# Kentucky HB 593 — data centers to "pay their own way" (LPM / KPR, 2026-02-12) > *Verbatim extracts from Joe Sonka, "GOP bill seeks guardrails for new data centers to 'pay their own way' in Kentucky," Louisville Public Media / Kentucky Public Radio, published 2026-02-12. Retrieved 2026-06-04.* ## Source metadata - **Outlet**: Louisville Public Media / Kentucky Public Radio - **Byline**: Joe Sonka (enterprise statehouse reporter) - **Published**: 2026-02-12 - **Subject**: Kentucky [House Bill 593](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/26rs/HB593.html) (2026 Regular Session), Rep. Josh Bray (R-Mount Vernon) ## Extract - "**House Bill 593**, filed by GOP Rep. Josh Bray of Mount Vernon, would only allow large data centers to have electric service from a public utility if they sign a contract agreeing to cover any transmission or infrastructure costs attributable to serving that data center, ensuring those costs are not passed onto other existing utility customers." - Bray: "make sure we've got good energy policies in place to make sure we know the costs associated with data centers, and that they **pay their own way, that the consumers aren't subsidizing them**." - HB 593 provisions (verbatim list): data-center customers "must sign a contract with the utility provider agreeing that it will **prepay for any infrastructure** needed to serve them and that other utility customers will not subsidize those costs through rate increases" (PSC must approve the contract/tariff); "an upfront and non-refundable application fee of **$75,000**"; "a 'dedicated resource' of energy to serve any data center whose peak load exceeds **250 megawatts**"; and the data center "must certify that it will comply with all local and state requirements" to keep its existing tax incentives ("a 50-year exemption to all sales and use taxes on computer equipment"). - Companion bill: HB 544 (Rep. Adam Moore, D-Lexington) — data-center customers "must agree to contracts or tariffs requiring them to cover the costs of new infrastructure needed to serve them, instead of other customers." - LG&E/KU pending PSC tariff: "require data center customers to sign a 15-year contract guaranteeing to pay for at least 80% of the energy they say they will consume each month, even if they end up using less." - **"Cowboy speculators."** Bray "expects opposition from private developers who hope to land a data center project before they've signed a contract with a big tech company like Google, Meta or Amazon to operate it." Senate President Robert Stivers: "They're cowboy speculators ... They just came in and bought land or took options on land," and advised communities to demand a developer "show me your relationship papers that you've done this for somebody else before. ... And if they can't? Run." ## Notes - **Tier 3** — authoritative reporting (public-radio statehouse beat). A comparator from another jurisdiction; not evidence of any Arkansas act. - **Why it matters**: Two reasons. (1) HB 593 is the **legislative model** — making the load-causer prepay and contract so existing ratepayers do not subsidize — that contrasts directly with the Arkansas [[Generating Arkansas Jobs Act (GAJA) rider|GAJA Rider]] socialization documented in [[Who Pays for Entergy's New Generation]]. (2) The "**cowboy speculators**" framing — developers who option land before signing a hyperscaler to operate the site — is a strikingly close out-of-state parallel to the Arkansas shell-developer pattern at the heart of [[T003 - Shell-LLC Principal Attribution for Forgelight and Willowbend|T003]] ([[Forgelight Ventures, LLC]] / [[Willowbend Capital, LLC]] / [[Spark Innovations, LLC]]). It is recorded here as a comparator framing, not as evidence about the Arkansas entities' principals. - Cited by: [[Large-Load Cost-Allocation Comparators]].