* Background is here if you need it. Gov. Pritzker was asked about data center regulations yesterday at an unrelated press conference. I’ve highlighted the most relevant parts of his response…

Q: House leadership in Springfield say they hope to pass new data center regulations this spring. Is your office participating in any negotiations surrounding this issue? And do you expect any movement on that subject during the spring legislative session?

Pritzker: Lot of conversation that’s going on, no doubt. And you know, the important thing to me is, let’s start with Illinois remains a net exporter of energy, and we want that always to be the case. And so, for example, when we did away with the moratorium on building new nuclear, that was part of a strategy to expand the amount of electricity that gets developed in the state, so to CRGA, which was passed in the last session and that I signed. So to CEJA, all of that has been expanding the amount of electricity that’s available in the state. It’s not true when people say that their plants are closing and taking electricity away. The net of everything that we’ve done has been to expand the number of megawatts that are available for electricity, and we’re continuing to do that work.

So just to be clear, data centers should pay for the electricity that they are using, and if they are in any way going to increase the price of electricity for consumers, they should pay for that increase, not the consumers. And so that’s what I’ve been working on.

The price of electricity, though, that’s been going up across the country. It’s not just Illinois, that price has been happening going up, rather, for a lot of other reasons. I know there’s the threat of data centers that’s, you know, that everybody is concerned about, not suggesting that’s not real, just saying that what’s happening now actually has to do with some other issues related to PJM, for example, and MISO and the way that they bring projects on. We have a ton of new electricity that’s available. The problem has been PJM and MISO not bringing it on fast enough and not approving the projects fast enough. And so we’ve, I’ve complained a lot. I’ve talked to PJM and MISO about it. So have many other governors, we’ve worked together to get them to reform the way they operate.

I know that’s more than you asked about, but data centers, to me, are, you know, the only reason that we can bring data centers online is if we’re expanding the amount of electricity that’s available in the state of Illinois, and that is what we’re all working very hard to do.

We want to be, as we are now, the most reliable and the most affordable electricity in the country, even in a circumstance where we know there are challenges. Right now, we’re thinking about 2030 and 2035 and how to make sure that we continue to be attractive for businesses by having reasonable and reliable electricity

…Adding… Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition…

At 11 a.m. on Wednesday, February 11, State Senator Ram Villivalam will join advocates with the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition to introduce the POWER Act (SB4016/HB5513) – legislation that establishes nation-leading guardrails to protect our water, energy, and ratepayers from the significant threats posed by data centers. Energy- and water-intensive data centers are increasing utility bills for all consumers, threatening Illinois’ climate goals, polluting our air, and wasting massive amounts of water. The POWER Act ensures Big Tech is held accountable for their outsized impact on consumers and our environment while driving a competitive race to the top for responsible data center development.

WHEN: Wednesday, February 11, 2026 at 11 a.m. CT

WHAT: Press conference to introduce the POWER Act (SB4016/HB5513)

WHERE: Orpheum Room, 3rd Floor, The Allegro Chicago, 171 West Randolph Street Chicago, IL 60601 and live-streamed via facebook.com/ILCleanJobs/live_videos.

* More…

* Politico | White House eyes data center agreements amid energy price spikes: A draft pact, obtained by POLITICO, seeks to help ensure data centers do not raise household electricity prices, strain water resources or undermine grid reliability. The Trump administration wants some of the world’s largest technology companies to publicly commit to a new compact governing the rapid expansion of AI data centers, according to two administration officials granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. A draft of the compact obtained by POLITICO lays out commitments designed to ensure energy-hungry data centers do not raise household electricity prices, strain water supplies or undermine grid reliability, and that the companies driving demand also carry the cost of building new infrastructure.

* BND | Granite City residents pack forum to press officials about data center proposal: “Everybody here wants the same thing,” [Chris Hankins, business manager and financial secretary for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 309 in Collinsville] said. “We want to see Granite City prosper again.” Hankins said data centers will be built in the United States regardless, and Granite City should reap benefits in the form of property tax revenue and other community contributions that could be negotiated. Resident Taylor Wyatt disagrees. She said data centers are not retail or manufacturing facilities that bring many permanent jobs, do not increase tourism or foot traffic, rarely create secondary businesses and often raise water and electric bills. “What economic value will this bring to Granite City?” she asked.

* Tribune | Amid chaotic data center debates, industry warns Illinois will miss out unless privacy law weakened: It’s the only state law in the U.S. that allows people to sue and recover damages for the misuse of their biometric profile, which is unique to each individual and cannot be changed. As they try to defend it, Illinois trial lawyers will first have to win over the state’s fractious Democratic Party, said Hugh O’Hara, executive director of the Will County Governmental League. “It’s going to be a weird, weird fight between labor, the environmentalists and trial lawyers on this one,” O’Hara said. AI data centers gather biometric information at the same time they’re collecting vast arrays of other information on people’s location, buying habits and political sympathies to micro-target them with advertising and other services. They’re also working with governments and banks to one day use biometric data as a replacement for driver’s licenses, passports and credit cards.

* WEEK TV | Firefighters prepare for unique challenges should data centers locate in places like Pekin: “Data systems themselves, they cannot have water applied to them, so it takes clean extinguishing agent systems, which are usually fixed into the facility,” said firefighter and union member Matt Hill. “It makes a whole bunch of different challenges to just even know that those systems are there, let alone know that they are going to operate when they’re supposed to, who is in charge of operating them, and the facility specialist and subject matter experts to be able to tell us how we’re going to work with them,” Hill said. He said the length of time required to extinguish a data center can also differ significantly, sometimes taking days to get rid of the fire.

* WAND TV | Champaign County moves forward with moratorium on ‘big data centers’: The Champaign County Environment and Land Use Committee voted to put a year-long moratorium on “big data centers” Thursday night. This will only apply to projects that are 10,000 square feet or larger. There are already four data centers in Champaign County, including the National Petascale Computing Facility at the University of Illinois and Colocation Plus, a.k.a “The Fortress” in Rantoul. “None of them were more than 2000ft² in area. So we’re anticipating a new hyperscale data center could be easily, 50,000ft² of processing area,” said John Hall, planning and zoning director for Champaign County.