Will Ohio enact a data center moratorium by December 31, 2027?

- [2026-01-14] HB 646, originally a bill to create a Data Center Study Commission, was introduced in the Ohio House; it has since been substantially amended to address tax breaks, water reporting, and NDAs, but contains no statewide moratorium. https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/136/hb646/status - [2026-03-18] The House passed HB 646 by a 97-0 vote ; the substitute version caps sales-tax breaks and adds water-reporting mandates, not a construction/interconnection moratorium. https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/136/hb646/votes - [2026-06-10] Per the Ohio Senate's official status page, HB 646 was reported as a substitute by the Senate Energy Committee, informally passed, then recommitted to the Energy Committee — it has not advanced further since. https://ohiosenate.gov/legislation/136/hb646/status - [2026-04-03] The Ohio Ballot Board unanimously certified a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment to prohibit construction of data centers with a peak load of more than 25 megawatts , clearing the way for signature gathering (Conserve Ohio / Ohio Residents for Responsible Development). https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/04/03/data-center-ban-on-the-ohio-ballot-petitioners-get-approval-to-start-gathering-signatures/ - [2026-07-23] Organizers collected more than 70,000 signatures in roughly 10 weeks, far short of the roughly 600,000 raw signatures needed to net 413,488 valid ones , so the measure missed the 2026 ballot. https://irontontribune.com/2026/07/23/ohio-data-center-amendment-misses-2026-ballot-as-lawmaker-eyes-petition-limits/ - [2026-07-23] Because collected signatures do not expire under Ohio law, organizers plan to shift focus to the November 2027 general election ballot — meaning any statewide constitutional ban via this route could not appear before voters until Nov. 2027 at the earliest, within this question's window but very late. https://www.wfmj.com/news/local-news/ohio-data-center-ban-ballot-issue-falls-short-of-signatures/article_5aff7f6a-e470-461c-842f-a598a7c1fee7.html - [2026-09-14] Organizers with Conserve Ohio are hoping the statewide petition will make the 2027 ballot after missing a signature deadline in July ; separately nine local charter petitions mirroring the 25-MW ban appeared on Nov. 2026 local ballots. https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/09/14/data-centers-are-on-the-november-ballot-in-these-18-ohio-communities/ - [2026-09-18] At least 136-138 Ohio municipalities and townships have active (local, not statewide) moratoriums on data centers, and "so far, little has been passed into law" at the state level. https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/09/18/ohio-now-has-over-125-active-moratoriums-on-data-centers-see-where-they-are/ - [2026-09-22] "The statehouse is lagging: Every candidate for Ohio governor has called for restrictions, but little has passed into law." The GOP-controlled legislature is instead advancing SB 294, a "clean energy" redefinition bill favoring gas/nuclear for data centers, which passed the Senate 24-9 on June 10, 2026 and awaits a House vote — not a moratorium. https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/09/22/candidates-rune-against-data-centers-but-ohio-legislature-didnt-get-the-memo/ - [2026-09-28] The Ohio Supreme Court blocked a Wilmington local ballot ordinance on data centers (unrelated to statewide moratorium), illustrating ongoing legal friction over local/state authority but no statewide action. https://www.wyso.org/news/2026-09-28/ohio-supreme-court-wilmington-data-center-ordinance-cant-be-added-to-november-ballot - [2026-10-03] No bill currently pending in the Ohio General Assembly proposes a mandatory, facially-binding statewide construction/interconnection moratorium; proposals to date (HB 646, HB 706, SB-level tariff bills) target tax incentives, cost-allocation, water/NDA reporting — not an outright pause on approvals/construction/interconnection as defined by the resolution criteria. BOTTOM LINE: As of early October 2026, Ohio has no enacted statewide data center moratorium and no pending bill that meets the resolution's "mandatory on its face" moratorium definition; the one statewide route that would qualify — the Conserve Ohio constitutional-amendment initiative — missed the 2026 ballot and is now targeting the November 2027 election, which would fall just within the market's window but requires still-uncollected signatures, certification, and voter approval, while the GOP-controlled legislature's own measures move in the opposite (pro-development) direction. NOT FOUND: No evidence of any new statewide moratorium bill introduced since late September 2026; no confirmation of current signature totals for the Conserve Ohio 2027 drive; no indication of a House vote date for SB 294.

