NEVADA – Today, Attorney General and candidate for Nevada Governor Aaron Ford announced he will not provide tax breaks to major companies seeking to build data centers in Nevada. This is a clear-cut difference between Ford and Lombardo, as Governor Lombardo has rolled out the red carpet for data center companies.
While Nevada families are being asked to pay more for housing, electricity, groceries, and nearly everything else, Lombardo continues to defend a system that gives some of the world’s wealthiest corporations special treatment.
Shelbie Swartz, Executive Director of Battle Born Progress, issued the following statement:
“Joe Lombardo has spent years handing out taxpayer-funded giveaways to data centers with little to show for it — no strings attached, no accountability, and no guarantee that Nevadans actually benefit. Meanwhile, amid an affordability crisis, our state has handed out hundreds of millions of dollars in tax abatements to some of the world’s most profitable companies, while everyday Nevadans deal with rising utility bills, water scarcity, and underfunded schools. Aaron Ford just proved that there is a different way. By promising to end these abatements until companies prove they’re delivering for Nevadans, and by pushing for some of the strictest data center rules in the country. Nevadans deserve a governor who negotiates on their behalf, not one who rolls out the red carpet for corporations at their expense.”
Andrew Clarke, Coalition Manager of the Nevada Revenue Coalition, issued the following statement:
“Nevada’s budget represents a quilt of great needs. Food on children’s table, healthcare in your community, and education that offers both fair pay and fair curriculum. Unfortunately, Joe Lombardo has chosen to give this quilt to some of the world’s wealthiest corporations, blanketing them with hundreds of millions of unaccountable dollars while leaving Nevadans out in the cold. As we continue to suffer under the weight of $9.5 billion in federal cuts, our next Governor cannot continue to abate away our children’s future.
Attorney General Ford’s commitment to reevaluating our data center breaks is a commitment to our youth, our elderly, and the very roads we drive on. By reimagining our state budget, we can sustainably use it as a tool to defend working families’ way of life, and create a Nevada that creates jobs, provides fair wages, and holds corporations accountable.”
Kristee Watson, Executive Director of Nevada Conservation League, issued the following statement:
“Aaron Ford is asking the right question at the right moment. Nevada families are already subsidizing the electricity bills of billion-dollar data centers, and a pause on fresh tax breaks paired with a full audit is a serious, responsible way to get ahead of it. Nevada Conservation League has consistently pressed to hold utilities accountable to: make new large loads customers pay for the grid upgrades and clean power their own operations require. Legislators should take up that same standard. New data centers need to pay their fair share before ratepayers absorb the cost.”
Laura Martin, Executive Director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada Action Fund, issued the following statement:
“Powered by nearly $2 million in campaign contributions, Joe Lombardo has opened the door wide open to a cadre of data centers looking to take over our state. He’s offered no meaningful policy positions to protect Nevadans from the impacts of this unchecked growth. Instead he’s made clear that it’s his job to take care of his billionaire friends, and dismissed the idea that he should be making Nevada more affordable for working families as “bullshit”.
Attorney General Aaron Ford provides a clear alternative to the “Nevada Way” acquiescence to the demands of the rich and powerful that Nevada voters are tired of. Nevada is home to the two fastest warming cities in the country, and we just lost more of our Colorado River allocation, we can not afford a Governor that offers blind allegiance to data centers and their billionaire owners while Nevada families bear the costs.
We need a governor who will lower costs, protect our water, and fight for the future of Nevada, not someone who is just looking for the next campaign contribution rather than the next generation.”
Dawn Etcheverry, President of the Nevada State Education Association, issued the following statement:
“We’ve said Schools Over Stadiums. We’ve said Schools Over Studios. Now it’s time to say Schools Over Servers.
We cannot continue asking taxpayers to subsidize wealthy corporations while Nevada remains $4,000 behind the national average in per-pupil funding and has the largest class sizes in the country. Our economic development strategy cannot continue to be give money to wealthy corporations first and ask questions later. Attorney General Aaron Ford is right to draw the line on these abatements, which have totaled approximately $461 million, and demand that data centers pay their fair share.
Servers don’t need subsidies. Students need investment.”
Barbara Hartzell, Member of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe and Executive Director of Native Voters Alliance NV, issued the following statement:
“Nevada families are being told to use less water, pay higher utility bills, and somehow stretch every dollar further. Joe Lombardo looked at that reality and apparently decided what Nevada really needed was massive data centers consuming more of our resources while some of the wealthiest corporations in the world get another tax break. Indigenous people know this story all too well. For generations, outsiders have looked at our homelands and asked what they could take, not what their taking would leave behind. We should know better by now. Nevada is not a sacrifice zone for corporate expansion, and our water, our land, and our families should not be the price of admission. If Joe Lombardo wants to roll out the red carpet for billion-dollar corporations, Nevada families should not be expected to become the carpet.”
Yessica V, Member of Make the Road Action Nevada, issued the following statement:
“As a single mother, I count every dollar. Joe Lombardo handed data centers hundreds of millions and asked nothing in return, while my bills went up and my kids’ school went without. Aaron Ford says the giveaways stop until these companies deliver for Nevadans; that’s a governor who works for my family.”
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About Battle Born Progress: Battle Born Progress, through strategic communication efforts, empowers, engages and mobilizes Nevada voters to build a state where everyone has a fair opportunity to succeed. We support, engage, and mobilize the progressive community through bold leadership, strategic communications, accountability, and education. We are on the cutting edge of new media and are the go-to source for progressive issues and advocacy for traditional media. Learn more at https://www.battlebornprogress.org/.