{
  "id": "az-hb4168-2026-cdc-moratorium",
  "jurisdiction": "AZ",
  "kind": "statute",
  "status": "enacted",
  "title": "Arizona Commerce Authority; Computer Data Center Tax Relief; Moratorium; Retroactivity; Delayed Repeal (Laws 2026, Chapter 140, Sec. 31)",
  "citation": "House Bill 4168, \"taxation; omnibus; 2026-2027,\" 57th Legislature, 2nd Regular Session (2026), enacted as Laws 2026, Chapter 140, Sec. 31, signed by Governor Katie Hobbs June 13, 2026 as part of the FY2027 budget package",
  "docket_no": null,
  "agency": "Arizona Commerce Authority",
  "utility": null,
  "verification": "verified",
  "updated_at": "2026-08-21T14:52:12.584514+00:00",
  "record_url": "https://verifiedatlas.com/i/az-hb4168-2026-cdc-moratorium/",
  "snapshot_built_at": "2026-09-14T14:33:17+00:00",
  "sources": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/57leg/2R/laws/0140.pdf",
      "pinpoint": "Sec. 31 (session-law PDF pages 51-52, printed 'H.B. 4168 - 51 -')",
      "quote": "Sec. 31. Arizona commerce authority; computer data center tax relief; moratorium; retroactivity; delayed repeal A. Notwithstanding any other law, beginning on July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2029, the Arizona commerce authority may not accept applications for any new computer data center pursuant to section 41-1519, Arizona Revised Statutes, and no new computer data centers qualify for tax relief under section 41-1519, Arizona Revised Statutes. B. This section applies retroactively to from and after June 30, 2026. C. This section is repealed from and after June 30, 2029.",
      "quote_chars": 575,
      "title": "Laws 2026, Chapter 140 (House Bill 4168), enacted session-law text",
      "source_type": "statute",
      "verification": "verified"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/57leg/2R/laws/0140.pdf",
      "pinpoint": "final page (PDF p.54, printed 'H.B. 4168 - 53 -')",
      "quote": "APPROVED BY THE GOVERNOR JUNE 13, 2026. FILED IN THE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE JUNE 13, 2026.",
      "quote_chars": 100,
      "title": "Laws 2026, Chapter 140 (House Bill 4168), enacted session-law text - enactment stamp",
      "source_type": "statute",
      "verification": "verified"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2026/07/09/data-centers-dominated-2026-session-lawmakers-answered-with-3-year-tax-incentive-pause/",
      "pinpoint": "quote attributed to Gov. Katie Hobbs, July 7, 2026 press remarks",
      "quote": "\"I think that this pause in the exemption gives us a chance to really examine the policies,\" Hobbs said. \"Nobody's talking about a moratorium on data centers themselves. There are places where they make sense, where they provide economic opportunity and where they're not sucking the groundwater and overtaxing the utilities.\"",
      "quote_chars": 326,
      "title": "Data centers dominated 2026 session - lawmakers answered with 3-year tax incentive pause",
      "source_type": "journalism",
      "verification": "verified"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2026/07/09/data-centers-dominated-2026-session-lawmakers-answered-with-3-year-tax-incentive-pause/",
      "pinpoint": "background section, paragraphs on the origin of the moratorium",
      "quote": "After intense backlash in 2025 against proposed data center projects in Tucson, Chandler and Marana, Hobbs advocated eliminating the tax incentives entirely in her executive budget proposal. Republicans were vehemently opposed to the idea, arguing it would slow economic growth and send the wrong signal to potential investors. Ultimately, a compromise resulted in the temporary moratorium set to lift in 2029 if the incentives aren't completely eliminated in a future session.",
      "quote_chars": 477,
      "title": "Data centers dominated 2026 session - lawmakers answered with 3-year tax incentive pause",
      "source_type": "journalism",
      "verification": "verified"
    }
  ],
  "mandatory": true,
  "summary": "H.B. 4168, an omnibus taxation bill carrying the Legislature's FY2027 budget-implementation tax provisions, was signed by Governor Katie Hobbs on June 13, 2026 as Laws 2026, Chapter 140. Section 31 of the Act imposes a three-year moratorium (July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2029) barring the Arizona Commerce Authority from accepting NEW applications for the computer-data-center TPT/use-tax exemption under A.R.S. § 41-1519 (see companion instrument az-ars-41-1519-cdc-tax-relief) and barring any new computer data center from qualifying for that relief during the moratorium window; the moratorium repeals itself automatically after June 30, 2029 (a 'delayed repeal' per the section's own title) unless further legislative action intervenes. This was the compromise outcome of a fight the Arizona Legislature's own reporting corps (Arizona Capitol Times) described as dominating the 2026 session: Governor Hobbs's executive budget had proposed eliminating the data-center tax exemption entirely, following what the same reporting describes as 'intense backlash in 2025 against proposed data center projects in Tucson, Chandler and Marana'; legislative Republicans opposed outright elimination; the enacted compromise pauses rather than repeals the program. Governor Hobbs, quoted by Arizona Capitol Times taking questions from reporters July 7, 2026: \"I think that this pause in the exemption gives us a chance to really examine the policies ... Nobody's talking about a moratorium on data centers themselves. There are places where they make sense, where they provide economic opportunity and where they're not sucking the groundwater and overtaxing the utilities.\" Separately reported (same Arizona Capitol Times piece, and corroborated by independent aggregator search results not independently re-fetched this tick): a surge in last-minute applications to beat the June 30, 2026 cutoff, which this collector did NOT independently verify against an Arizona Commerce Authority primary count this tick (see notes).",
  "cost_allocation": "PRIMARY (raw session-law PDF, azleg.gov/legtext/57leg/2R/laws/0140.pdf, fetched directly and text-extracted with PyMuPDF - born-digital text, no OCR needed). Sec. 31, in full: \"Arizona commerce authority; computer data center tax relief; moratorium; retroactivity; delayed repeal A. Notwithstanding any other law, beginning on July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2029, the Arizona commerce authority may not accept applications for any new computer data center pursuant to section 41-1519, Arizona Revised Statutes, and no new computer data centers qualify for tax relief under section 41-1519, Arizona Revised Statutes. B. This section applies retroactively to from and after June 30, 2026. C. This section is repealed from and after June 30, 2029.\" (CORRECTED AT THE 2026-08-24 GATE: an inserted period after the section heading, 'delayed repeal.', has been removed - the enrolled heading carries no terminal period. The statute's own internal cross-reference in subsection B, 'applies retroactively to from and after June 30, 2026,' is reproduced exactly as it appears in the enrolled text, including its redundant 'to from and after' phrasing - not a transcription error by this collector.)"
}