Category: State Talk

The typical American school experience consists of some common traits; recess, field trips, group projects, social cliques and whole-school assemblies, to name a few examples.

For many students, visits to the school library are part of this list as well. It’s where they can find a quiet place to study, learn something new through reading, or take part in a Scholastic Book Fair.

What’s typical for many students, however, is out of reach for others.

More than 12 percent of U.S. public schools didn’t have a library media center in 2020-‘21, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. (The lack of a library is much more prevalent in charter schools compared to traditional public schools.) A separate national study, done by the SLIDE project, estimates that 29.5 percent of U.S. schools didn’t have librarians during that same school year. In the Midwest, the estimate was 32.7 percent.

“As a teacher in a Detroit charter school without a school library, I saw the negative impact of no library and scarce resources on both the staff and students in my school,” Michigan Sen. Darrin Camilleri says.

“We need to help all students have the resources they need to succeed, including grade-level-aligned texts and knowledgeable, accessible school librarians.”

He has introduced bills (SB 741–SB 743) requiring every public school to have a library and to employ at least one librarian, either part-time or full-time depending on student population size.

Under Camilleri’s legislation (still in committee as of October), Michigan schools could seek a state waiver from the librarian mandate. It would be automatically granted to schools/districts with fewer than 51 pupils.

Nebraska: Librarian mandate

Few states in the Midwest mandate that K-12 schools have libraries as well as employ librarians.

One exception is Nebraska. Under current law there, the staffing requirements are scaled based on school size. For example, a school with a population of between 70 and 249 students must have a certified teacher with an endorsement in library sciences who devotes at least one-fifth of his or her time to library media services.

However, even with this state requirement, Nebraska’s school librarians struggle with diminishing budgets, increased responsibilities with limited prep time, and public misinformation about the profession, says Courtney Pentland, a school librarian in Lincoln, Neb.

(Note: Pentland is immediate past president of the American Association of School Librarians; her comments for this article are based solely on her work as a school librarian, not with the association.)

Role in student learning

Pentland compares the role of a school librarian to that of a cruise ship director.

“We’re the person that keeps the ship going in the right direction, but we also have all of these other things that we have to maintain to make sure that we’re serving our population the best way we can,” she says.

In addition to assisting and supervising students, today’s school librarians must act as a cooperative and sometimes lead instructor (for example, as it relates to new literacy education approaches such as the “science of reading”), an academic research expert, a procurement officer, an event planner (given that the physical library space is usually one of the largest rooms in a school), and a media specialist who teaches students to differentiate legitimate sources from disinformation and AI-manipulated content.

Recent research points to the positive academic benefits that full-time certified librarians can have. When analyzing the academic performance of North Carolina students from similar demographic backgrounds, the authors of a 2023 Old Dominion University study found that “students who attend schools with a full-time certified librarian have higher math and reading test scores than students who do not.”

“School librarians see the big picture and help students build on prior knowledge and make connections in ways that may not be available or familiar to classroom teachers,” the authors noted, cautioning that further research was needed to determine some of the most impactful practices used by librarians.

For states that don’t require librarians, Pentland says, library services are usually one of the first areas to get cut. The comparatively higher level of advanced education needed to become a librarian — a master’s degree or, at least, several hours of additional coursework in many states — also makes recruitment efforts a challenge.

And for states that do require school librarians, the job can entail having to juggle dual teaching roles while traveling between multiple schools with limited prep time.

Pentland also says a rise in misinformation about school librarians, and the in-person or online harassment that follows, is causing individuals to leave or give second thought to entering the profession.

According to a 2023 School Library Journal survey, 24 percent of respondents reported harassment in the previous year related to library books or displays. Results from that same survey found that the Midwestern region had the largest share of school librarians who have considered leaving the profession or taking early retirement — 41 percent.

“The [state] bills that have been passed or attempted to be passed that would criminalize librarians and educators for doing their jobs, ones that maybe restrict access to scholarly databases or maybe restrict their ability to purchase materials … it makes some [librarians] question whether it’s worth it,” Pentland says.

Two new laws in Minnesota

Providing more supports for school librarians is among the goals of two new laws in Minnesota.

