FL — State Policy Updated 2026-07-17

Florida

State sales/use tax exemption for data centers Local option property tax exemption Statewide restrictions 2026 legislative outcomes Moratoriums and local actions

1) Incentive programs

State sales/use tax exemption for data centers (primary incentive)

  • Exemption type: Florida provides a sales and use tax exemption for qualifying data center property, including server/network equipment, cooling and electrical systems, and electricity used exclusively at a qualifying data center. The exemption is in Fla. Stat. s. 212.08 and includes a certificate process and a 5-year compliance review. Fla. Stat. s. 212.08, 2025
  • Eligibility thresholds (current law): A data center must invest at least $150 million in Florida and have a critical IT load of 100 MW or higher. Construction must have commenced on or after July 1, 2017 and be completed within 5 years. The statute also requires at least 1 MW of critical IT load for each separate tenant or owner. Fla. Stat. s. 212.08, 2025
  • Duration and sunset: Certificates may be issued through June 30, 2037. The exemption applies so long as the data center remains in compliance; the Department of Revenue reviews compliance every 5 years. Fla. Stat. s. 212.08, 2025
  • Recent legislative change (2025): HB 7031 (2025) increased the power threshold from 15 MW to 100 MW and extended the certificate issuance deadline to June 30, 2037, effective Aug. 1, 2025. Florida Senate HB 7031 bill summary, 2025
  • No February-July 2026 incentive expansion located: The major 2026 enactment, CS/CS/SB 484 as Chapter 2026-65, addressed large-load tariffs, local land-use authority, confidentiality, water permitting, and an OPPAGA study; it did not create a new data center tax incentive or change the sales/use tax exemption thresholds. Chapter 2026-65, Laws of Florida, 2026-05-07
  • Clean energy conditions: The data center sales/use tax exemption statute does not specify clean energy procurement or renewable energy requirements. Fla. Stat. s. 212.08, 2025

Local option property tax exemption (ad valorem)

  • Exemption type: A local option ad valorem tax exemption remains available for qualifying data center property. Local governments may exempt up to 100% of the assessed value of data center property. Fla. Stat. s. 196.1995, 2025
  • Eligibility considerations: Local governments must consider job creation, wages, and capital investment, and may include performance criteria in a tax exemption agreement. Fla. Stat. s. 196.1995, 2025
  • Duration: Up to 20 years, subject to local ordinance and voter approval by referendum. Fla. Stat. s. 196.1995, 2025

2) Restrictions and moratoriums

Statewide restrictions (current law)

  • Large-load local planning authority: Chapter 2026-65 creates Fla. Stat. s. 163.326, effective upon becoming law, and states that local governments maintain authority over comprehensive planning and land development regulations for “large load customers.” A “large load customer” is a single-location electric customer with anticipated monthly peak load of 50 MW or more, calculated over a 15-minute interval, including colocation arrangements at one location. Chapter 2026-65, Laws of Florida, 2026-05-07
  • Large-load tariff mandate: Chapter 2026-65 requires each public utility to file a compliant large-load tariff for PSC approval by Oct. 1, 2026. The tariff must reasonably ensure that large-load customers bear their own cost of service and that those costs are not shifted to the general body of ratepayers. Chapter 2026-65, Laws of Florida, 2026-05-07
  • Water permitting for large-scale data centers: Chapter 2026-65 creates a large-scale data center consumptive-use permitting framework for data centers at a single location with anticipated monthly peak load of 50 MW or more. Permit applications requesting at least 100,000 gallons per day must include source/use/loss data and a water conservation plan, and may not be approved without a hearing. Chapter 2026-65, Laws of Florida, 2026-05-07
  • Reclaimed-water requirement where feasible: The new framework requires water management districts or DEP to require reclaimed water in lieu of surface water or groundwater when a suitable reclaimed source and boundary lines are available and use is environmentally, economically, and technically feasible. Chapter 2026-65, Laws of Florida, 2026-05-07
  • Existing water preemption preserved: Local governments remain preempted from regulating consumptive water use under Part II of Chapter 373, so data center water withdrawals remain in the state water-management permitting system. Fla. Stat. s. 373.217, 2025
  • Air emissions permitting: Stationary sources of air pollution are regulated under Chapter 403 and may require Florida DEP permits, including for emergency generators. Fla. Stat. s. 403.087, 2025
  • Noise: Noise controls remain primarily local ordinance matters under local land development authority. Fla. Stat. ch. 163, 2025

