BOSTON — Massachusetts voters may see a question on restricting proposals to build data centers in the state in the 2028 election cycle as a new ballot initiative gets underway.

The ballot initiative campaign was announced Thursday by a new Committee to Restrict Data Centers, beginning outreach to voters on a law that would require “proposed data center to provide plans for water usage, create power usage that will not increase local electric rates, and attain a 2/3 vote from the residents of the host community.”

“There’s a lot of people concerned about this, and they may or may not be for against data centers completely, but they certainly want to protect the community,” said Committee to Restrict Data Centers Chair Jim Fleming.

The initiative campaign comes as data center issues have flared in communities across the state, including recent Sutton pushback to a Kraft Group proposal to build the fourth largest data center in the U.S. in the small town. Meanwhile, towns like Mansfield and Holyoke have put forth bans or sweeping restrictions on data center constructions.

The committee chair said that while Gov. Maura Healey has put into place an executive order on regulate data center proposals – including requirements for a plan for air quality and public health, water use and community engagement and a “community benefits agreement” – the campaign is looking for a permanent state law on the issue.

“Executive orders are good for the short term, but we’re looking for a longer-term solution,” said Fleming. “So, we want to create a law.”

Some parts of the ballot initiative mirror proposals in Beacon Hill, Fleming said, though the two-thirds community vote requirement is a “bit more restrictive,” aiming to have developers make a “compelling case” to local municipalities.

The campaign site also states the law aims to ensure no increased electricity costs, fully green energy guarantees and no negative impact on local water supplies “even in a drought” from any proposed data centers.

“Concerns over the cost of electricity, environmental uncertainty, water usage and turbines that run 24 hours a day, that sound like jet engines are just some of the complaints residents I have heard from all over the state,” said state Sen. John Velis, D-Westfield.

The recent elections saw a wave of data center ballot measures almost uniformly pass in local municipalities, including in nearby New Hampshire and Maine.

The Massachusetts campaign is aiming to collect 80,000 signatures to get the data centers question on the 2028 ballot, using the campaign website sign4restrictingdatacenters.org to have supporters submit signatures by mail. Fleming said the campaign will start collecting signatures next fall and use the next several months to do crowdsourcing outreach.

If the Legislature passes a data center law in the meantime, Fleming said, the campaign would drop the initiative.

“It’s not a vanity project, it’s a get something done project,” Fleming said. … “But we want something to happen, and we want it to be concrete and law.”

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