Last year, as part of its omnibus education bill (HF 2497), the Legislature allocated $1 million for a statewide census of school libraries. Those dollars also are being used to help recruit and retain school librarians through professional development opportunities and tuition assistance for those seeking licensure.

Of the 1,800 schools that had responded to the state survey as of October 2024, 80.6 percent reported having a library media center.

Sen. Mary Kunesh, chief sponsor of the bill and a former school library media specialist herself, says the survey also sought answers to other questions: “What sort of support systems [are] you providing? What support systems are you missing? What kind of collaborative relationships do you have with your county libraries, your state?”

According to Kunesh, policymakers will use the information to help expand library access.

This year, Minnesota legislators created the position of “state school librarian” (HF 5237). This individual will help school librarians across the state develop reading and media literacy curricula, support academic standards, secure grants, access library data collections, and provide guidance on book-removal requests.

Kunesh also envisions the state school librarian evolving into an unofficial legislative liaison, one who can provide a “direct link from the school library media specialist to the Legislature.”

The post School librarians: Integral to learning in some schools, absent in others appeared first on CSG Midwest.

Give the right treatment to the right patient at the right time.

That is the promise of precision medicine, and one form of it, biomarker testing, has been the subject of a legislative trend that started in Illinois in 2021 (HB 1779). Since then, 14 other states have passed similar laws requiring health insurance plans to cover biomarker testing when it is backed by sufficient medical and scientific evidence. State Medicaid programs also often are included in these coverage mandates.

“Those who have gone through the cancer journey know that the care for cancer can take a significant toll on a person,” Iowa Rep. Brian Lohse says. “If you’re able to tailor a treatment, a cure, for an individual with biomarker testing, that toll can be limited — fewer side effects, fewer ER visits.”

He led the work on HF 2668, a bill that added Iowa to the growing list of states with a biomarker testing mandate. It passed this year with near-unanimous legislative approval, as did Indiana’s SB 273.

‘Disease agnostic’ laws

With biomarker testing, an individual’s tissue, saliva or blood is collected and analyzed for the presence of biological markers. The results can help diagnose conditions and inform decisions about treatment.

“[Doctors] can say to a patient, ‘We have found this kind of cancer with this mutation, and we have this medication to give to you that’s effective,’ ” says Grace Lin, an associate professor of medicine at the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco. “If we didn’t have that testing, we would just go down the list of drugs, and some of them wouldn’t work at all or wouldn’t be as effective.”

Improving access to more precise and successful treatments for cancer, in particular, has been behind the push for these new state-level coverage mandates. In some of the early-adopter states, the requirement only applied to biomarker testing for cancer.

Today, most of the laws are “disease agnostic,” and require biomarker testing whenever there is evidence of it being effective in diagnosing, treating, managing or monitoring a disease or condition. (Screening for conditions or diseases is not part of these mandates.)

Inside state mandates: Statutory language and impacts

How do states determine clinical effectiveness, the trigger that then requires insurers to cover biomarker testing?

The language in these state laws spells out several ways — for example, approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, national or local coverage decisions by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and clinical practice guidelines or consensus statements developed by independent organizations or medical professional societies. (The National Conference of Insurance Legislators has developed model language, which Lohse says he used in crafting the Iowa bill.)

According to Lin, these laws still leave considerable room for interpretation on what is clinically useful and what is not. Her recent research on biomarker testing laws centered on another question: How effective will the new mandates be in expanding access across the state’s entire population?

Lin notes several limitations.

For instance, many residents are not covered by state-regulated plans, including those who are uninsured or on Medicare. Some of the laws also exclude Medicaid from the mandate. Sometimes overlooked, too, is the large number of people receiving employer-based coverage through self-insured plans, under which health services are provided to workers by an employer’s own funds rather than through the purchase of outside health insurance. Self-insured plans are exempt from state coverage mandates. According to KFF’s 2024 edition of “Employer Health Benefits,” 63 percent of covered workers in the United States are enrolled in self-funded plans.

One of the concerns raised this year in committee testimony in Ohio over biomarker testing legislation (HB 24) is that the mandate only would apply to the smaller- and medium-sized businesses that purchase health insurance. It would not touch larger-sized firms that self-insure.

Even for those individuals covered by state-regulated plans, Lin says, access to biomarker testing is uneven.

