Graded Light and tightening. 13 laws, orders, rulings and local actions, each with its source, reviewed 2 November 2026.
No connection, own-power or reliability rule in force; large loads are handled through case-by-case utility contracts.
Only the Entergy-Google special contract (Docket 25-055-P, approved by early 2026) sets minimum bills; no general large-load tariff exists.
Pulaski County's 27 Oct 2026 ordinance makes large data centers a conditional heavy industrial use with a 500-foot setback; four rural counties paused.
Act 548, effective 1 Oct 2025, widened the sales tax exemption to $100 million of investment with a $1 million payroll test; it stays intact.
Pulaski County's Oct 2026 ordinance lets the county set per-project water and power limits and requires a funded decommissioning plan; no state rule.
Scored on rules in force, 1 to 5. 5 is the most regulated. Pending rules set the arrow.
State policy favours data centers: Act 548 of 2025 cut the investment needed for the sales tax exemption (which covers electricity) to $100 million, and the Generating Arkansas Jobs Act lets utilities charge for new generation while it is built. The Public Service Commission has approved a special rate contract for Google's West Memphis campus, and there is no general large-load tariff or state rule on self-supplied power that could be confirmed. Resistance is local. Five counties, including Independence (five years) and Madison (three years), have passed moratoria, Fayetteville and Little Rock have adopted regulations, and Pulaski County, the most populous, enacted a conditional use ordinance for large data centers on 27 October 2026 by overriding the county judge's veto; the developer of a campus near Wrightsville sued two days later. The governor has not moved to restrict projects.
Pulaski County's data center ordinance, 26-OR-19, has been in force since the quorum court overrode County Judge Barry Hyde's veto 10-4 on 27 October 2026, and AVAIO Digital's suit to block it, filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas on 29 October 2026, is pending; the county judge's office is on the November 2026 ballot. Entergy Arkansas's second-phase Google contract, about $600 million of batteries, a 440 MW solar purchase and transmission paid by Google, goes to the Public Service Commission for approval with service expected in 2028, and Entergy's general rate case (Docket 26-001-U) has an evidentiary hearing on 4 and 5 November 2026 with rates requested from January 2027. The 2027 regular session opens in January, and a non-binding interim resolution encouraging a statewide moratorium, sponsored by the Democratic nominee for governor, Sen. Fred Love, is before the Insurance and Commerce committees. Madison County's moratorium runs to 31 August 2029, the Union and Carroll county pauses to about June 2027 and Russellville's to about January 2027.
No statewide moratorium, but 4 local pauses are in force as of 2 November 2026, in Independence County, Madison County, Pulaski County, Union County, Carroll County, Russellville. Proposals and expired pauses are not counted.
Tightening. Arkansas is graded Light, which means incentives in place and few new obligations. State incentives expanded in 2025; county moratoria spreading in 2026. The outlook above says what is pending.
Arkansas sits in MISO and SPP. The grid operator decides how a new large load is studied, what it must bring or pay, and whether it can be curtailed first; the state decides siting, permits, tariffs and incentives.
No. Arkansas's data center incentives were not pulled back in 2025 or 2026 as of 2 November 2026.
On Genloop's five-line rubric (1 least regulated, 5 most) Arkansas scores grid connection 1, power rates 2, siting and land use 3, tax treatment 2, permits and water 2, a mean of 2.0. The most regulated line is siting and land use: Pulaski County's 27 Oct 2026 ordinance makes large data centers a conditional heavy industrial use with a 500-foot setback; four rural counties paused.
13 items: each is a law, order, tariff, ruling, utility action or local decision that changes what a data center must do, pay or disclose, or where it may be built. Failed and pending measures are marked. Each links to its source.
Repeated one-year moratorium attempts since May 2026 fell short, including a 26 May 2026 emergency ordinance recorded as passed 10-4-1 and later found to have failed 8-6-1 against the 10 votes needed, and a further moratorium voted down on 28 July 2026. On 22 September 2026 the quorum court instead passed 11-4 an ordinance sponsored by Justice Julie Blackwood that classifies large data centers as heavy industrial uses needing a conditional use permit. County Judge Barry Hyde vetoed it in September and on 27 October 2026 the court overrode the veto 10-4, enacting Ordinance 26-OR-19. AVAIO Digital's campus near Wrightsville is covered and sued the county on 29 October 2026.