2026 legislative outcomes

Moratoriums and local actions

  • Nassau County - adopted moratorium: Nassau County’s BOCC approved Ordinance No. 2026-044 on June 8, 2026, imposing a temporary moratorium of up to 12 months on acceptance, review, or approval of applications for development permits, development orders, rezonings, or site plans related to data centers, data processing facilities, data mining, and cryptocurrency mining operations. Nassau also established a Fact-Finding Committee through Resolution No. 2026-102, with staff expertise in planning, government finance, engineering, conservation, and economic development. Nassau County, 2026-06-08
  • Citrus County - 12-month moratorium adopted: Citrus County approved a 12-month moratorium in May while developing data-center-specific rules. The action was tied to a roughly 1,400-acre Lecanto-area proposal and resident concerns about water, heat, pollution, and rural land conversion; the applicant withdrew the proposal on June 23 after an advisory panel recommended denial. Spectrum News/Bay News 9, 2026-05-13; Data Center Dynamics, 2026-06-25
  • Jackson County - permanent ban adopted: Commissioners abandoned a proposed one-year moratorium and voted on June 9 to prohibit large-scale data centers and large-load customer facilities in unincorporated Jackson County; subsequent statewide reporting lists Jackson among counties with permanent bans. WCTV, 2026-06-09; WUSF, 2026-07-15
  • Wakulla and Walton counties - permanent bans adopted: Wakulla commissioners unanimously voted June 15 to prohibit data centers, citing water and power consumption and limited permanent employment. Walton County’s Ordinance 2026-08 permanently prohibits data centers and large-load customers in unincorporated Walton County. WCTV, 2026-06-15; Walton County Ordinance 2026-08, 2026-06-09
  • Alachua County - not currently allowed under existing code: Alachua County stated on June 9, 2026 that large-scale data centers are not allowed under its current Comprehensive Plan or land development code because they are not listed in any zoning district and are not similar to listed uses given size, intensity, 24-hour operations, traffic, and public-service demands. Any change would require plan/code amendments, Planning Commission review, County Commission hearings, and state review for comprehensive plan amendments. Alachua County, 2026-06-09
  • Pasco County - one-year moratorium adopted: On July 14, Pasco commissioners unanimously adopted a one-year moratorium on new data centers larger than 2.5 MW in unincorporated Pasco County while staff develops permanent land-use rules. WUSF, 2026-07-15
  • Zephyrhills, Hernando County, and Clay County - moratoriums adopted: Zephyrhills gave final approval on June 22 to a one-year moratorium. Hernando County completed its public-hearing process for a temporary moratorium of up to 365 days, and Clay County commissioners approved a one-year moratorium on June 24. WUSF, 2026-06-24; Hernando County agenda, 2026-06-23; Action News Jax, 2026-06-24
  • Palm Beach County - moratorium adopted; Project Tango exempted: Commissioners approved an AI data-center moratorium on July 7 while exempting the already-filed Project Tango application. On July 15 they separately denied Project Tango’s rezoning request without prejudice by a 5-1 vote, leaving the applicant able to resubmit and preserving the site’s prior entitlements. WFLX, 2026-07-07; WFLX, 2026-07-16
  • Sarasota County - one-year moratorium adopted: Commissioners unanimously approved a one-year moratorium on new hyperscale data centers on July 8 while the county studies permanent standards. WUSF, 2026-07-10
  • Bay and Leon counties - moratoriums adopted: Bay County approved a six-month moratorium on July 7 for facilities requiring at least 5 MW while it develops permanent rules. Leon County unanimously approved an 18-month moratorium on July 14 and tasked staff with developing future regulations. WJHG, 2026-07-07; WFSU, 2026-07-14
  • Franklin County - one-year moratorium adopted: After commissioners directed staff in June to prepare a pause, the county unanimously gave final approval to a one-year moratorium on July 15 while considering a permanent ban. WJHG, 2026-06-03; WMBB via AOL, 2026-07-16
  • Lynn Haven - interim application freeze: Resolution 2026-06-561, adopted June 23, directs staff not to accept or process data-center applications pending final action on a proposed one-year moratorium, for no more than 60 days under the resolution. City of Lynn Haven Resolution 2026-06-561, 2026-06-23
  • Other pending local restrictions at the cutoff: DeSoto County’s planning commission recommended a two-year moratorium after the county had approved a smaller data-center rezoning on March 24; Lake and Levy counties directed staff to draft one-year moratoriums; Santa Rosa advanced a 12-month moratorium to a second hearing after the cutoff; Flagler County approved first reading of a proposed 12-month moratorium; Jefferson County was developing a moratorium ordinance; Escambia commissioners supported developing a ban; and Lakeland still awaited final action. DeSoto County, 2026-03-24; Gulf Coast News, 2026-07-08; WFTV, 2026-06-23; WCJB, 2026-06-30; WUWF, 2026-07-09; Palm Coast Observer, 2026-07-14; ECB Publishing, 2026-06-28; NorthEscambia.com, 2026-06-18; City of Lakeland, 2026-06-24
  • Tallahassee - moratorium rejected: The City Commission rejected a proposed one-year moratorium 3-2 on June 10 after the city manager said existing land-use rules already disallowed data centers and the municipal utility lacked capacity to serve one without major expansion. WCTV, 2026-06-10