“We know already that with some of this more advanced, newer testing, there are disparities in terms of who gets it and when they get it,” she notes. “Payer coverage is one part of it, but it’s not going to solve the entire issue.”

She notes, for example, that many states now require coverage for mental health services, yet gaps in access persist.

“A lot of times, the most vulnerable people don’t get reached,” she says. “So as medicine advances, and as we get better testing and therapies, how are we going to make sure that those populations are reached?”

She suggests that legislators carefully and regularly review the impact of the biomarker testing laws. Did access increase after implementation? What can be done to close gaps in access and improve equity?

‘Wave of the future’

The new Indiana and Iowa laws do include some language on legislative oversight.

In Indiana, legislators will get an annual report on biomarker testing in the Medicaid program, including information on the number of patients who received the testing, the amount of state funding expended, the 10 most common conditions for which the testing was ordered, and results for patients (therapies used, treatments avoided, impacts of treatment).

In Iowa, by November 2025, the state Department of Health and Human Services is required to report on the number of biomarker tests provided during the fiscal year and the costs incurred by public health insurance programs.

“There are certainly some unknowns about costs, so we want to be sure to monitor it,” Lohse says.

However, he points to studies in states such as Minnesota that have predicted only a small increase in health premiums. Minnesota’s law was enacted in 2023 (as part of the omnibus SF 2995). Prior to passage of the measure, as statutorily required for any legislation calling for a new coverage mandate, the Minnesota Department of Commerce conducted a review of potential impacts. For the nonpublic insured population, the department estimated that monthly per-member expenditures would increase by between 9 cents and 22 cents in year one and between 14 cents and 32 cents in year 10.

Lohse sees potential cost savings as well, because biomarker testing can prevent spending on unsuccessful treatments and improve long-term outcomes for patients.

“Insurers already are moving in this direction [of covering testing],” he says. “There are a whole bunch of conditions and diseases where I think biomarkers are going to be able to help. As we worked on the bill, we heard not just about cancer treatment, but conditions like preeclampsia, rheumatoid arthritis and pain management.

“It’s the wave of the future.”

The post Seeing the promise of biomarker testing in disease diagnosis and treatment, some states are mandating that health plans cover it appeared first on CSG Midwest.

More than 1,200 state legislative races. Two elections for governor. Twenty-four proposals to amend state constitutions, enact new citizen-initiated statutes or repeal laws recently passed by state legislatures.

A lot was at stake in the November 2024 elections across the 11-state Midwest, and turnout was high across much of the region. According to a state-by-state analysis by the University of Florida Election Lab, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan led the nation in voter turnout, and Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio and South Dakota also topped the national average.

Here is a look at some of the key results and takeaways from the 2024 elections.

Changes coming in Michigan and Minnesota

Entering this year’s election, one party fully controlled the legislature — majorities in both chambers — in every Midwestern state. (Nebraska has a nonpartisan unicameral legislature.)

That changes in 2025 as the result of Republican election gains in Michigan and Minnesota.

The GOP took control of the Michigan House and now has a six-seat advantage: 58-52. Democrats still have control over Michigan’s upper chamber (there were no Senate elections in 2024) as well as the governor’s office.

In Minnesota, a 67-67 split in the House appears likely for the session ahead, as the result of a three-seat gain by Republicans. (Two close House races were the subject of recounts as of mid-November). Democrats maintained control of the Senate, and Gov. Tim Walz is in the middle of his term.

According to Minnesota’s online legislative publication Session Daily, a tied House has only occurred one other time in the state’s history, in 1979. That year, a power-sharing agreement was reached between the two parties, with Republicans being given the speakership and Democrats one-vote majorities on key legislative committees.

There has not been an evenly split legislature in the 11-state Midwest since the Iowa Senate in 2005. The power-sharing agreement there included the election of co-Senate presidents and co-committee chairs, one from each party.

Soon after the elections in Minnesota, both House caucuses chose speaker-designates: Melissa Hortman for the DFL and Lisa Demuth for the Republicans.

Legislative supermajorities in six Midwest states

In contrast to the even split in Minnesota, many of the region’s legislatures will continue to be run by parties that enjoy supermajority status (three-fifths or two-thirds, depending on the state): Democrats in Illinois, and Republicans in Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, North Dakota and South Dakota.

