Voters in 13 states decide ballot measures Tuesday that set local rules for data center construction — tax breaks, zoning restrictions, water and power use limits — according to a New York Post report published October 30. None of those measures are in New York, New Jersey or Connecticut.
That matters here because of what those three states are doing instead through their own governments rather than the ballot box. New York's Executive Order 62, signed July 14, pauses new data centers that consume or can consume 50 megawatts or more until the state's Department of Public Service finishes a full environmental review — a process with no fixed end date, according to the order's text on governor.ny.gov. Connecticut is weighing a different lever: a proposed requirement that any data center at 20 megawatts or up bring its own power supply rather than draw off the grid, according to CT Insider's October 28 coverage of remarks from Governor Ned Lamont and state Representative Jonathan Fazio. New Jersey has made no comparable move.
The pattern nationally is the same fight by other means. Memphis's city council failed to pass a one-year data center moratorium at a contentious meeting, CBS News reported October 21. Tazewell County, Illinois imposed a nine-month moratorium, according to WEEK/25 News Now's October 31 report. A Connecticut town banned data centers before anyone had even proposed one there, as this paper reported last week. The throughline every contractor chasing this work needs to track isn't AI demand — that isn't slowing — it's which level of government in which state is deciding who gets to build, and how fast.
For a New York-based electrical, mechanical or sitework contractor, the math hasn't changed since EO 62 landed: a new large data center here is only buildable right now if it falls under one of three exemptions — a DEC application deemed complete before July 14, 2026; a facility built primarily for manufacturing, research, education or medical use; or a project already under construction when the order took effect. Local permits and approvals still apply and are untouched by the state order, but they don't substitute for clearing the state gate.
Connecticut's proposal, if it becomes law, would change the economics of any data center campus in that state rather than blocking it outright — a facility would need its own generation or fuel-cell capacity sized to its own draw, which is a different scope of work (and a different trade mix) than a straight grid interconnection job. New Jersey, with no state-level restriction on the books, remains the one tri-state market where a hyperscale data center can currently move from site plan to groundbreaking without a state-level pause as the deciding factor.