3) Local governance (state vs. local control)

  • Local governments control land use and zoning through comprehensive plans and land development regulations under the Community Planning Act, and Chapter 2026-65 expressly preserves local government authority over comprehensive planning and land development regulation for large load customers. Fla. Stat. ch. 163, 2025; Chapter 2026-65, Laws of Florida, 2026-05-07
  • State preemption is still material for water: The state preempts consumptive water use regulation, but Chapter 2026-65 makes large-scale data center water permits dependent in part on consistency with applicable local zoning regulations and comprehensive plans. Fla. Stat. s. 373.217, 2025; Chapter 2026-65, Laws of Florida, 2026-05-07
  • Transparency change for economic-development secrecy: Chapter 2026-65 amends Fla. Stat. s. 288.075 so the additional 12-month confidentiality extension for business location/expansion information does not apply to data-center-related information. Chapter 2026-65, Laws of Florida, 2026-05-07
  • State policy expressly favors local rejection authority: The Governor’s signing announcement described Chapter 2026-65 as empowering local governments to reject proposed data centers, while the enacted text preserves their comprehensive-planning and land-development authority over large-load customers. The June-July wave of permanent bans and temporary moratoriums is the first implementation test of that authority. Governor Ron DeSantis, 2026-05-07; Chapter 2026-65, Laws of Florida, 2026-05-07

4) Legislative activity (2024-2026)