- [2026-03-12] Ohio state Rep. Levi Click initially drafted his data center bill with a six-month statewide moratorium but removed it before filing, after getting diverging legal views on whether it would violate Ohio's home-rule authority , and predicted it would be stripped in the legislature or enjoined in court even if it survived. https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/03/12/ohioans-are-getting-fed-up-with-data-centers-state-lawmakers-are-starting-to-notice/ - [2026-03-18] The main vehicle moving through Columbus, HB 646, contains no moratorium: the Ohio House passed a revised version on March 18, 2026, that would have the Governor, Speaker and Senate President appoint a Data Center Study Commission , not a construction ban. https://farmoffice.osu.edu/blog/mon-04062026-1124am/data-center-controversies-continue-ohio - [2026-08-29/09] As of late September 2026, HB 646 remained stuck in the Senate Energy Committee over disagreement on the size of the sales-tax break, and was seen as the data center bill most likely to pass when lawmakers return in November 2026 — still without moratorium language. https://u.osu.edu/senecacountyanr/2026/06/29/whats-the-state-of-data-center-legislation-in-ohio/ - [2026-09-22] A statewide reporting roundup found efforts at creating guardrails on data centers have stalled — a House bill to cut the sales tax break for new data center projects from 100% to 50% went nowhere, even with the House speaker's support , underscoring that even modest regulatory bills, let alone a moratorium, are not advancing. https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/09/22/candidates-rune-against-data-centers-but-ohio-legislature-didnt-get-the-memo/ - [2026-04-03] A citizen-initiated constitutional amendment to ban data centers over 25 MW cleared Ohio's Ballot Board for signature gathering, unanimously certified by the Ohio Ballot Board, prohibiting construction of data centers with a peak load of more than 25 megawatts per month , but this is a separate, slower path to "enactment" (via referendum, not legislature). https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/data-center-ban-ohio-ballot-petitioners-get-approval-start-gathering-signatures - [2026-09-08] That petition drive fell far short of its original 2026 target: organizers (Conserve Ohio / Ohio Residents for Responsible Development) announced they had gathered 130,000 of the roughly 413,000 required signatures and are now aiming to place the measure on the November 2, 2027 ballot instead of 2026. https://www.journal-news.com/local/group-pushes-for-statewide-data-center-vote-on-ohio-ballots/article_1efde421-f40d-51ff-811d-38f2b393fc72.html - [2026-xx] As a national base rate, more than a dozen states have introduced moratorium bills in 2026, but over 300 state data center bills were filed across 30+ states in six weeks, with New York, South Dakota and Oklahoma among those introducing moratorium bills to pause construction while studying impacts — yet actual statutory enactment of a full moratorium remains essentially unprecedented nationally. https://www.multistate.us/insider/2026/2/20/state-data-center-legislation-in-2026-tackles-energy-and-tax-issues - [2026-04-24] The clearest legislative near-miss, Maine, shows how fragile these efforts are: Maine's legislature passed LD 307, a moratorium on data centers over 20 MW until November 2027, but Governor Janet Mills vetoed it on April 24, 2026 , saying she would have signed it with a carve-out for an existing project. https://www.rockinst.org/blog/updates-on-the-cloud-more-moratoriums-on-data-centers/ - [2026-07-14] Even New York — whose legislature actually passed a moratorium bill (S10642) in June 2026 — saw the governor avoid formal statutory enactment: instead of signing the bill, Hochul signed Executive Order 62 on July 14, 2026, creating the first statewide moratorium on new data centers via a one-year pause on discretionary environmental permitting for data centers over 50 MW , which would NOT qualify under this market's "statutory/constitutional enactment only" standard. https://www.wilmerhale.com/en/insights/client-alerts/using-temporary-pauses-to-develop-permanent-regulation - [2026-xx] Local/sub-state moratoriums have occurred in Ohio (e.g., Jerome Township's nine-month pause, Ashville's local moratorium), but these are explicitly excluded by the question's "statewide" and "not local government" criteria. https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/09/22/candidates-rune-against-data-centers-but-ohio-legislature-didnt-get-the-memo/ BOTTOM LINE: Across the entire 2026 nationwide wave of 300+ state data-center bills and more than a dozen explicit moratorium proposals, not a single state has yet achieved true statutory/constitutional enactment of a statewide moratorium (Maine's passed bill was vetoed; New York's passed bill was bypassed in favor of a non-qualifying executive order); Ohio's own legislative moratorium language was stripped before introduction and its citizen ballot initiative missed the 2026 cycle and is now aiming for November 2027, dependent on gathering ~280,000 more signatures and winning a majority vote. This reference class implies a historically very low (near-zero) success rate for this specific type of enactment within a ~15-month window. NOT FOUND: No evidence of any formal Ohio legislative bill currently containing binding statewide moratorium language pending in the General Assembly as of October 2026; no confirmation of exact signature totals or verification status for the Conserve Ohio petition beyond the September 8, 2026 update; no official Ohio Secretary of State certification of a 2027 ballot date for the amendment.

