Good Jobs First

10/14/2026

WEBINAR TODAY 10/14: States are handing data centers billions of dollars in tax breaks and other subsidies, often without enough transparency to know whether these deals deliver the promised jobs and economic benefits — or what communities are giving up in return.
State legislatures have the power to change that.
They can pause or end subsidy programs, strengthen accountability requirements, levy new taxes and fees, and preserve community choice.
A new State Policy Toolkit for Data Center Regulation on Tax, Employment, and Economic Impacts from Climate XChange and Good Jobs First lays out practical policy options for states to rein in costly subsidies and protect public resources.
Drawing on a review of more than 400 data center bills introduced in 2025 and 2026, the toolkit offers concrete ways to address the economic impacts of the data center boom.
🔴 Join us Oct. 14 at noon PT / 3 p.m. ET for a webinar exploring what states can do.
Kasia Tarczynska of Good Jobs First will discuss state authority over subsidies and opportunities for reform.
Jacqueline Adams of Climate XChange will cover economic policy trends, new taxes and fees, and preserving community choice.
Register here 🔽
https://join.climate-xchange.org/a/state-policy-solutions-data-centers-tax-employment-and-economic-impacts

10/08/2026

What does economic development look like when a city invests in its workers instead of corporate tax breaks? Lexington, KY, shows one way: through Second Chance Academy, a partnership with nonprofit Jubilee Jobs, to help formerly incarcerated people prepare for employment and and navigate a changing workforce.
This is the first post in our new series, Investing in What Makes Places Thrive, which looks at what economic development can be without tax subsidies, and how small and midsize cities are investing in the conditions that help people and local economics thrive.
Take a look 👀

10/07/2026

The Raiders' billionaire owner took $75 million from the public in a meeting that lasted about 10 minutes. The approvers didn't ask many questions, prompting this resident to ask:
"I think oversight of any public spending group, be it the Stadium Authority, LVCVA, Governor's Office of Economic Development, means asking hard questions before the checks get written. And sometimes the hardest question is the simplest: Is this the best thing we can do with public money?
Because Las Vegas is facing plenty of needs that don't come with luxury suites. People can't pay for medicine or stable and affordable housing. Our education system is struggling. A mental health crisis looms. Water isn't infinite. Electricity isn't cheap. You know all the rest. Bottom of the good lists, top of the bad ones. It's been decades and this discretionary slush to billionaires hasn't moved the needle at all."

OPINION: They’re called the Raiders for a reason. Read more at The Nevada Independent.

10/06/2026

We're joining Florida State Rep. at a town hall Oct. 12 at 8 p.m. ET. Discover how data centers and AI impact your community, where local and state moratoriums stand, and how you can take action today.
Register:

**Join State House Representative Dr. Anna V. Eskamani, Kasia Tarczynska of Good Jobs First, Katie Thomas of We Build Progress, and more on Monday, October 12th from 8:00pm - 9:00pm for a Virtual Town Hall on Data Centers!** Discover how data centers and AI impact your community, where local and sta...

10/06/2026

Arizona's data center sales tax break cost residents $38.5 million in FY 25, up from $19.4 million the year before.
That’s a 98% increase in one year.
And that number could spike.
In the two-week period between when Arizona announced a data center moratorium and when it went into effect in late June, data center hopefuls submitted 113 applications, nearly as many as in the previous 13 years.
Source: Arizona Tax Expenditure Reports, Axios

09/25/2026

The company said the discounts are a response to employee feedback, not a reaction to a recent government report.

09/25/2026

Virginia’s data center tax giveaways belong in the school funding conversation.
Our research estimates the industry’s increasingly expensive sales tax exemption cost public schools $267 million in potential revenue in fiscal year 2025.
Gov. Spanberger’s new executive order adds some oversight of data center development. But the order leaves the costliest exemption intact, without new protections for school funding.
Our new blog explains the latest.

09/24/2026

New York City just announced its largest settlement to date: $131 million from DoorDash for underpaying or refusing to pay at all its drivers. State and local wage enforcement has now surpassed that of the federal Wage and Hour Division by more than ten-fold.
Workers deserve protections regardless of where they are located. While the WHD is not fulfilling its obligations, states that are taking their enforcement commitments seriously should continue to do so, and those that aren’t must strengthen their enforcement so that no worker is left behind.

09/23/2026

📣"I have a simple question: Why should funding for my classroom and students depend on Nevada building more data centers?" 📣

"As a public school educator in the Clark County School District, I’m being told data centers are supposed to be good for my students because they might generate money for schools. I don’t buy it.
I have a simple question: Why should funding for my classroom and students depend on Nevada building more data centers?
For years, educators have been told Nevada simply doesn’t have the money to properly fund our public schools. We’ve watched students sit in some of the largest classes in the country. We’ve watched educators leave the profession. We’ve watched Nevada remain thousands of dollars per student behind the national average. Now, suddenly, we’re being told there’s another way: build more data centers.
Data centers have become the latest industry that some are trying to turn into a cash cow for public education. But educators and students should not be used to make another corporate tax scheme more politically attractive. That’s what this looks like: tech interests using the good reputation of public educators to sell a policy that benefits their industry. Nevada absolutely needs to invest more in its public schools, but tying that investment to the continued growth of an industry already benefiting from enormous tax breaks is not the answer.
Other states should serve as a warning. According to an analysis by Good Jobs First, tax breaks offered to data centers reduced Virginia’s state sales tax collections by more than $1 billion. Roughly a quarter of that lost revenue would have supported K-12 public education. Nevada should learn from that experience and repeal the abatements for data centers."
Continue reading this powerful Op-Ed by Jeremy Heckler, a teacher librarian with the Clark County School District in Nevada.

09/17/2026

The AI industry tapped former Obama aide Jay Carney to rebuild ties with Democrats. He spent years at Amazon undermining privacy protections and fighting AI regulation.