5) Notable projects and operators

  • Iron Mountain (MIA-1, Miami): Purpose-built 150,000 sq ft, 16 MW facility listed for Miami. Iron Mountain Miami data center page, accessed 2026-06-10
  • HostDime (Orlando/Maitland): HostDime’s Orlando data center page now lists the 100,000 sq ft Maitland facility for Q3 2026 completion, updating the earlier Q1 2026 schedule. HostDime, 2026-05-05
  • Equinix (Miami IBX MI1): Operational Miami IBX data center with a dedicated facility listing. Equinix MI1 data center page, accessed 2026-06-10
  • Atlas Compute (Central Florida): Atlas Compute announced a 240 MW AI-ready data center campus in Central Florida with planned expansion to 1 GW and target operational readiness in Q4 2026-Q1 2027. Atlas Compute/GlobeNewswire via Florida Tribune, 2025-11-06
  • Project Tango / Central Park Commerce Center (Palm Beach County) - denied without prejudice: After the Zoning Commission unanimously recommended denial on July 2, county commissioners denied the rezoning request 5-1 on July 15 following more than 12 hours of testimony. The without-prejudice disposition permits resubmission, and prior non-data-center entitlements remain. WFLX, 2026-07-02; WFLX, 2026-07-16
  • Sentinel Grove / Project Jarvis (St. Lucie County): Developers withdrew the land-use application in February 2026 and put the proposed 1,200-acre-plus AI data center campus on hold while waiting to see what happened in Tallahassee; WPBF reported the project was paused but not necessarily abandoned. WPBF, 2026-02-25
  • NextNRG / Nassau County lease option: NextNRG’s previously announced Nassau County lease-option concept included a roughly 1,600-acre site, a 200 MW smart microgrid concept, and land described by the company as suitable for hyperscale data center development, but Nassau County said in April 2026 that it had no active or pending data center development applications in unincorporated Nassau County. Jax Daily Record, 2026-04-28
  • Project Cumulus / Fort Meade DC (Polk County) - local approval with state objections: Fort Meade commissioners approved a 20-year development agreement on April 15 for a roughly $2.6 billion, 1,300-acre proposal, subject to additional permits including water approval. On the same date, Florida Commerce Secretary J. Alex Kelly urged the city to delay or reject the agreement, calling its water, energy, transportation, and job assumptions inadequate. Data Center Dynamics, 2026-04-21; FloridaCommerce letter, 2026-04-15
  • Okee-One (Okeechobee County) - canceled: The 205-acre, 9-10 MW project was scrapped in April after the state withdrew further support; county officials had previously secured a $1.5 million state grant for infrastructure tied to the proposal. WUSF, 2026-04-29
  • Silver Fox 606 / Tesoro Groves (Indiantown) - data-center application withdrawn: Silver Fox withdrew its 2.2 million sq ft data-center proposal on April 29. The village then approved the broader Tesoro Groves planned-unit development on April 30, but the applicant stated that no data center was planned there. WQCS, 2026-05-04
  • Project Swan (Lakeland) - active proposal under local review: Lakeland corrected an earlier statement that the proposal was withdrawn and said on June 3 that the 550,000-600,000 sq ft project remained active; the city’s later proposed moratorium had not reached final action by July 17. LkldNow, 2026-06-03; City of Lakeland, 2026-06-24
  • Cielo / Haines City (Polk County) - water capacity delaying proposal: Cielo proposed a 300 MW campus on roughly 74 acres, with projected water demand of up to 150,000 gallons per day. Haines City said it lacked available water and consumptive-use permit capacity, and no formal development application had been filed by July 17 while the city pursued a permit increase. Data Center Dynamics, 2026-07-17
  • American Tower Edge / Pinellas County - application filed: American Tower filed plans for a 4 MW, 17,655 sq ft edge data center on a 2.3-acre parcel at its existing communications site near Pinellas Park; local review was exploratory and no public hearings had been scheduled by the June report. Data Center Dynamics, 2026-06-22
  • “Fish Bowl” / Homestead - early-stage micro data center concept: ReadySetFundGrow proposed a glass-walled, 10-rack edge facility on a 20,000 sq ft site in South Miami-Dade, with capacity and total project cost undisclosed. The sponsor was seeking another $1 million and described construction as a nine-month process after funding. Data Center Dynamics, 2026-03-06

Research notes and gaps