Senator Casey “Carbon” Crabtree, renowned author of SB 201, is at it again. Yesterday during a Senate State Affairs Committee hearing, Senator Crabtree, true to form, brought hoghouse amendments for his bills SB 234, 235, and 239. This time the objects of his corporate benefits are data centers instead of carbon dioxide pipelines.
Yes, he pulled the old last-minute switcheroo, leaving the public and many colleagues scrambling to review the massive amendments after the committee had begun. Can you guess who was prepared for these changes? Every major utility, chamber of commerce, and data center lobbyist, including the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.
Backdoor moves like this are why the public doesn’t trust the legislature or data center proposals. Regular citizens who had taken time out of their day to travel to Pierre or wait on Zoom for hours to testify on bills had the rug yanked out from under them, and then were treated poorly by the very people elected to represent them. When members of the public expressed their frustration at the process, they were publicly shamed and embarrassed.
The reality of our current legislature is that it is unlikely that tax exemptions or reimbursements for data centers will make it to the Governor’s desk this year. So why would a Senator pull such a bad-faith late amendment like this in the very first committee hearing? You don’t win trust with citizens acting like this – but you can get corporate campaign contributions.