Maine lawmakers on Tuesday passed legislation that will temporarily ban large data center projects. The ban, which lasts for 1.5 years, includes new data centers that use over 20 megawatts of power. The Maine House passed the bill 79-62, while the upper chamber approved the legislation 21-13. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills still has to sign the measure. Mills reportedly wanted an exemption for certain sites where data centers are already planned. However, lawmakers voted down an amendment to make that change. During the ban, a state-appointed council will analyze the impact of data centers on the local grid, electricity bills, and water usage. More below: Maine is set to implement a full statewide temporary BAN on all Data Centers More than a dozen other states are also considering this same ban on Data Centers too “The ban would halt construction until November, 2027. That would give a newly created council time to review and… pic.twitter.com/EKHNeeLttb — Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) April 12, 2026 The Hill has more: During this moratorium period, a coordinating council will convene to produce recommendations and guidelines to shape the future of the state’s policies on large data centers. The council will include government officials, experts and other stakeholders. The bill allocates $95,000 to support the council’s activities. The new Maine ban is part of a larger trend of state legislatures considering bills to impose new restrictions on data centers as the public and experts express concerns about the negative economic and environmental effects of these projects. At least 12 other states led by Republicans and Democrats are considering similar temporary bans on these construction projects. Similarly, the town of Port Washington, Wisconsin, became the nation’s first city to approve a referendum requiring large data center projects to obtain approval from taxpayers before beginning construction. Small City In Battleground State Passes First-Of-Its-Kind Referendum Against Data Centers Reuters noted: Following strong backlash against data center proposals by Big Tech firms, the Trump administration last month got those companies to sign a ​voluntary pledge at ​the White House ⁠that they would bear the cost of new electricity generation to power their data centers. While the question of how ​to handle the explosion of data centers does not fall ​under party ⁠lines, two Democratic lawmakers - Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - last month introduced legislation to halt all construction on data centers until Congress passes AI ⁠safety legislation. Republican ​Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri and Connecticut Senator ​Richard Blumenthal have also introduced legislation aimed at protecting ratepayers from data-center-related energy bill spikes.