Griffin, Sundareshan Clash Over Data-Center Ideology

PHOENIX — For Rep. Gail Griffin (R-19), Arizona’s data-center boom is a utility-planning problem: large power users should not leave residential customers paying for new power plants and transmission lines. For Senate Minority Leader Priya Sundareshan (D-18), the challenge is broader. She argues lawmakers must reconsider tax subsidies, measure water consumption, and determine whether energy-hungry facilities should be required to use renewable power.

Their approaches frame the next state legislative debate after data-center developers filed 113 tax-incentive applications in the 16 days prior to Arizona’s three-year subsidy moratorium, which began July 1, 2026. In contrast, the Arizona Commerce Authority had previously received 123 applications during the program’s previous 13 years.

Griffin, who chairs the House Natural Resources, Energy and Water Committee, sponsored House Bill HB2756. The measure requires utilities to issue public reports on proposed, completed, and canceled connections for extra-high-load customers, including the number of megawatts involved. The law also directs the Arizona Corporation Commission and governing boards of public utilities to establish contract and payment requirements designed to prevent data-center costs from being shifted to other customers. Griffin and House Republicans presented the measure as protection against higher residential rates while allowing economic development to continue.

Sundareshan, the Senate minority leader, views those protections as incomplete. She called the tax moratorium “a great start” but said lawmakers should consider permanently eliminating the sales-tax exemption.

“There’s so much else about the resource use involved with data centers that we need to talk about and get a handle on,” Sundareshan stated. She called for better information about water consumption, whether companies pay their fair share for water, and how their electrical demand affects utility rates.

Sundareshan also wants legislators to discuss renewable-energy requirements for large power users. Griffin’s enacted bill regulates utility planning and cost allocation but contains no data-center water limits.

The 113 applications received sharpen that divide. Griffin’s framework assumes growth and seeks to protect ratepayers from its costs. Sundareshan wants lawmakers to decide whether Arizona should keep encouraging that growth at all.

Commerce Authority decisions on the applications, expected within 60 days of complete filings, will help determine which perspective ultimately drives the 2027 legislative session.