YES means: Ohio's governor signs (or the legislature otherwise enacts via override/ballot) a statute or constitutional provision that is mandatory on its face and generally prohibits/suspends approval, permitting, construction, grid interconnection, or operation of new data centers statewide (or of all facilities above the 100 MW threshold), with any exemptions operating as default-prohibition rather than default-permission — at any point before 2027-12-31. - [2026-11-03] Ohio holds its gubernatorial election; polling in the final stretch shows Democrat Amy Acton leading Republican Vivek Ramaswamy by roughly 3-6 points (Marist 50-44, Suffolk 50-41), with prediction markets pricing Acton around 61-62% to win, and the winner is inaugurated 2027-01-11 — squarely inside this question's window. https://www.nbc4i.com/news/your-local-election-hq/two-polls-of-ohio-voters-show-amy-acton-ahead-of-vivek-ramaswamy-for-governor/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Ohio_gubernatorial_election - [2026-08-10] Every major gubernatorial candidate has endorsed some form of statewide moratorium: Acton's "conditional moratorium" would block new data centers unless developers meet union-labor, 100%-utility-cost, transparency, environmental and community-benefit-agreement conditions; Libertarian Don Kissick calls for an "immediate moratorium" on any project not yet broken ground; and even Republican Ramaswamy says he would use executive action to "immediately halt the approval of any new data center projects" until his conditions are met. https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/08/10/all-candidates-for-ohio-governor-have-now-called-for-restrictions-on-data-center-boom/ - [2026-09-21] Acton has reiterated the policy as campaign centerpiece, stating "My stance on data centers is a conditional moratorium immediately in effect to protect our energy needs," with conditions that are specific and listed (utility costs, union labor, transparency, environmental standards) — the kind of objectively-determinable condition set the resolution criteria says can still qualify as an enactable moratorium. https://www.wtap.com/2026/09/21/what-ohios-republican-democratic-gubernatorial-candidates-say-about-data-centers/ - [2026-08-10] A Bowling Green State University poll found 71% of Ohioans favor a temporary ban (moratorium) on new data center construction, giving whoever wins a strong public mandate to push such legislation through in 2027. https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/08/10/ohio-u-s-senate-candidates-offer-contrasting-visions-for-data-centers/ - [2026-10-02] Reporting confirms Ohio is now the epicenter of the national backlash: 20 of 38 data-center-related ballot measures nationwide this cycle are in Ohio, reflecting intensity of grassroots pressure that could translate into statehouse action once a new, more restriction-friendly governor takes office. https://bigenergynews.com/2026/10/u-s-senate-data-center-bill-stalls-as-ohio-voters-weigh-local-restrictions/ - [2026-10-02] Conserve Ohio's constitutional-amendment drive (25 MW cap) has grown to over 130,000 signatures (up from ~70,000 in July), still far short of the ~413,488 needed but showing continued momentum, with organizers explicitly targeting the November 2027 general-election ballot — a date that falls inside the window and, if signatures are certified and voters approve, would constitute "enactment" via referendum under the resolution's own terms. https://bigenergynews.com/2026/10/u-s-senate-data-center-bill-stalls-as-ohio-voters-weigh-local-restrictions/ - [2026-07-23] Because Ohio imposes no deadline for an initiative's signature-gathering window once circulation is certified, Conserve Ohio's existing signatures never expire, giving it roughly 13 more months (to mid-2027 filing deadlines) to reach the threshold using an expanding volunteer base reported at 1,000+ people. https://irontontribune.com/2026/07/23/ohio-data-center-amendment-misses-2026-ballot-as-lawmaker-eyes-petition-limits/ - [2026-09-18] The sheer scale of local moratorium activity — at least 138 municipalities/townships with active moratoriums and 23 outright local bans — creates sustained political pressure that a newly