Wisconsin Senate Committee Approves Ban on Data Center NDAs

A Wisconsin state Senate committee approved Senate Bill 969 to prohibit local governments from signing nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) with data center developers. The legislative move follows reports that at least five Wisconsin communities, including Beaver Dam, Kenosha, Janesville, Menomonie, and the town of Beloit, used NDAs to conceal details of large-scale AI developments. In Beloit, the local government signed an NDA with Cambrin LLC in February 2025 for a project called Project Corn Maze, keeping the discussions secret for over a year.

In Port Washington, Mayor Ted Neitzke claimed the city avoided such agreements for its $15 billion Vantage-OpenAI-Oracle campus. However, the city became the target of a lawsuit by resident Lynde Uihlein after officials withheld email attachments from public records requests. City Attorney Matthew Nugent argued the attachments were not part of the requested communications, but Ozaukee County Circuit Court Judge Adam Gerol ruled the city's response was incomplete and ordered depositions of city officials.

Similar transparency efforts are pending in Minnesota, contrasting with recent developments in Florida, where a similar ban was removed from a data center bill.