Editorial
Pause New Texas Data Centers, But Write the Rules Down
Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa is right to hold new approvals until the Legislature acts, but she must put the pause in precise, written terms.
By The Editorial Board · November 7, 2026
Picture a contractor reading the news on the evening of November 6. Texas's governor-elect, he learns, plans to halt approvals for new data centers [2]. One headline says she vows to "End Data Center Construction" [2]. Another says "pause" [2]. By the next afternoon, the story has changed again: approved projects can finish, and only new approvals face conditions [1]. He has money committed and crews to schedule, and he cannot say which version is the policy.
That confusion is the fault in an otherwise sound idea. Texas should pause new data center approvals until the Legislature writes rules that make these projects pay their own way. Gov.-elect Hinojosa owes voters one precise, written version of that pause, not a vow that shifted within a day.
Start with why a pause is justified. Data center backlash in Texas rests on concerns over water use and rising electricity prices, and it is bipartisan [3]. Conservative North Texas communities like Red Oak and Keller have been hotbeds of grassroots opposition [3]. Those are not the complaints of reflexive anti-corporate activists. They come from people who pay power bills and draw from the same water supply these facilities want.
The cost of the buildout is a live fight, too. Hinojosa's campaign site promises that data center-driven infrastructure, such as 765-kV transmission lines, will be paid for by the "corporations and billionaires that drive those costs," while acknowledging the need for grid reliability and energy access [3]. Whoever drives a cost should bear it. That principle would hold no matter which party's donors were on the receiving end.
Now the rollout. After her victory over Gov. Greg Abbott, Hinojosa announced plans to halt new approvals until the Legislature establishes stronger regulations [2]. Within a day she clarified that already-approved data centers can complete construction, while new approvals would face conditions on taxes, electricity rates, water access and labor [1]. She said existing approvals cover most state data-center projects for 2027 and into 2028 [1]. That is her claim, reported and not verified [1]. One headline tied "moratorium fears" to a drop in Bitcoin's price [2]. We treat that as a headline's assertion, not proof of cause. But a message this loose invites exactly that kind of jitters.
Abbott gets no pass here. He issued his own temporary data center moratorium in September as the election approached [3]. The Longview News-Journal suggests he may have sensed the issue's political pull [3]. A pause is defensible. A pause announced with an election looming and no stated terms is a gesture. Leaders of both parties now see the same problem. The test is whether either of them builds a rule that lasts.
The other side deserves its strongest form. Abbott built his legacy on making Texas the most pro-business state in the country, and Texas became the eighth-largest economy in the world on his watch [3]. Hinojosa's platform promises to cut property taxes by ending "corporate welfare" [3]. She voted against creating the Texas Business Court and against an office to streamline agency rulemaking [3]. She floated a $1,500 "corruption tax refund" per household from the $27 billion Rainy Day Fund [3]. A politician with a taste for big promises, the argument goes, is now pairing a pause with conditions on taxes, rates, water and labor, and capital will read that as a closed door. Investors may already be nervous [2].
That case is serious, but the record does not support its worst reading. Hinojosa voted for the 2025 bill raising the business personal property tax exemption from $2,500 to $125,000 [3]. She voted for a permanent research and development franchise tax credit [3]. She supported the 2023 bill that took 67,000 businesses off the franchise tax roll [3]. She also voted for the 2025 zoning bills that cut red tape for housing developments [3]. Those are not the votes of a legislator hostile to commerce. And the near-term damage is limited on her own account: approved projects proceed [1].
What remains is a pause on new approvals, tied to rules that answer the worries in Red Oak and Keller [3]. The pause also waits on the Legislature, the body that answers to voters [2]. That is the right place for these decisions.
So here is what should happen next. Hinojosa should put the terms in writing. What counts as "new"? Which agency decides? What must a project show on taxes, electricity rates, water access and labor? Texans do not yet have those answers, and neither do the builders and workers who need them. Legislators should then write the rules into law, so the next governor cannot undo them by press release.
The pause is right. The communication was not. Fix the second so the first can work.
