Data centers in Kansas

📜 State laws

SB 98 (2025): 20-year sales tax break for big data centers · April 24, 2025
Lawmakers passed SB 98 on April 11, 2025 (House 85-37, Senate 26-8). Governor Kelly signed it April 24, 2025. It started July 1, 2025. A data center firm can skip state and local sales tax for 20 years on land, buildings, servers, cooling and other equipment, and labor to install and fix equipment. Electricity is not included. To qualify it must invest at least $250 million within 5 years of opening, create 20 new jobs within 2 years, start building within 10 years, buy power from the local utility for 10 years, and follow a water-saving plan. Phone and cable companies cannot use it. The Kansas Fusion Center Oversight Board must approve each project first and can deny one that threatens critical state infrastructure. Source

SB 92 (2026): utilities don't have to offer net metering to new big customers for one more year · April 9, 2026
Governor Kelly approved SB 92 on April 9, 2026. Under an existing law, a utility does not have to offer parallel generation (selling extra power from your own generator or solar back to the grid) to a new or expanded industrial, commercial or data center customer on a high-voltage line (34.5 kV or more) that started service on or after July 1, 2025. These new big customers also don't count toward the utility's peak demand for that law. SB 92 moved the end date of this rule from July 1, 2026 to July 1, 2027. Source

SB 531 (2026): ban on new data centers in drought counties (died) · April 10, 2026
SB 531 would have stopped new large data centers in any county that had a state drought emergency in the past three years. It was introduced March 9, 2026, sent to the Senate Utilities Committee, and died in committee on April 10, 2026. Source

SB 400 (2026): data centers must use closed-loop cooling (died) · April 10, 2026
SB 400 would have required data centers to use closed-loop cooling systems to save water. It was introduced January 27, 2026, sent to the Senate Utilities Committee, and died in committee on April 10, 2026. Source

💡 Who pays for the power

Evergy's large load rules: data centers over 75 MW pay their own way · Nov 6, 2025
On November 6, 2025 the KCC approved a settlement creating Evergy's Large Load Power Service (LLPS) rate plan (docket 25-EKME-315-TAR). It covers any new customer of 75 megawatts or more, or an existing one adding 75 MW. Contracts last at least 12 years, plus up to 5 years to ramp up. The customer pays a minimum bill of 80% of its contracted demand even if it uses less, posts collateral of up to two years of minimum bills, and pays an exit fee if it leaves early. Upgrades needed only for that customer are charged to it. The KCC says all-in rates are about 8-10% higher than standard large industrial customers pay. KCC staff, CURB (the residential ratepayer advocate), Google, the Data Center Coalition, Sierra Club and others all signed the deal. Source

Data centers that get the tax break cannot get discount power rates · July 1, 2025
Kansas law lets electric utilities offer special economic development discount rates to big new customers (K.S.A. 66-101j). SB 98 says a data center that uses the SB 98 sales tax break cannot also get these discount rates. Evergy's large load plan adds a Cost Stabilization Rider to undo economic discount rates for large load customers. Source

Evergy Kansas Central bills went up in October 2025 · Sept 25, 2025
In September 2025 the KCC approved a settlement letting Evergy raise rates by $128 million (it asked for $196.4 million) to replace old equipment and make the grid more reliable. Starting with October 2025 bills, a home using an average 900 kWh a month pays about $8.47 more per month. This rate case was not about data centers. Source

Who sets electric rates in Kansas · Oct 7, 2026
The Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) sets rates for investor-owned utilities like Evergy and Liberty (Empire). It does not regulate rates of electric co-ops or city-owned utilities. CURB, the Citizens' Utility Ratepayer Board, is a state agency that argues for homes and small businesses in KCC cases. The KCC also approves the route of big new power lines (230 kV or more and at least 5 miles long) after a public hearing. Source