The most lopsided partisan advantage is in South Dakota, where 91 percent of the legislative seats (96 of 105) are held by Republicans.

A legislative supermajority can provide procedural advantages to the controlling party in every state, but it is particularly important in Kansas, where Republicans control the Legislature and the governor’s office is held by Democrat Gov. Laura Kelly. By maintaining supermajorities in the Kansas House and Senate, Republicans can overturn gubernatorial vetoes via party-line votes.

In two legislative chambers, parties lost their supermajority advantage: Republicans in the Wisconsin Senate and Ohio House. Wisconsin had the region’s largest overall net shift in partisan control of legislative seats, with Democrats picking up 14 seats.

In 2025, Republicans will control about 63 percent of the 1,501 partisan legislative seats in the Midwest. This does not include Nebraska, where elections for the Unicameral Legislature are nonpartisan.

However, this year’s results in Nebraska will mean a supermajority of members, 33 of 49, identify with the Republican Party. This status is important because in Nebraska’s one-house legislature, the filibuster, or the threat of one, plays an outsized role compared to most other U.S. state legislatures. A vote of 33 Nebraska senators can block filibuster attempts.

Nebraska is one of six Midwestern states with a Republican governor. That number includes two governors elected for the first time in 2024: North Dakota’s Kelly Armstrong and Indiana’s Mike Braun.

Voter-approved changes to state constitutions, statutes

The 2024 elections resulted in state constitutions being amended in seven Midwestern states: Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. In all, a total of 15 proposed constitutional amendments appeared on ballots across the Midwest.

Measures in Nebraska and South Dakota on the future of abortion policy and in Ohio on redistricting captured the most national attention.

The results in Nebraska and South Dakota bucked recent national trends.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision in 2022, ballot measures to protect or enshrine abortion rights have been approved by voters in 11 states, and prior to this year’s November elections, no such ballot proposal had been defeated.

However, South Dakotans rejected a measure that would have given a complete right to abortion during the first trimester and limited state-level restrictions later on in a pregnancy. As a result, a statutory ban on most abortions remains in place.

In Nebraska, competing proposals appeared on the ballot. Voters rejected an abortion-rights constitutional amendment and approved one that prohibits the procedure after the first trimester, with exceptions for medical emergencies or for pregnancies caused by sexual assault or incest. (The language of this amendment mirrors a bill passed by the Legislature in 2023.)

Ohioans were asked again this year to consider changes to the state’s redistricting process. Last decade, they approved a pair of measures that aimed to encourage bipartisanship and prevent gerrymandering, but still kept map-making powers with the General Assembly and a commission of elected officials. This year’s proposed constitutional amendment called for creation of a citizen-led, nonpolitician redistricting commission. Voters rejected the measure.

Here are other results from some of this year’s proposals to amend state constitutions, enact citizen-initiated statutes, or repeal laws recently enacted by state legislatures:

• North Dakotans rejected two citizen-initiated proposals, one to eliminate the property tax and another to legalize recreational marijuana.
• Indiana and Iowa voters modified constitutional language related to gubernatorial lines of succession.
• Minnesotans approved a legislatively referred constitutional amendment to continue using lottery-derived revenue to fund environmental and natural resources projects.
• Iowa and Wisconsin voters agreed to add new constitutional language that prohibits voting by noncitizens.
• Two citizen-initiated statutes were voted down in South Dakota: one prohibiting a sales tax on “anything sold for human consumption” and a second legalizing recreational marijuana. South Dakotans also rejected a proposed constitutional amendment to establish a nonpartisan primary system. They did approve a legislatively referred amendment authorizing work requirements for certain enrollees in the state’s Medicaid program.
• Nebraskans approved citizen-initiated statutes that legalize medical marijuana and ensure workers can earn paid sick time.
• According to Ballotpedia, Michigan, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio and South Dakota are among the 23 states nationwide that allow for a veto referendum. Under this process, voters have the opportunity to overturn a measure recently passed by the legislature and signed into law. This citizen-initiated veto authority was used in South Dakota to repeal a law on carbon pipelines and in Nebraska for a law providing tax credits for donations to private school scholarship programs.

The post Election wrap-up for the Midwest: Partisan shifts in two states, amended constitutions in seven appeared first on CSG Midwest.

