https://tiffinohio.net/posts/gary-click-s-bill-labels-data-center-opposition-potential-foreign-propaganda/
-
Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — AI
sheetsadam1 — 1 month ago(February 18, 2026 03:08 AM)
https://tiffinohio.net/posts/gary-click-s-bill-labels-data-center-opposition-potential-foreign-propaganda/
A bill co-sponsored by state Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery) would create a study commission to examine the rapid expansion of data centers across Ohio — but tucked inside the legislation is a provision directing that commission to investigate whether opposition to those data centers is the product of “foreign propaganda.”
House Bill 646, introduced in the 136th General Assembly and co-sponsored by Rep. Click alongside Rep. Kellie Deeter (R-Norwalk) and more than a dozen other Republican colleagues, establishes the Data Center Study Commission within the Ohio Department of Development. The commission is directed to examine a range of legitimate concerns surrounding data center development, including environmental impact, effects on the electrical grid, water usage, noise and light pollution, impacts on farmland, and effects on the local economy.
But Division (D)(9) of the bill adds a ninth study topic that stands apart from the rest: the commission would also be required to examine “reports of foreign propaganda intended to create opposition to data centers.”
The provision appears nowhere else in the bill’s stated findings or justifications. It is listed without explanation alongside environmental and infrastructure topics as an area of equal study — meaning a Sandusky County farmer concerned about water draw-down from a nearby data center facility, or a homeowner worried about rising utility rates, could find their objections categorized alongside the work of foreign adversaries.
The bill is designated an emergency measure, a classification that allows legislation to take effect immediately upon the governor’s signature rather than waiting the standard 90 days. The bill’s stated justification for emergency status is that data centers are “proliferating rapidly in the absence of a specific regulatory structure” and that “verifiable information is urgently needed.”
Emergency declarations in Ohio are typically reserved for legislation addressing immediate threats to public safety or health. Study commissions — which by definition gather information over time before issuing recommendations — do not typically qualify. Under HB 646, the commission would have up to six months after its effective date to issue a final report, a timeline that undercuts the urgency argument used to justify bypassing standard legislative procedure.
The commission created by HB 646 would consist of 13 members. Three would be appointed by the Governor, three by the Speaker of the House, and three by the President of the Senate — all positions currently held by Republicans. Two members each would be appointed by the House and Senate minority leaders.
Click represents the 88th House District, a largely rural district in northwest Ohio where agricultural land use, water resources, and utility costs are consistent constituent concerns. Those are precisely the subjects the bill’s environmental and infrastructure provisions purport to study.
The “foreign propaganda” provision, however, introduces a framing that does not appear in any other section of the bill. By directing the commission to examine whether opposition to data centers may be foreign-influenced, the legislation creates a mechanism to categorize community resistance — regardless of its specific basis — as potentially illegitimate. That framing benefits data center developers, who have faced growing local opposition in Ohio communities over questions of water consumption, farmland conversion, and electricity demand.
Click’s office did not respond to a request for comment prior to publication.
HB 646 has been referred to the House Rules and Reference Committee.
Draft Barron Trump -