💵 Tax breaks

Sales tax exemption for qualified data centers (SB 98) · July 1, 2025
Run by the Kansas Department of Commerce. It is meant for big owner-operators (hyperscalers), not developers who rent space to others. Rules: invest $250 million within 5 years of opening, hire 20 Kansans full time within 2 years, sign a 10-year power purchase deal with the local utility, and adopt a water plan. Each applicant is reviewed by the Kansas Intelligence Fusion Center (equipment, software, owners) and needs final approval from the Fusion Center Oversight Board. Then Commerce signs a 20-year incentive agreement and the Department of Revenue issues the exemption certificate. Commerce can review a firm every five years; if a firm breaks the deal and doesn't fix it in 120 days, it can be made to pay back the tax break. Source

🤐 Secret deals and public records

Kansas Open Records Act (KORA): how to get records · Oct 7, 2026
Any person can ask any Kansas state or local government office for public records. The office must act as soon as possible and no later than the end of the third business day. If it needs more time, it must explain why and say when the records will be ready. If it denies your request, it must give you, if you ask, a written reason citing the law within three business days. Offices can charge a fee for copies and staff time, and can ask you to pay first. Kansas has many exemptions in KORA, so ask for the legal reason for anything withheld. Source

SB 98: company trade secrets are kept secret · July 1, 2025
Under SB 98, confidential financial information and trade secrets that a data center firm gives the state are not public, except to the Legislative Division of Post Audit. Firms must give data to Commerce for its public economic development incentive database and yearly report. Source

Secret deals (NDAs): no state rule; some cities are writing their own · Aug 21, 2026
Kansas has no state law about secret deals (NDAs) between local officials and data center companies. In August 2026 a De Soto council member proposed a city ordinance that would stop NDAs from hiding any information that is not covered by one of the open records law exemptions. We did not find whether it passed. Source

💧 Water

Water rights: the state chief engineer must approve · Oct 7, 2026
In Kansas, anyone who wants a new water right (except for household use) needs approval from the chief engineer of the Division of Water Resources at the Kansas Department of Agriculture. According to the state's research office, a data center can get water three ways: buy it from a city utility that already has water rights, apply for a new water right in an area with more water, or buy water rights from others. A new right cannot be approved if it would hurt existing water rights. Farm irrigation uses about 85% of the water used in Kansas. Source

SB 98 requires a water-saving plan · July 1, 2025
Data centers using the SB 98 tax break must follow practices that conserve, reuse and replace water, and adopt a water plan. The law counts water collecting and reuse systems as tax-free data center equipment. A 2026 bill (SB 400) to require closed-loop cooling died. Source

🌫️ Air and generators

KDHE approves air permits for backup diesel generators and gas plants · Dec 21, 2023
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) Bureau of Air issues air quality construction permits. Data centers with large diesel backup generators need one. For example, in December 2023 KDHE took comments on a permit for an Olathe data center with seven diesel emergency engines. Notices are printed in the Kansas Register and posted on KDHE's public notice page. The permit file can be seen in Topeka (and sometimes at the county health office). Anyone can send written comments or ask in writing for a public hearing before the deadline in the notice (about a month in the Olathe example). Source

🙋 How to have your say

Who decides a data center near you · Oct 7, 2026
Inside a city, the city council or city commission decides zoning, after its planning commission. On land outside cities, the county commission decides, after the county planning commission. Kansas townships do not do zoning in these cases. Many Kansas counties and cities passed pauses (moratoriums) on data centers in 2026; see the local actions list. Source

Zoning hearings, notice and protest petitions · Oct 7, 2026
Every rezoning goes first to a public hearing at the planning commission. Notice must be printed in the official newspaper at least 20 days before. Owners within 200 feet (inside a city) or 1,000 feet (outside cities) must get a letter at least 20 days before. Anyone interested may speak. If owners of 20% of the land being rezoned, or 20% of the land in the notice area, sign a protest petition and file it with the city or county clerk within 14 days after the hearing ends, the change needs a three-fourths vote of the whole council or commission. Source