Source: katv.comOn 27 October 2026 the Pulaski County Quorum Court voted 10-4, with one member absent, to override County Judge Barry Hyde's September veto, enacting Ordinance 26-OR-19 for high-intensity digital infrastructure uses in unincorporated areas. The ordinance classifies large data centers as heavy industrial uses requiring a conditional use permit, requires applicants to show no undue burden on the grid, water supply or other infrastructure, sets noise limits and a 500-foot residential setback, lets the county set project-specific limits on power and water use, requires review of expansions and a funded decommissioning plan, and does not grandfather AVAIO Digital's planned 760-acre campus near Wrightsville. On 29 October 2026 ADP Little Rock Data Hub LLC (AVAIO) sued the county, Hyde and sponsor Julie Blackwood in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to block enforcement.
Source: katv.comOn 29 October 2026 ADP Little Rock Data Hub LLC, the AVAIO Digital entity behind a planned campus near Wrightsville, sued Pulaski County, County Judge Barry Hyde and Justice Julie Blackwood in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. The complaint says Ordinance 26-OR-19, enacted by a 10-4 veto override on 27 October 2026, targets the project, conflicts with state and federal authority over electricity and violates the company's constitutional rights; AVAIO says it received final site plan approval on 11 August 2026. It seeks a declaration that the ordinance is unlawful, an order blocking enforcement, damages and records it says were withheld under the Freedom of Information Act.
Source: katv.comOn 19 October 2026 Entergy Arkansas announced a second phase of its Google partnership covering about $600 million of investment and a power purchase agreement, all paid by Google under a new contract: a 1,000 MWh battery at Driver Solar near Osceola, a 400 MWh battery near Hot Springs, a 440 MW solar purchase from the Big Island facility in Mississippi County, and substation and 230 kV transmission additions near West Memphis. Entergy says the resources will not be charged through the Generating Arkansas Jobs Act rider and will bring at least $500 million in customer savings over 20 years from 2028. The agreement is to be submitted to the Public Service Commission for approval with an expected in-service date of 2028.
Source: talkbusiness.netOn 15 September 2026 the Joint Energy Committee, chaired by Sen. Mark Johnson, questioned Entergy Arkansas and Google about the West Memphis contract and a Generating Arkansas Jobs Act rider added to bills in June 2026 that adds about $5 a month for an average residential customer, roughly a third of it for the $1.6 billion Cypress Solar project; the rider also funds the Ironwood and Jefferson power stations. Entergy said Google will pay more than $2.1 billion over 20 years under its Fair Share Plus structure and that the rider is a timing difference rather than a cost shift. Entergy had sued the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette over publication of contract details; a federal judge refused an emergency order on 2 September 2026.
Source: katv.comThe quorum court voted unanimously on 17 August 2026 for a three-year data center moratorium that runs through 31 August 2029, making it the fifth Arkansas county with one. The county has no known projects.
Source: katv.comThe city council tightened rules passed earlier in summer 2026: developers must supply more documentation, meet wastewater pretreatment rules, use battery storage rather than generators as primary backup, and get a permit amendment for any expansion.
Source: newsfromthestates.comThe quorum court unanimously passed a five-year data center moratorium in August 2026, the longest in the state.
Source: lailluminator.comOn 21 August 2026 a state senator, who is the Democratic nominee for governor, proposed a non-binding interim resolution encouraging a moratorium on data center development while the state writes standards. The Legislative Council referred it to the Insurance and Commerce committees.
Source: newsfromthestates.comUnion and Carroll counties each passed a one-year pause in June 2026, and Russellville passed a six-month pause on approving data centers in July 2026. Little Rock adopted data center regulations in June 2026 instead of a moratorium.
Source: lailluminator.comThe Public Service Commission approved a special rate contract in Docket 25-055-P for Entergy Arkansas to serve Google's $4 billion West Memphis data center, under which Entergy says Google pays more than $2.1 billion over 20 years and covers its full cost to serve through up-front capital and minimum annual demand payments, a structure Entergy calls Fair Share Plus. Records obtained by news outlets in September 2026 showed a $526 million up-front payment toward the $1.6 billion Cypress Solar and battery project and $190 million for transmission. Arkansas handles large loads through case-by-case contracts of this kind; Entergy also began billing a Generating Arkansas Jobs Act rider in June 2026 that adds about $5 a month for an average residential customer for three unfinished generation projects, which lawmakers questioned on 15 September 2026.
Source: katv.comEffective 1 October 2025. Cuts the qualifying investment from $500 million to $100 million, adds a category for multi-site campuses investing $2 billion, keeps electricity exempt, lets indirect pay count toward the $1 million payroll test, and excludes crypto mining. The exemption was created by Act 819 of 2023.
Source: kutakrock.comBecame law on 20 March 2025. Lets utilities bill customers for new power plants and other strategic investments while they are being built instead of after they enter service; Entergy Arkansas is using it for generation tied to data center growth.
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