# Act 548 of 2025 (HB 1444) — enrolled act > *Verbatim extracts from the enrolled Act 548 of the 2025 Regular Session (House Bill 1444), as engrossed H2/27/25 S3/20/25, approved 2025-04-10. Retrieved 2026-06-04 from the Arkansas General Assembly document server. Stricken text = deleted from prior law; underlined text = added.* ## Source metadata - **Act**: 548 of 2025 (HB 1444), 95th General Assembly, Regular Session - **Sponsors**: Rep. Pilkington; Sen. J. Dismang - **Approved**: 2025-04-10; **effective** "the first day of the calendar quarter following the effective date of this act" (Section 2) - **Amends**: Arkansas Code § 26-52-456 ("Data centers — Definitions") ## Extract ### The threshold drop — § 26-52-456(a)(4)(B)(i) (Act 548, p. 3) The act amends the definition of a "qualified data center." A qualified firm must (strike/insert as enrolled): > "(i) Creates a qualified investment of at least ~~five hundred million dollars ($500,000,000)~~ **within one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000)** at the facility no later than five (5) years ... after construction of the facility commences" i.e., the minimum qualified-investment threshold for the data-center sales-and-use-tax exemption is **lowered from $500,000,000 to $100,000,000**. ### New "qualified large data center" tier — § 26-52-456(a)(7) (Act 548, pp. 3–4) Act 548 newly defines a "qualified large data center": networked servers in "two (2) or more nonadjacent physical locations" connected by fiber, owned/operated by a qualified firm that "(i) Creates a qualified investment of at least two billion dollars ($2,000,000,000) at the facility no later than ten (10) years after construction ... commences; (ii) Pays ... an aggregate annualized compensation of at least three million dollars ($3,000,000) ...; and (iii) Is not primarily engaged in adding transactions involving virtual currency to a distributed ledger." ### The electricity exemption — § 26-52-456(b) (Act 548, pp. 4–5) Exempt from gross-receipts and compensating-use tax are: "(1) Data center equipment; (2) Eligible data center costs; (3) Services purchased ... [for] developing, acquiring, constructing, expanding, renovating, refurbishing, and operating a qualified data center or a qualified large data center; and **(4) Electricity used by a qualified data center or a qualified large data center.**" The amended definition of "Data center equipment" expressly includes "Equipment necessary for the transformation, generation, distribution, storage, or management of electricity ... including without limitation a substation, generator, uninterruptible energy equipment, ... and backup generator" (§ 26-52-456(a)(1)(C)). ### Administration — § 26-52-456(c) (Act 548, p. 5) Applications move from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission to the **Department of Finance and Administration**; AEDC retains the "positive cost-benefit analysis" prerequisite. A qualified data center may later request recertification as a qualified large data center if combined facilities meet the $2B tier. ## Notes - **Tier 2** — primary public record (enrolled state statute). Establishes the statutory text and the exact figures; does not establish how any particular Arkansas data center qualified (that would be a Tier-1 AEDC/DFA record, still outstanding via FOIA). - **Why it matters**: Act 548 both **lowered the exemption threshold 5× (from $500M to $100M)** — bringing more projects (including the ~$100M+ floor) into the giveaway — and **exempted the data centers' electricity purchases** from sales/use tax, even as the cost of the *generation* serving them is socialized to all ratepayers via the GAJA Rider (see [[Who Pays for Entergy's New Generation]]). The same Sen. Dismang sponsored both Act 548 and [[Generating Arkansas Jobs Act (GAJA) rider|Act 373]]. - Cited by: [[Act 548 (2025)]]; [[Who Pays for Entergy's New Generation]]. See also the fiscal note extract (`hb1444-act-548-dfa-fiscal-note.md`).