Some sections of a future Applied Digital data center near Harwood, North Dakota, were enclosed on March 4, 2026, while other sections were ready for more concrete panels to form the walls. (Photo by Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor)
FARGO, N.D. (KFGO-KVRR) – With the special session getting ready to kick off in Bismarck, the debate over two bills proposing a moratorium on new A.I. data centers, and a ban on non-disclosure agreements for public officials is heating up.
“No official should be allowed to sign an N.D.A. and I as a public official will refuse to sign one,” Casselton City Councilman Sam Wagner testified to the legislature while discussing the N.D.A. ban.
Senator Tim Mathern of Fargo, who proposed both bills, is introducing two amendments to the N.D.A. ban.
“These cities, and R.E.C.’s and investor-owned utilities negotiate on things outside of the city itself. They negotiate things regarding transmission lines, and other kinds of activities. And those kinds of private negotiations should not, or need not be part of government,” Senator Tim Mathern of Fargo said.
He says that this will keep these cities on a level playing field when it comes to negotiations.
The other amendment aims to remove the sales tax exemption on data center equipment.
“We have gone from just a few hundred thousand dollars, to now we’re talking about $16 million a year that they’re getting as tax breaks,” Mathern said.
Mathern says that this money is desperately needed, especially as the legislature debates spending another $30 million for a veteran’s wing at the Heritage Center.
“It just doesn’t seem to make sense to give out of state corporations a tax break at the same time we’re asking the tax payers to pay for a veteran’s center,” Mathern said.
And as data center expansion continues in the state, this tax exemption will only get more expensive.
“If we don’t have that sales tax, property taxes go higher, and income taxes go higher,” Mathern said.
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