A central part of much of the modern economy, data centers are proliferating across the Midwest, offering economic opportunities while possibly placing increasingly heavy burdens on states’ water resources and electrical load capacities. They house the computers and servers that store emails and texts, backup files, passwords, websites and streaming services along with anything and everything done online in “the cloud.” They also host artificial intelligence and “crypto-mining” programs (used to solve cryptographic problems or tasks to earn digital currency, such as Bitcoin).

Because they run 24 hours per day, data centers need a lot of uninterrupted electricity and constant cooling to keep from overheating — factors raising concerns these facilities may overburden already-stressed electrical distribution systems and water resources. Data centers are in a growth spurt currently driven by the rise in generative AI technology, according to The Synergy Group, a Nevada-based market analytics firm focused on the tech sector. An April analysis notes the United States already hosts about half of the world’s more than 1,000 “hyperscale” centers, ones with at least 5,000 servers,10,000 square feet of space and 40 megawatts (MW) of capacity. That number is expected to double by 2028.

A June 2024 report by S&P Global also notes this rise in data centers and estimates how the numbers and power capacity of data centers in four Midwestern metropolitan regions will rise by 2028:

• In Chicago, an increase in the number of data centers from 66 to 122, and from 997 MW of capacity to 1,839 MW.
• In Columbus, Ohio, an increase in the number of data centers from 40 to 85, and from 914 MW of capacity to 1,627 MW.
• In Des Moines, Iowa, an increase in the number of data centers from 27 to 48, and from 712 MW of capacity to 1,286 MW.
• In Omaha, Neb., an increase in the number of data centers from 38 to 46, and from 1,233 MW of capacity to 1,798 MW.

The U.S. Energy Information Agency in June noted that North Dakota saw the fastest relative growth in commercial electricity consumption, up 2.6 million MW, or 37 percent, from 2019 to 2023. The EIA attributed this steep increase in North Dakota to the rise of data centers in the state.

‘Infrastructure of future’

Most Midwestern states offer tax incentives specific to data centers, typically some mix of sales and/or personal property tax exemptions (see state-by-state listing below). As part of these laws, states often require a minimum capital investment; some also set benchmarks on the number of new jobs being created and the wages being paid.

In Michigan, legislators in 2015 enacted a sales/use tax exemption on equipment for smaller-scale “co-located” data centers (ones that lease capacity to other companies). Measures introduced this year, HB 4906 and SB 237, would extend the exemption to larger-scale enterprise data centers. These new exemptions would last through 2050, or through 2065 for centers built on qualifying “brownfield” industrial sites or former power plants.

“There are a lot of knowledge-economy and tech-based industries that like to be close to data centers,” says Rep. Joey Andrews, sponsor of HB 4906. “You get one of these, you’re going to start seeing other associated industries move into the area around them. You start to be able to build that tech sector and knowledge economy base.”

Andrews envisions this kind of increased economic activity and tax base as being transformative for his district along the Lake Michigan shoreline. According to Andrews, a $3 billion data center project proposed in the city of Benton Harbor would double property tax revenue to local school districts and governments, and ease high unemployment with construction jobs. Under the legislation, projects would have to invest at least $250 million and create at least 30 new jobs, offering an annual wage at or above 150 percent of the median wage of the region in which they’re located.

The Michigan bills also echo some other states’ requirements that qualifying data centers have their buildings be certified under one or more national or international green building standards. When crafting HB 4906, Andrews says, attention was given to the existing data center laws and incentives in other states (particularly Michigan’s neighbors) that are vying to be hubs of what he calls “the infrastructure of the future.”

“Everything is going to run through this sort of technology,” he adds.

Data centers: Need for power

Do utilities and state utility regulators need to do more to account for the large amount of electricity required to operate these data centers? Energy leaders in Ohio have been mulling this question.

In March 2023, AEP Ohio, which provides power to 1.5 million customers in the state, declared a moratorium on new data center service agreements. At that time, the utility said it was already serving about 600 MW of data center load and had agreements to connect an additional 4.4 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, an amount that could be handled by the region’s transmission system. However, AEP Ohio also was facing potential demand for another 30 GW, which would require building more transmission infrastructure.