Appeal deadline: 30 days · Oct 7, 2026
Anyone harmed by a final city or county zoning decision can sue in the county's district court within 30 days of the decision. The court decides if the decision was reasonable. Source

City voters can petition for an ordinance · Oct 7, 2026
City voters can file a proposed ordinance with a petition. It needs signatures equal to 25% (first-class cities) or 40% (second- and third-class cities) of those who voted in the last city election. The city must pass it within 20 days or put it to a vote. The law does not apply to 'administrative' ordinances, and in 2026 several cities went to court arguing data center bans are administrative. See the local actions list for 2026 petition fights. Source

How to ask for records · Oct 7, 2026
Write to the office's records custodian (city clerk, county clerk or state agency) and name the records you want, for example a development agreement, an NDA, or emails about a project. Under KORA they must act within three business days. Ask for the fee up front, and ask for the legal reason for anything they withhold. Source

How to comment at the Kansas Corporation Commission · Oct 7, 2026
For rate cases and power line siting cases, the KCC takes public comments until a set date before the evidentiary hearing. Comment online (the 'Your Opinion Matters' link on kcc.ks.gov lists open cases), by letter to the Office of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, 1500 SW Arrowhead Road, Topeka, KS 66604-4027 (include the docket number), or by phone at 1-800-662-0027 or 785-271-3140. Give your name, city and how long you've been a customer. Comments are public. The KCC also holds public hearings in affected towns, for example on the 180-mile Sunflower/ITC power line in western Kansas in September 2026. Source

How to comment on an air permit · Oct 7, 2026
Watch the Kansas Register and KDHE's public notice page for air permits. Send written comments to the KDHE contact named in the notice before the deadline, and ask in writing for a public hearing if you want one. Source

🧾 Help with your bills

LIEAP: help with winter energy bills · Oct 7, 2026
The Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) pays a one-time yearly benefit toward home heating costs (electric, gas, propane or other fuel). An adult at the address must pay the heating bill, and household income must be at or below 150% of the federal poverty level (for example $1,995 a month for one person, $4,125 for four). Apply online through the DCF Self-Service Portal or with a paper form from a DCF Service Center, during the application period. In 2026 it ended March 31. Dates for the next period are posted when ready. Source

Cold Weather Rule: no shut-offs on freezing days · March 26, 2026
While the Cold Weather Rule is in effect in winter (it ends each year on March 31), utilities regulated by the KCC cannot disconnect homes when the temperature is forecast to drop below 35 degrees. They must offer a 12-month payment plan if you ask, even if you broke a plan before. Co-ops and city utilities are not covered by the KCC rule, but many have their own plan. Questions: KCC Consumer Protection, 800-662-0027. You can also dial 211 to find local help programs. Source

📞 Who to contact

Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) · Oct 7, 2026
Sets rates for Evergy and other investor-owned utilities, approves power line routes, takes public comments. Consumer Protection: 800-662-0027 or 785-271-3140. Source

Citizens' Utility Ratepayer Board (CURB) · Oct 7, 2026
State agency that represents homes and small businesses in KCC rate cases. Posts Evergy rate and average bill history. Source

Kansas Department of Commerce · Oct 7, 2026
Runs the SB 98 data center sales tax break and the incentive transparency database. Source

Kansas Department of Revenue · Oct 7, 2026
Issues the sales tax exemption certificate once Commerce certifies a data center. Source

Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), Bureau of Air · Oct 7, 2026
Air permits for diesel generators and gas plants. 1000 SW Jackson, Suite 310, Topeka, KS 66612. Source

Kansas Department of Agriculture, Division of Water Resources · Oct 7, 2026
The chief engineer approves new water rights and changes to water rights. Source

Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) · Oct 7, 2026
Runs LIEAP (help with winter energy bills). Source

Kansas Legislature · Oct 7, 2026
Bills, votes and committee hearings. Each bill page has an RSS feed of its history. Source