Data center restrictions tracker · Texas

Hill County Commissioners Court, Texas: data center moratorium (2026)

Data snapshot 2026-08-15 · part of Pricing the Fear of Data Centers

Hill County Commissioners Court, in Hill County, Texas, adopted a data-center moratorium on May 12, 2026. Its status in this snapshot is enacted.

The record reads: "Hill County Commissioners Court voted 3-2 for a 1-year pause on data center construction in unincorporated areas — appears to be the first Texas county moratorium. County officials expect lawsuits (demand letters arrived within 24 hours)… (datacentertracker.org)."

Details

ActionClassStatusDateMW thresholdScopeSource
MoratoriumrestrictionenactedMay 12, 2026county-widedatacentertracker.org

Jurisdiction type: municipality. County: Hill County. Dataset: datacentertracker. Snapshot August 15, 2026; documented actions, not a census.

Elsewhere in Hill County

Texas context

Texas has 17 documented local actions across 17 jurisdictions in this snapshot. At the state level, the state has a ratepayer-protection law (enacted, June 20, 2025) and El Paso Electric territory has a large-load tariff (enacted, July 31, 2025).

A town that says no to a data center gives up local tax revenue, not jobs: one large campus pays $2M to $90M a year depending on the tax regime, against roughly 50 permanent jobs. The parent piece prices it and lists the conditions that beat a ban.

Sources

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