elected, restriction-minded governor (Acton) could leverage to push the legislature toward a statewide analogue in 2027, especially given unified messaging that "little has been passed into law" so far at the state level. https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/09/18/ohio-now-has-over-125-active-moratoriums-on-data-centers-see-where-they-are/ BOTTOM LINE: The single most plausible YES path is a Acton gubernatorial win (currently favored in polling and prediction markets) followed by her office using a 71%-popular "conditional moratorium" platform — which under the resolution's own language on condition-based suspensions could legally qualify — to push a statewide moratorium bill through the newly seated 2027-2028 General Assembly within the market's window; a secondary, lower-probability path is the Conserve Ohio constitutional amendment reaching the November 2027 ballot and winning voter approval. NOT FOUND: No draft legislative text translating Acton's "conditional moratorium" platform into a bill; no confirmation of legislative control/majorities in the 2027-2028 General Assembly that would determine if a Governor Acton could get such a bill passed; no updated Conserve Ohio signature count after the October 2, 2026 figure of "more than 130,000."

YES means: Ohio enacts, via gubernatorial signature, veto override, or voter approval of a ballot measure, a statewide law or constitutional provision that mandatorily (not at agency discretion) prohibits or suspends approval, permitting, construction, interconnection, or operation of all new data centers (or all those above 100 MW), by 2027-12-31. - [2026-09-18] At the statehouse, no bill with binding statewide moratorium text is moving; the governor's own tax-exemption pause is explicitly non-binding and limited, as Gov. DeWine stated in his own release that "this action only suspends the ability for data centers to request tax exemptions in Ohio; it is not a data center ban." https://governor.ohio.gov/media/news-and-media/governor-dewine-announces-pause-of-data-center-tax-exemption - [2026-06-02] Reporting around the same pause confirms DeWine "emphasized this week's announcement does not do this, calling data centers 'a critical component to today's technology-driven economy,'" showing the sitting governor's explicit opposition to an actual moratorium while in office through January 2027. https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5900974-data-center-tax-exemption-ohio-mike-dewine/ - [2026-03-12] The only legislator who drafted actual moratorium language, Rep. Levi Click, dropped it before filing after concluding it would face home-rule legal challenges, and predicted that "by the time It got through the legislature, it would be removed anyway" or enjoined by a court. https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/03/12/ohioans-are-getting-fed-up-with-data-centers-state-lawmakers-are-starting-to-notice/ - [2026-02-09] Senate Democrats' own package instead pushed a resolution "reaffirming Ohio's constitutional home rule protections," i.e., preserving local (not state) authority over data centers — the opposite of a statewide ban, and even this minority-party package has no statewide moratorium bill. https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/02/09/ohio-democrats-offer-slate-of-bills-reining-in-data-centers/ - [2026-06-11] The one sweeping bipartisan bill addressing public concerns "ultimately collapsed in the House" in June 2026, underscoring that even non-moratorium regulatory measures are struggling to pass the GOP supermajority legislature. https://www.wvxu.org/2026-06-11/gov-dewine-says-data-centers-are-the-future-but-they-should-pay-their-own-way - [2026-10-02] National framing confirms Ohio is a laggard, not a leader, on this issue: a roundup states "Twenty states have enacted moratoriums or bans on data center construction, while another seven are advancing legislation" — yet Ohio is not named among the 20, and its governor and legislative leadership (House Speaker, Senate President) have taken no action toward a binding ban. https://kmph.com/news/spotlight-on-america/data-centers-emerge-as-flashpoint-in-2026-races-as-opposition-rises-take-the-power-back-documentary-economy-politics-midterms-virginia-protests-water-supply-electricity-cost-tax-credits-election - [2026-08-10] Even the candidates who favor a moratorium describe only conditional/partial plans: Democrat Amy Acton's is explicitly a "conditional moratorium" contingent on companies meeting cost, labor, and transparency terms — a framework that would likely permit development "subject to conditions," which the resolution criteria's "mandatory... rather than permitted subject to conditions" standard disfavors; Republican nominee Ramaswamy's plan is an executive order (not a statute), which the rules say "do not qualify as enactment regardless of legal force." https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/08/10/all-candidates-for-ohio-governor-have-now-called-for-restrictions-on-data-center-boom/ - [2026-10-02] The governor and legislature elected in November 2026 take office only in January 2027, leaving at most ~12 months of the market's window for any new administration to draft, pass through a GOP-leaning legislature, and sign a first-ever statewide moratorium — a timeline shorter than the one that failed for HB 646's much more modest tax/reporting provisions over 2026. https://kmph.com/news/spotlight-on-america/data-centers-emerge-as-flashpoint-in-2026-races-as-opposition-rises-take-the-power-back-documentary-economy-politics-midterms-virginia-protests-water-supply-electricity-cost-tax-credits-election - [2026-07-23] On the ballot-initiative track, Ballotpedia's official signature chart shows the constitutional-amendment threshold is 413,487 valid signatures with a distribution requirement across 44 counties — compared to Conserve Ohio's own reported total of only roughly 83,000-130,000 signatures by July/September 2026, meaning organizers were sitting at under a third of the requirement nine-plus months before any 2027 deadline. https://ballotpedia.org/Signature_requirements_for_ballot_measures_in_Ohio - [2026-xx] Per Ohio's statutory calendar (as reflected in the Secretary of State's and Ballotpedia's procedural pages), signatures for a constitutional amendment must be filed at least 125 days before the targeted general election; for the November 2, 2027 election this places the effective filing deadline around late June/early July 2027 — leaving Conserve Ohio only about 9 months from today to roughly quadruple its signature count, clear the 44-county distribution threshold, survive Secretary of State verification (and any Ohio Supreme Court challenge, which the rules allow up to 95 days before the election), and then win a majority vote, all before the year is out. https://www.ohiosos.gov/legislation-and-ballot-issues/putting-an-issue-on-the-ballot/statewide-referendum/ - [2026-08-10] Conserve Ohio's own volunteer organizer stated the goal is "a full, 12-month moratorium," i.e., even if ultimately enacted via referendum, their target measure is temporary in design and would still need to clear every procedural hurdle above before December 31, 2027, with no cushion for delay, legal challenge, or a second signature-insufficiency cure period. https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/08/10/ohio-u-s-senate-candidates-offer-contrasting-visions-for-data-centers/ BOTTOM LINE: Every currently visible pathway to a Yes — the GOP-controlled legislature, the outgoing governor, the incoming 2027 administration, and the Conserve Ohio ballot initiative — faces either explicit political opposition, home-rule legal risk that has already killed draft moratorium language, a collapsed bipartisan bill, or a signature/timeline deficit (roughly 1/3 to 1/5 of signatures needed with only ~9 months to the practical filing deadline); no current mechanism is positioned to deliver a mandatory statewide moratorium by December 31, 2027. NOT FOUND: An official, post-September count of Conserve Ohio's cumulative signatures; any indication the incoming 136th/137th General Assembly or a new governor (post-January 2027) has committed to fast-tracking a binding moratorium bill; confirmation of the exact 2027 general-election signature filing deadline from the Ohio Secretary of State's official calendar (estimated from the 125-day statutory rule, not independently confirmed for 2027).