In 2024, AEP Ohio filed with the Public Utilities Commission tariff plans for data centers, one in May and then a revised version in October. The May 2024 proposal, for example, called for the data centers to make a monthly payment equal to 90 percent of the maximum amount of electricity they would need. A previous 60 percent demand charge was not sufficient, AEP Ohio said. The revised tariff plan, released in October, sets the demand charge at 85 percent. This charge is meant to cover the cost of infrastructure needed to bring electricity to those facilities; a data center must pay it if even if less electricity is used in a given month. The October proposal also would require data centers and cryptominers using more than 25 MW per month to:

• provide proof they are financially viable and able to meet the plan’s requirements; and
• pay an “exit fee” if a project is canceled or they unable to meet obligations outlined in their service agreement.

The requirements would be in place for up to 12 years, including a four-year ramp-up period. AEP Ohio says its revised plan also creates a sliding scale that would give small and mid-sized data centers more flexibility, and outlines a process to end its March 2023 moratorium.

Another AEP utility, Indiana Michigan Power, in July filed a data center tariff proposal with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, seeking 20-year contracts for users of 150 MW or more, with a minimum monthly demand charge of 90 percent of contract capacity.

In North Dakota, Public Service Commission Chairman Randy Christmann in September said the legislature should address data centers in its 2025 session, as more oversight will be needed to keep the state’s power grid functional. Christmann, a former legislator, says there is enthusiasm for attracting data centers, especially to the state’s oil-producing regions where natural gas — a byproduct of oil production that must either be burned off or transported elsewhere by pipelines — could provide the power.

That’s good, he says, but legislators need to consider what happens if data centers locate in an area where the local utility or electric co-op can’t handle the load demand or afford to build new transmission lines.

“I’m putting it out there … so people understand it is a potential issue,” Christmann says. “I’m not looking to take a heavy regulatory hand, but with nothing, there is the potential for bad things happening.”

The commission currently has no direct oversight of data centers, he adds; only in cases where those facilities get electricity from a regulated utility does the agency have authority over the electrical rates sought by the utility.

Data centers: Need for water

Data centers must keep equipment cool, which can require millions of gallons of water daily. Michigan’s legislative proposals would require these centers to use municipal water systems. Andrews adds that there is a sunset provision (no incentives for new projects after 2029), giving legislators the chance to examine the impacts on water and electricity systems.

The bills include language that “encourage” those claiming tax exemptions “to take direct steps to adopt practices to mitigate negative environmental impacts,” including efforts to conserve, reuse and replace water. These steps would not be required.

Indiana officials have proposed building a 50-mile pipeline to carry up to 100 million gallons daily from the Wabash River watershed to the Limitless Exploration/Advanced Pace Research and Innovation District — a project aimed at attracting high-tech manufacturing and data center operations to a 9,000-acre site northwest of Indianapolis. That pipeline has been on hold as the Indiana Finance Authority wraps up studies of the Wabash River’s watershed and headwaters. Findings were expected to be released in December.

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Examples of state tax incentives specific to data centers: Overview of program benefits and requirements in Midwest

Illinois

• Offers mix of sales and use tax exemptions for items used to construct and operate data centers
• Exemptions last up to 20 years
• Requires minimum capital investment of $250 million
• Requires project to result in at least 20 permanent full-time or full-time-equivalent jobs; average pay must be at least 120 percent of average wage in host county
• Project must demonstrate within two years it is carbon neutral or meets a green building standard
• Offers income tax credit for construction of data center in underserved area

Indiana

• Provides sales and use tax exemption on equipment and electricity purchases (local property tax exemption may also be available)
• Exemptions last up to 20 years for projects with capital investments of less than $750 million, up to 50 years for projects with larger investments
• Requires varying minimum investment levels based on population of county where center is located (between $25 million and $150 million)

Iowa

• Provides sales and use tax refunds (between 50 percent and 100 percent depending on project size) on equipment and electricity used to operate data centers
• No property tax on equipment or computers
• Requires minimum investment of $200 million (some incentives available for smaller projects)
  

Michigan

• Provides sales and use tax exemptions for equipment sold to data centers
• Only applies to a co-located data center (a center housing shared data from multiple companies)

Minnesota

• Provides sales tax exemption on electricity use and purchases of items used to operate data centers
• Sales tax exemption for data center project lasts for up to 20 years
• Provides permanent exemption from personal property tax on equipment
• Requires qualifying facility to be at least 25,000 square feet
• Requires minimum capital investment of at least $30 million for new centers, $50 million for refurbished centers

