like minimum billing requirements, longer contract terms, credit protections, and termination provisions, all meant to keep the costs of serving these huge power users off the bills of residential and retail customers. The law would take effect as soon as the Governor signs it.

• Ends the issuance of new sales and use tax exemption certificates for high-technology companies under O.C.G.A. § 48-8-3, paragraph (68).
• Ends the issuance of new sales and use tax exemption certificates for high-technology data centers and their customers under paragraph (68.1) of the same code section.
• Allows businesses that already hold an exemption certificate before the effective date to keep using it under the prior rules.
• Adds a new Public Service Commission code section (46-2-25.4) requiring contracts with large power users of 100 megawatts or more to include cost-protection terms for other customers.
• States that the General Assembly intends new large-load customers, not residential or retail customers, to bear the marginal cost of serving them.
• Sets the effective date as the date the Governor signs the bill or it otherwise becomes law.

High-technology companies and data center operators that currently rely on or plan to apply for sales tax exemptions, electric utilities that serve very large industrial customers such as data centers, and residential and retail electricity customers who could otherwise absorb costs of serving those large users.

Data centers and similar high-power operations would no longer be able to get new sales tax breaks on equipment, which could raise their costs of doing business in Georgia. At the same time, new contract rules aim to keep the electric costs of serving huge new power users, like data centers, off the bills of ordinary residential and retail customers.

• Section 1-1 states the General Assembly's intent that large-load customers, not residential or retail customers, bear the marginal costs of serving them.
• Section 1-2 adds O.C.G.A. § 46-2-25.4, defining a 'large load customer' as one with expected peak demand of 100 megawatts or more at one site or contiguous tracts.
• Section 1-2 requires new large-load electric service contracts to include minimum billing requirements, extended contract terms, credit/performance protections, and termination provisions.
• Section 2-1 repeals and re-enacts paragraphs (68) and (68.1) of O.C.G.A. § 48-8-3 to bar new sales and use tax exemption certificates for high-technology companies and data centers after the effective date.
• Section 2-1 preserves the validity of exemption certificates already issued before the effective date under the prior rules.
• Section 3-1 sets the effective date as the date of the Governor's approval or the date the bill otherwise becomes law.

1. 2026-03-10House Second Readers (House)
2. 2026-03-09House First Readers (House)
3. 2026-03-06Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute (Senate)
4. 2026-03-06Senate Third Read (Senate)
5. 2026-03-06Senate Engrossed (Senate)
6. 2026-03-04Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
7. 2026-03-03Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
8. 2026-01-16Senate Read and Referred (Senate)

• Matt Brass (R, SD-006)Primary sponsor
• Jason Anavitarte (R, SD-031)
• Chuck Hufstetler (R, SD-052)
• John Albers (R, SD-056)
• Larry Walker (R, SD-020)
• Kay Kirkpatrick (R, SD-032)
• Blake Tillery (R, SD-019)
• Greg Dolezal (R, SD-027)
• Shawn Still (R, SD-048)
• Mike Hodges (R, SD-003)
• Drew Echols (R, SD-049)
• Ricky Williams (R, SD-025)
• Brian Strickland (R, SD-042)
• Russ Goodman (R, SD-008)
• Bo Hatchett (R, SD-050)
• Chuck Payne (R, SD-054)
• Steven McNeel (R, SD-018)

1. PassedSenate voteMarch 6, 2026

   32 yea, 22 nay (1 not voting, 0 absent)

   Motion To Engross: Senate Vote #641

2. PassedSenate voteMarch 6, 2026

   32 yea, 21 nay (1 not voting, 1 absent)

   Passage By Substitute: Senate Vote #643

• data center tax exemptions
• sales tax policy
• electric utility rates
• Public Service Commission
• large power customers