Sources
- Governor-elect Hinojosa clarifies data center policy allows approved projects to proceed Red Dot Flow
- Governor-elect Hinojosa vows to pause Texas data center approvals Red Dot Flow
- Will Texas governor-elect be pro-business? What Hinojosa’s voting record says Longview News-Journal
- Will Texas governor-elect be pro-business? What Hinojosa’s voting record says Marshall News Messenger
Point / Counterpoint
Should Texas pause approvals of new data centers until the Legislature sets stronger rules?
Both sides, argued as well as their own supporters would argue them. Written by The Alamo Republican's AI from the sources listed under each. Neither one is the paper's view; the editorial above is.
The case for
Pause New Data Centers Until Texas Writes Real Rules
Texans are not asking for a ban. They are asking who pays. Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa, who beat Greg Abbott in November, has said she will halt approvals for new data centers until the Legislature sets stronger regulations [2]. The pause is narrow. Projects already approved can finish building, and she said those approvals cover most of the state's data-center projects for 2027 and into 2028 [1]. New approvals would face conditions on taxes, electricity rates, water access and labor [1]. Those are the things families worry about.
The worry is real and it is not partisan. The backlash rests on concerns over water use and rising electricity prices, and conservative North Texas towns like Red Oak and Keller have been hotbeds of grassroots opposition [3]. Abbott himself issued a temporary data center moratorium in September [3]. If a pause was reasonable coming from a Republican governor, it is reasonable coming from a Democratic one. Judge the action, not the team.
Her plan also answers the cost question directly. Her campaign site promises that infrastructure driven by data centers, like 765-kV transmission lines, will be paid for by the "corporations and billionaires that drive those costs" [3]. It also acknowledges the need to improve grid reliability and energy access [3]. The principle is simple: the companies that cause a cost should carry it, not the ratepayer in Waco.
Critics say a pause scares off investment. One headline said Bitcoin fell below $76,000 on moratorium fears among miners [2]. That is a trading story about miners, not a measure of what a family pays for power. And the sources show a record that does not fit the anti-business label. Hinojosa voted for raising the business personal property tax exemption from $2,500 to $125,000 [3], for a permanent research and development franchise tax credit [3], and for the 2023 bill that took 67,000 businesses off the franchise tax roll [3].
Texas can welcome data centers and still demand rules first. Writing the rules before the next wave of approvals is the cheapest time to get them right.
The case against
Hinojosa's Data Center Pause Trades Clarity for Uncertainty
A governor-elect who has not taken office has already sent two messages on data centers. On November 6, one outlet's headline said she "Vows to End Data Center Construction" [2]. On November 7, she clarified that approved projects can finish [1]. Companies deciding where to put billions of dollars cannot plan around a policy that changes in a day.
The pause has no end date. It lasts until the Legislature establishes stronger regulations [2], and that could take a long time. The conditions on taxes, electricity rates, water access and labor [1] come with no numbers in these sources. Investors are left to guess what they will be. The markets are already reading every word: one headline said moratorium fears sank Bitcoin miners [2], and another said her clarification was "Fantastic News for SpaceX Investors" [1]. Texas became the eighth-largest economy in the world under Abbott's pro-business push [3]. Throwing doubt on a whole industry before writing a single rule puts that record at risk.
The same standard applies to both parties. Abbott's September moratorium was temporary and came as the election approached [3]. That was policy driven by politics, and her pause is open to the same charge.
The supporters' best point is that water use and rising electricity prices are real concerns [3]. They are. But her own announcement concedes the fix is legislation [2]. The Legislature can write rules on rates, water and taxes without a pause hanging over every new project. And if existing approvals cover most projects through 2027 and into 2028 [1], the pause mostly delivers a signal, and that signal is the uncertainty.
Her tax stance adds to the worry. She says, "We can fully fund schools and cut taxes when we end corporate welfare in Texas" [3]. The article reads that as aimed at property tax breaks used to lure companies [3]. Her tax condition on data centers points the same way. Her voting record has plenty of support for business [3], so Texans should hear plainly which rules she wants before the pause, not after.
Sources for both sides
- Governor-elect Hinojosa clarifies data center policy allows approved projects to proceed Red Dot Flow
- Governor-elect Hinojosa vows to pause Texas data center approvals Red Dot Flow
- Will Texas governor-elect be pro-business? What Hinojosa’s voting record says Longview News-Journal
- Will Texas governor-elect be pro-business? What Hinojosa’s voting record says Marshall News Messenger