Nebraska

• Provides mix of investment credits, sales tax refunds/exemptions and personal property tax exemptions specific to data centers; some as part of broader, tiered incentive program that is no longer accepting new applications in certain tiers
• Incentives in tiered program contingent on investment of $200 million and hiring of 30 new employees 

North Dakota

• Provides sales tax exemption on information technology equipment and computer software
• Facility must be at least 15,000 square feet; 50% of space used for data processing
  

Ohio

• Provides partial or full sales tax exemption on purchase of electricity and equipment to construct, operate centers
• Requires minimum investment of $100 million and annual payroll of more than $1.5 million

Wisconsin

• Provides exemption from sales and use tax on long list of items needed to construct, operate data centers
• Minimum investment varies based on population of county where center is located ($50 million to $150 million)

Sources used: Stream Data Centers, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity “Data Center Investment Program 2023 Annual Report,” and CSG Midwest research

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Data Centers in the Midwest: Their Expected Growth and Potential Impacts on Water Use and Management

Tuesday, Dec 10 @ 10 a.m. CST / 11 a.m. EST

The proliferation of data centers across the country, and the Midwest, holds out hope for a high-tech economic future, especially as use of cloud-based services and artificial intelligence applications grow exponentially. But they need water to help keep equipment cool, which can stress water resources. Participants will explore policy considerations on water use and management as the region experiences growth in data centers, which need a considerable amount of water to operate.

Hosted by the CSG Midwestern Legislative Conference Energy & Environment Committee and the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Legislative Caucus.

Register

 

Seen and Heard: State Strategies To Ensure Quality Legal Representation for Youths in Child Welfare Systems

Wednesday, Dec 11 @ 9:30 a.m. CST / 10:30 a.m. EST

The laws and policies that impact the legal rights and representation of youths in child welfare systems vary considerably. Participants in this web event will learn about these differences, how they impact the lives of young people, and new laws and promising practices in the states. The event will include a featured presentation from Kendall Seal, the vice president of policy for the Center for the Rights of Abused Children, as well as time for discussion among participants.

Hosted by the CSG Midwest Midwestern Legislative Conference Health & Human Services Committee.

Register

 

Prevent Violence, Transform Young Lives: The Promise of Comprehensive Adolescent Services and the Role for States

Monday, Dec 16 @ 1 p.m. CST / 2 p.m. EST

During this webinar, participants will learn how states can build partnerships with local communities and leaders to provide comprehensive services to adolescents that help lower incidences of violence. Hear an overview of why these plans are important for states to consider developing, what such strategies could look like, and lessons learned from Midwestern states.

Webinar presenters:

• Sen. Jesse James, Wisconsin; co-chair, MLC Criminal Justice & Public Safety Committee
• Josh Weber, Deputy Division Director, Corrections & Reentry, CSG Justice Center
• Others (TBD)

The webinar is hosted by the CSG Midwestern Legislative Conference Criminal Justice & Public Safety Committee.

Register

 

Indigenous Treaty Law in the U.S. and Canada: A Primer for State and Provincial Legislators

Tuesday, December 17 @ 10 a.m.CST / 11 a.m. EST

Legal experts will present an overview of what legislators should know about existing treaty obligations and implications for state/provincial partnerships with Indigenous nations, particularly related to water and the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River basin.

Hosted by the MLC Midwest-Canada Relations Committee and Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Legislative Caucus

Register

 

Tech & Workforce Development for Rural Regions: Building Collaborative, Community-Led Solutions

Thursday, December 19, @1 p.m

Successful community development efforts are rarely the byproduct of a single company or person. It is through the collaboration of different industry partners, educational institutions and workforce development specialists working in the field that communities can develop effective strategies. During this webinar, experts from the Center on Rural Innovation will share their insights on how policymakers can build these partnerships. Participants will get insights on how policymakers can better identify workforce needs in rural communities, with a particular focus on tech-sector careers, as well as how to create and maintain a network of partners to train prospective workers.

Hosted by the CSG Midwestern Legislative Conference Agriculture & Rural Affairs and Education & Workforce Development committees.

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Webinar Series appeared first on CSG Midwest.